DEPENDABILITY

C. K. Robinson

Luke 9: 34, 35, 51; Genesis 18: 16–19;

Luke 22: 31–34, 61, 62; Colossians 4: 12; Luke 2: 25

I desire with the Lord’s help, beloved brethren, to say a word on dependability. I feel the importance of us all, including younger persons here, to become dependable in the things of God. You may say, What do you mean by dependable? The references in Scripture to the acacia wood are of interest in relation to this subject. If you look back to Exodus 25 you will find that the prescription for the making of the ark was that it was to be made of acacia wood.

Now that is typical of Christ, but in Exodus 26 you will find another very important feature to the construction of the tabernacle and that was the boards of the tabernacle, and they were to be made also of acacia wood. Throughout the whole period of the wilderness journey the children of Israel would come to appreciate the value of the acacia wood. In Numbers 33, at the end of the wilderness journey, there is a history of all their movements, and the last movement there is to Abel-Shittim, which is the ‘plain of acacias’ (Numbers 33: 49). I think the acacia wood particularly brings out in type the dependability, the durability, the reliability of the work of God in the souls of the saints; and what is being developed now is this feature of Christ among the saints.

So I have read first of all about the Lord Jesus. In every feature of truth that we desire to be formed by, we get the maximum help by looking first of all at Jesus. Hebrews 13 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come” (Hebrews 13: 8). That is the ark of acacia wood. I read from Luke 9 because I would like to bring out the glory that attaches to God’s beloved Son. As to His Person He ever is and was God. He remains that.

Inherently in His Person He could not be anything other than entirely dependable. Now faith operating in the saints helps us to see the value of the fact that our faith is in God’s beloved Son and in the glory of His Person. This glory is in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. We can look at His glory in Colossians 1—“image of the invisible God”

(Colossians 1: 15), and also in Hebrews 1, “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son” (Hebrews 1: 1, 2). He is the true Ark in the greatness and glory of His Person. Christ is an object of worship in the greatness and glory of His Person. Does everyone here have faith in the person of Christ? What a precious matter it is to see that God has centred everything in Christ for His pleasure and for man’s blessing.

His dependability is enhanced by His moral worth. A book was written on ‘The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’ by Mr J. G. Bellett which is well worth reading as it brings out the moral worth of Jesus. Before any feature of dependability is wrought out in the saints we need to feed on the dependability that is in Jesus. He came into a condition of manhood, and in that condition brought out in expression every feature that God ever desired to find in man.

This is food for the soul of every believer as we are occupied with God’s beloved Son. Mr Darby said about the oblation in Leviticus 2, ‘the hand that struck the chord found all in tune’. Every feature that God sought to find in man He found in Christ. God is operating that our faith might be in that blessed Person.

Think about the heavens being opened after His baptism and the voice saying, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Luke 3: 22. Think about the temptations and His moral glory shining while one feature after another is brought before Him by the devil as he sought to gain dominion over Him. His moral glory and the intrinsic holiness of His manhood are brought out when it says, “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee”, Luke 3: 14.

How dependable was Jesus! In every situation in His life, His delight was to do the will of God—“thy law is within my heart”, Psalm 40: 8. He delighted to do the will of God. He fulfilled everything that God desired. The dependability of Jesus is food for our souls. The ability to deal with every condition and state amongst men, religiously or humanly, was there in Jesus and He prevailed; He prevailed in the greatness and glory of the perfection of His manhood. He goes up to the mount of transfiguration and the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight—hear him”, Matthew 17: 5. It had never been said before in relation to any person. It was said uniquely in relation to the Lord Jesus. Then He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.

Then He went on to Gethsemane. Would His dependability stand? Would He be overcome as the full weight and bearing of what He was going to take away bore in upon Him in the holiness and perfection of His manhood? Luke 22 records very feelingly the extent of how He felt things. In Gethsemane the whole weight of what He was going to take away is brought to bear upon Him. He goes forward and He kneels in the holy dignity of a dependent Man, saying, “Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me—but then, not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. Was there ever a more striking sight—I say reverently? His sweat became as great drops of blood, and an angel appeared from heaven strengthening Him. Here was a creature under the divine will, coming there and seeing God’s beloved Son in deep prayer in relation to what was about to be taken away, and the angel as a creature strengthens the Creator in manhood. These are holy matters. Then He goes on to His betrayal, to His being taken, and to His trial.

