NEARNESS

C.R.Byng

Deuteronomy 34: 10; Ezekiel 37: 7,17; Isaiah 52: 8; 3 John 13,14

It is in mind to seek help from the Lord to say something as to nearness. God is operating to secure men in nearness to Himself. In God's dealings with man at the beginning, after He had created the animals and created man, He brought the animals to Man to see what names he would give to them, conveying clearly that God was alongside Man as he did it, and as He took account of the names, they were approved and they remained. Then alas distance came in, so that instead of Man listening to God he began to listen to someone else. When Jehovah Elohim walked in the garden in the cool of the day, what distance had come in! Man and his wife hid from God in the midst of the very trees that God had placed there for their blessing. How God felt it, and immediately spoke in that great prophetic utterance which pointed forward to how the seed of the woman was coming in so that the distance might be eternally removed. The time came when men could say "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us", John 1: 14. What nearness there was! - not the final removal of distance but God coming I’m to remove distance. Distance had to come in at the cross that nearness might be known by you and me. God alone can measure the distance at the cross in the forsaking of Jesus, or what it means when it speaks of Jesus going "into the lower parts of the earth", Eph 4: 9. What distance there was when the One who knew not sin was made sin that you and I today and eternally might know what it is to be rest fully in nearness to God!

We have read of Moses as a man who knew nearness as no one else did in his time. It says "And there arose no prophet since… whom Jehovah had known face to face". What privileges Moses had. In Exodus 33, when breakdown had come into the camp, it did not overthrow the experience that Moses had had in the mountain with God. The mountain was unchanged and God was unchanged. Moses did not remain inside the camp but resorted to God outside the camp and took the tent there, the Tent of meeting. It says "And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (v 11). How wonderfully Moses spoke and wrote five books as a result of his experiences with God. Moses was not there when the happenings of the book of Genesis took place, but God instructed him as to what happened and Moses wrote accurately. Then what instructions there were that came directly from the mouth of Jehovah so that Moses could say as he does in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, "And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying". Then in the book of Deuteronomy the man Moses wrote from his experience with God and as to his own yearnings over the people. You get touches of the feelings of Moses as when he speaks of the numbers that there were and desires that Jehovah would make them "a thousand times so many more", Deut 1: 11. The man Moses with feelings formed by having spoken with God face to face was being prepared for the time when he was going to be called forward on to the mount of transfiguration along with Elijah. It was not then Jehovah speaking with Moses face to face but Moses and Elias along with Peter and James and John gazing on Jesus with His face shining as the sun and His garments which became white as the light. What an experience that was and that is, beloved brethren, what you and I can have. There was no prophet in the Old Testament times like Moses for it was distinctive and special to Moses, but in this resent dispensation every one of us can see Jesus and see Him crowned with glory and honour. We have not actually seen Him, we are going to see Him face to face so very soon, but although not having seen Him in that way we already love Him, and we have the experience by the Spirit of what it is to see Him where He is and to be near Him. How often we prove the power of the word, "but there is a, friend that sticketh closer than a brother", Prov 8: 24. What a Friend Jesus is! What Moses experienced was very great in his time, but it is the privilege of every one of the saints at the present time, through divine work and grace, to draw near to Jesus, and go in to God in the holiest. In the time of the tabernacle going in to the holy of holies was confined and restricted but it is now open to every one of us. As a result of the work of Christ and His resent place in glory every one of us can know this nearness in intimacy with Jesus and what it is to speak to Him and be conscious that He is speaking to us. We can speak to the Spirit and be conscious of the Spirit speaking to us. In the power of the Spirit through Christ we are able to draw near into the very presence of the Father. We do not worship afar off but in nearness in the presence of God. May the Spirit give us some fresh appreciation of the wonder of what we have been called into, that we know this place of nearness to divine Persons Themselves. We are going to be near God eternally but at the present time, while still in the scene where there are sorrows and difficulties and testings, and conflict maybe in some measure, we have the privilege of being near divine Persons and of having direct guidance from Them; not having to be restrained by bit and bridle but being instructed as to the will of God and given counsel as to how to move in the little matters and in the big matters. Let us be near divine Persons so that what we do has divine approval because it has the power of divine instruction behind it.

