Holy Men And Women
HOLY MEN AND WOMEN
Having in mind that the assembly is composed of brothers and sisters, men and women, I wish, by the Lord’s help, to speak of holy men of God, and of holy women who trust in God. Scripture speaks of both. Peter, in his second epistle, tells us that “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”, 2 Pet 1: 21. In his first epistle, in the passage read, he speaks of “holy women who trusted in God”. In holy men of God, and holy women who trust in God, we have the constituents in moral power of the assembly. As the days become increasingly difficult, and the testimony nears its end, there is an urgent call for such men and women. What is important in the testimony is the truth of God and the rights of God. We are living in days when the power and will of man, energised by Satan, have risen to great heights—the object being to destroy, if possible, from this earth, all that stands for the rights of God and His truth. That calls for men of God and holy women who trust in God.
Women do not stand out publicly in the testimony, though they have their part in it. Their part is rather to provide subjective conditions as a support for it. They form the counterpart of the “men of God”. They have confidence in God, which calls down divine support, so that the testimony can go through. Connected with the thought of the men is the ability to stand out as representing God, but the women set out the idea of the subjective conditions which are necessary for the maintenance of the testimony to the end.
Both ideas are completely set out in the Lord Himself. Did ever any one maintain the truth of God so perfectly and so blessedly as Jesus? On the other hand, no one was ever marked by such complete dependence and confidence in God as He was, so that He is heard saying, “I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly”, Ps 22: 10. From the very outset this feature of dependence on God, and confidence in God, characterised Him, and formed the moral basis of the maintenance of the truth of God, right through to the end. Indeed, it became a matter of taunt from his enemies on the cross. They said, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now”, Matt 27: 43. That was taken account of by His enemies. Then came the moment of all moments when He was actually forsaken of God, and yet He trusted God right through, and was heard “from the horns of the unicorns”, Ps 22: 2.
Moses comes before us as one of the outstanding men of God. Psalm 90 is a “Prayer of Moses the man of God”. The idea of a man of God is not limited to the elder brothers, for Timothy was a young brother, and Paul addresses him as a man of God, 1 Tim 6: 11. Moses was a man of prayer, and what was in his soul comes to light in this prayer. He says, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations”, Ps 90: I. He found his dwelling place in God, and thus was not moved by what men said or thought or did. And then, as expressing the sense he had of the greatness of God he says: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”. I believe that lies at the root of the constitution of a man of God—he has God before him and not men. The Psalm goes on to speak of the mortality of man, for man is but mortal. When Cain slew Abel—the first man who stood for the rights of God, God gave another son in place of Abel, and his name was called Seth, which means “appointed”. God will see to it that there is an appointed seed to carry on the testimony. Then it says, “to Seth ... was born a son; and he called his name Enos”, which means frail, mortal, man, showing that the testimony is to be carried on by men who are mortal and can thus be put to death, but it adds “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”, Gen 4: 26. Their resource was in the name of the Lord.
Moses was fully developed on that line, for he says, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations, and “from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”. As he proceeds, he takes account of the discipline of God, and prays: “So teach us to number our days”. He recognises that life at best is but brief, so that this man of God would impress us with the importance of our days. Abraham died full of days, as also did Isaac, David, Job and Jehoiada, as though every day, or at any rate a large number of the days, of their lives had been such as God could take account of with pleasure. Moses recognises the brevity of human life, and, too, the urgency of the testimony, and so he says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart”, Ps 90: 12.
Paul had in mind that Timothy, as having already given evidence of the features of a man of God, should be preserved. If Satan sees any one who is set for the things of God, he will do his utmost to ensnare him or turn him aside in some way or other. So Paul takes account of that. He had been speaking of the danger of ambition, and then he says: “But thou, O man of God, flee these things”. Piety with contentment is great gain. In regard of this life, it is the great prescription for a happy and successful life, He continues: “and pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness of spirit”.
Righteousness is what is right in the sight of God in actual practice. We must not deflect from it, to the right hand or the left. It must be the governing principle of our life. In Proverbs, which has in mind that we should be preserved for God in a world of evil, wisdom says: “I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment”, Prov 8: 20. Piety preserves us from ambition and from discontent. It is bringing God into every matter of our life here. And then faith—that is more than confidence in God. Faith means that we are governed by the light of unseen things. We have the great privilege of stepping into the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and continuing the path—the path that commenced with Abel and which will continue till faith gives place to sight.