We need to follow these scenes as we desire to feed on Jesus, with the Holy Spirit helping us to see and appreciate that character of manhood. What is typified in the acacia wood is particularly brought out through these sections. When He is accused He stands there, saying nothing. Heaven looks down and sees manhood in perfection in Jesus standing there being tried; tried at the hands of a Roman system, tried at the hands of a cruel administration and condemned to death by crucifixion. He was put on a cross and from the third hour to the sixth hour His moral worth shines in what He endures at the hands of men.

Psalms such as 22 and 69 bring out prophetically how He felt. “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head (Psalm 69: 4), and, “the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me”, Psalm 69: 9. All that came upon Him, yet how dependable He was; and even more than that as we move on from the sixth hour to the ninth hour and think of the atoning sufferings of the Lord Jesus. A divine Person in manhood was made sin. What sufferings He endured at the hands of God from the sixth hour to the ninth hour! He was forsaken when the full extent of the divine judgment in relation to sin and sins was borne and removed by Him.

Not only was He able to bear at the hands of God the judgment in relation to sin, but believers can say, “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2: 24. Let our faith be deep and real and vital in the Person and worth of God’s beloved Son. We need to deepen in our faith and increase in our personal appreciation of the Person and worth of Christ.

Redemption has been accomplished; man has been brought back to God for God’s pleasure in virtue of the completed work of His well-beloved Son; by His burial for three days and three nights the man that had offended God has been removed, and after three days He was raised again, opening up a whole new world, based on resurrection and ascension. Jesus Christ is the true ark of acacia wood, and a glorious object for our souls.

I want now to touch on dependability as seen in Abraham, Peter, Epaphras and Simeon.

Abraham was one who developed in dependability. You look back over his history from Genesis 12 to here in Genesis 18 and now God says, “For I know him”. You might say the divine appraisal of Abraham at this point was, I can depend on him. The call in Genesis 12, called him out from where he was in Haran, to go out from his people, from his kindred and from his country. He now enters the learning time. In Genesis 13 he has exercises with Lot, and the experiences he has in that chapter finish with his tent being pitched by the oaks of Mamre—a point of stability. In chapter 14 he had the experience with Melchisedec at the time of victory after conflict, reflecting the priesthood of Christ, and then he responds to that in saying he would not take “from a thread even to a sandal-thong” from the king of Sodom. In chapter 15 he receives the word from God relating to heavenly blessing, and then goes through the moral exercises as typified in the birds. He triumphs when he is able to scare the birds away. In chapter 16 he goes through the experience of family matters and what relates to that. Chapter 17 relates to circumcision, and he has to learn with bitter experience that the man who would please God is not of the first order as typified in Ishmael. But another interesting thing in chapter 17 is that his name changes from Abram to Abraham. God is dignifying him and I think God is developing dependability in Abraham.

So when you come to this part of chapter 18, after a visitation, he comes to a point when intercession is going to be made, and at this point God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall indeed become a great and mighty nation ... For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him”. Would you not like that to be said of you? Would it not be fine if God were to look down around this company and to say as to So-and-so, I know him or her? Yet it is true to say from another standpoint that God knew us before we were ever here—that is in divine purpose. How precious that is, but in the ways of God, He develops dependability in the saints as shown in

the boards of the tabernacle. So Abraham shines in dependability. In Genesis 22 he shines again when God tries him in relation to the offering up of Isaac, looking on typically to the offering up of Jesus by the Father. How precious these matters are. How full therefore is the feature of dependability brought out by the exercises God has with every one of us to bring us through to the point where He says, “I know him”.