Then there are love, endurance and meekness of spirit. The man who was king in Jeshurun and who led out perhaps two million people—the man who could stand up and maintain the rights of God in a crisis at the time of the idolatry in respect of the golden calf—he was the meekest man in all the earth. One has sometimes wondered how it was that Moses acquired his meekness. I have thought of God showing Moses the pattern of the tabernacle. I have no doubt that God would explain to Moses what it typified. How God would delight to speak to Moses of Him whom the ark typified and from whom the whole system was to take character—so different from any other man! All that is going to subsist before God is to take character from Him who could say, “I am meek and lowly in heart”, Matt 11: 29. I can understand how Moses would become imbued with meekness of spirit!
On one occasion the spirit of Moses was provoked and he spoke unadvisedly with his lips, and for one failure on his part he was denied entrance to the land. It might seem to us arbitrary on God’s part, but Moses had failed to hallow God. He was here in this world as representing God, and he had failed to hallow the God he represented. Timothy is charged in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Christ Jesus—and then the apostle speaks of His appearing, “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords”, I Tim. 6: 14, 15. The Father knows the time; it is in His power. It is to be shown by Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords—which is the sense Paul had of God. He was shortly to appear before the great Roman emperor, but Paul, in his soul, was in the presence of God.
In this first epistle we have what the man of God is to follow if he is to be preserved, and in the second we have his equipment—and that is in the Scriptures. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”, 2 Tim 3: 16, 17. He is to be completely equipped, and complete in his qualifications, as making full use of the Scriptures. It necessitates that we know them, that is, all Scripture. We cannot afford to except a single one of the books of the Scriptures. They afford a remarkable armoury, and as we acquaint ourselves with them, the Holy Spirit can bring them to our minds to meet any emergency as it arises. There is not a single thing that can arise in the history of the testimony that is not provided for in the Scriptures, and thus the man of God is to be fully fitted to every good work.
“Holy women who trust in God”, speak of another aspect of the testimony. The apostle Peter, recognising the tendency that certain things have to appeal to women, urges upon the sisters to take account of how things are valued in the sight of God. The man of God walks before God, and Peter urges sisters to walk before God and to take account of things as God values them. “Let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price”. It is a question of divine valuation, different from that which is current amongst men, and exercising ourselves to be in the sight of God.
There is not only this adornment, but there is this question of trusting in God. He brings forward Sarah, going back all those generations to remind us of one who is the mother of all true believers. She is to be spiritually regarded by sisters as their mother, as Abraham is the father of the faithful. The feature she brings forward is that of complete subjection. She called her husband “lord”. The Spirit of God brings that forward as a feature which is particularly pleasing to God. It is not suggesting that sisters by word of mouth should call their husbands “lord”. Sarah is not said to have addressed him as such, but in speaking to herself she said, “ After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also”, Gen 18: 12. It was not a moment when she was specially in spiritual power, yet, what she is characteristically comes to light. This feature of subjection, which is rapidly being lost in the world, is a feature of great delight to God, and it is urgent in view of the trend of things in this world, that it should be maintained in its true dignity and value amongst the saints. It is a characteristic feature of the assembly herself—she is subject to Christ. The brothers are to set forth the idea of intelligence in the mind of God, whilst the sisters are there to set out the feature of subjection. The complete combination of these two features is to be seen in the assembly. These two things are brought together in 1 Corinthians 14, and all are to be marked by subjection. The spirits of the prophets are to be subject to the prophets. If we would have a true view of the value of subjection, we have only to remind ourselves that in the eternal day the Son Himself will be “placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all”, 1 Cor 15: 28. The Son retains this position of subjection eternally in order that all may be held in relation to the blessed God in the light in which He is revealed, so that He may be all in all forevermore.
Subjection is morally glorious—it is the principle on which God recovers and holds everything for Himself, and so one would urge on the sisters that they should take up this idea of “holy women who trust in God”. It will show itself in their spirit, and in the true feature of subjection characterising them in everything, and will call forth divine support for the glorious testimony to which we are committed.
It is of the greatest importance that we should be in the truth of the assembly, and, as it is composed of men and women, that these things should have their place with us. Brothers should be concerned to be men of God, and sisters to be holy women who trust in God. There cannot be, in the assembly, any more spiritual power than that which is found in those who compose it.
SLIGO
18th March 1940
From Words of Grace and Comfort
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