Simon Peter had also to learn that God’s way was not his way. In Luke 22, the Lord says, “Simon, Simon, behold. Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat; but I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou, when once thou hast been restored, confirm thy brethren”. The Lord is going to teach Simon. Simon thought he could be dependable in the strength of his own zeal, but the incident brings out that at the point where Simon wanted to shine, he failed. There is another comment I would make, that in these scriptures it is often when people are on their own that dependability is tested. Abraham in his experiences with God in Genesis 18 is on his own, and it brings out his dependability to intercede with God in relation to those that were there in Sodom. Luke 22 shows Simon’s weakness, “And the Lord, turning round, looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said to him. Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly”. The wonderful matter is that Peter was recovered. In His grace the Lord looked on him. Have you ever had that experience? I am sure most of us have; when we wanted to be dependable, when we were in a situation and we wanted to be true, but alas we failed. The Lord’s love, the Lord’s look, the Lord’s priestly service restored our faith. Then we can help others to get the benefit of such experiences. These are practical and real exercises that we might become dependable.

When you come to Peter’s epistles he is writing as an old man who has come through to dependability. He

writes to the Jews who were dispersed about the precious promises, the precious blood and other precious things which are brought into his epistles. At the end of the first epistle he refers to being a witness of the sufferings of the Christ. I feel more than ever that dependability is developed through deep soul exercise and by feeding upon the perfection of the Lord Jesus and His moral worth. The Holy Spirit can then develop these features in every one of us. I encourage the younger brethren to take on this feature of being dependable. You may be thinking of your career and you will be wanting to shine. I know that from my own experience. You will be wanting to be a person who could be looked up to and respected and to be depended upon. In divine matters in the testimony it is equally important, if not more so, that every one of us proves to be a board of acacia wood and to come up to the dignity of it in the days when the tabernacle is moving through the wilderness.

I think Epaphras is one who demonstrated this feature in Colosse as a local brother, in his local meeting. Paul wrote of him, “Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus, salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”. What a beautiful summary of one brother’s service in a local meeting. Dependability in local companies is developed by persons taking on responsibility, preparedness in love to serve the saints. If the testimony, beloved brethren, is to be maintained in any locality, and we trust it will be in every place, I believe the feature of dependability will be needed in someone. May it be in every one of us. Epaphras demonstrated his love for his local brethren. If you were to ask him, What are your current exercises regarding the saints at Colosse? Well, I am praying for them earnestly. What is your aim, Epaphras? My aim is that they may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. I think that is really the display of the acacia wood in Colosse. The ark of acacia wood I think is in chapter 1, and the

boards of acacia wood in chapter 4.

We need to pray for one another sincerely at this level. I am sure we could do with an Epaphras in every locality, someone prepared to spend time on their knees for their local brethren that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. You look round and you can see exercises in younger ones, younger couples, younger families. Will they stand, will they remain to develop into dependability? This Epaphras feature of desiring that the saints come up to full growth, to the full result of the truth of God for them, I think is very necessary. There are others who could have been referred to, such as Paul, of course, in all the distinctiveness of his apostleship and of his love for the saints. Then John was so dependable that the Lord gave him the book of Revelation. He entrusted it to His bondman, John. Paul was entrusted with an administration. He refers to being entrusted with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

What have you been entrusted with in your measure? Do you feel you have been entrusted with anything? O I trust you do. That I think will bring out the quality of the acacia wood in the saints. Sadly there are one or two who wanted to be but did not measure up to it. One would be Jonathan. I think Jonathan wanted to be dependable, to be faithful to David, but alas he went back.

I want to finish with Simeon and really the verse speaks for itself. There are two precious features which show that Simeon was a dependable man. It says of him, “there was a man in Jerusalem”. He was a man in Jerusalem and to such was given the precious experience of having the child Jesus in his arms. In the arms of a priestly man, who had proved himself to be absolutely dependable, is the child Jesus. The feature of priestly dependability is shown in Simeon as he has Christ in his affections. May we desire to take on and increase in

dependability, for His name’s sake.

Address at Dundee
21 November 1999