Those men, that came from the east when they understood that there had been born One who was the king of the Jews, came as with divine instruction. Perhaps they should have gone to Bethlehem but they went to Jerusalem and God's hand was over that for all Jerusalem became troubled as a result. As the danger came in, after they had seen the little Child and His mother, it says they were "divinely instructed", and the word 'signifies an answer after consultation' (see note to Matt 2: 12). As we find ourselves in need of guidance or direction we can draw near to God and be instructed to go another way. The matter of being face to face brings in a sense of nearness between each one of us and divine Persons which the Spirit of God would help us to be formed in so that we seek to make time to be near to divine Persons increasingly. Both when we are in our closets and in our homes, and when we are together assembly-wise, let us preserve the sense of being near divine Persons so that we always move as under divine direction.

Now where we read in Ezekiel is the bringing together of persons. The experience here of the prophet was when conditions seemed to be beyond recall. There was a valley full of bones and they were very dry, but as the prophetic word comes in "there was a noise, and behold a rustling" - not 'listen to a rustling' but "behold a rustling". Priestly ears would detect a rustling like this. They would distinguish it from "a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees" (2 Sam 5: 24) when God had gone before to overthrow the Philistines. This was a rustling in life, with one coming to its bone; not "face to face" but "bone to its bone", and no bone out of place, every bone coming into place with its bone. What a wonderful scene this was! - dispensationally pointing forward to the resurrection of Israel when the nation will be recovered as the Deliverer will come out of Zion. Life will come in again into what appears so hopeless according to man, but the spiritual bearing of it is to have an effect upon us, bone coming to its bone. Then there is the full development of life and there appears an exceeding great army; not a large number of warriors but an exceeding great army, the feature of unity beginning to come to light. It is not a number of individuals who know God but individuals who have been formed in body feelings for one another, bone coming to its bone. And then stick coming to stick and becoming one stick; the feature of oneness coming to light. So that the saints are not only preserved in nearness individually, they take on these body feelings in relation to the saints locally and universally and begin to find the reality of one body underlying assembly activity. What an experience it is when we are together for a reading meeting! You are conscious that underlying what brethren are saying there is the working of the body; it is each bone having found its place in connection with every other bone. It is not prominence for man, it is the operation of the body in love and skill, affecting the brothers as they speak, and the sisters as in their spirits they contribute to the occasion, so that what proceeds gathers power. You can say "behold a rustling"; not the marching in the mulberry trees - that has its place of course - but on occasions of temple character I believe we often behold the rustling in the feature of oneness which comes to light. So you are conscious in your spirit not only of being freshly bound to your brethren with whom you have the privilege of breaking bread, but of your links with the saints universally in one body.

That is to find outlet in expression as we have in Isaiah, Where it is a matter of seeing "eye to eye". These are the watchmen, "the voice of thy watchmen" in Zion. It is not now Moses by himself but watchmen. This has in view that each of us has the privilege of being one of the watchmen in Zion. They would be evangelical watchmen who take character from the watchman earlier in the book of Isaiah to whom the enquiry comes, "Watchman, what of the night?" The watchmen with one accord would say "The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire; return, come", chap 21: 11, 12. O, what scope there is for watchmen in Zion at the present time! How many persons there are who ought to be enquiring and are not enquiring; they are waiting at home for some revelation from God when God has already given all that they need. O that there were such a power of evangelical watchmanship amongst us that we might discern people who are ready to move in that way, persons who are saying 'what of the night?' Our mission is not to speak of the night, our mission is to speak of the morning. There are persons who think everything is fading away: "Watchman, what of the night?" Do not let us be persons like that, although there is the warning, "also the night", but the main burden of a watchman is that the morning is coming, “if ye will inquire, inquire; return, come". Then they would be praying watchmen; they would be men who know the danger of the enemy attacking and have taken to heart the words of the Lord Jesus, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation", Mark 4: 38.

And they would be priestly watchmen. What need there is for priestly watchmen in Zion! What a priestly watchman was Paul! He spoke of the crowd of cares pressing on him daily, the burden of all the assemblies. We might enquire, how did he know? He was in priestly intercession and activity about the burdens of all the assemblies. He was not taking on their responsibilities - the Spirit of God guards that the word that Paul uses - he was taking on priestly concern. Paul was distinctive in his place but he had those who laboured with him, he had fellow-bondmen, fellow-workmen, fellow-soldiers, fellow-prisoners, and he had at least one true yokefellow. What a privilege to be called by Paul a "true yokefellow". He called upon that true yokefellow (it may have been Epaphroditus but it is left open, so it could include each of us) because he discerned that there was a little danger at Philippi of brethren not fully seeing eye to eye. There were happy conditions characteristically at Philippi but he saw the need to exhort them to think the same thing, to be joined in soul, to think one thing. A priestly watchman would especially look for that and would labour instinctively and skilfully if there were any danger of them not seeing eye to eye. As Paul interceded with God as he wrote that epistle to the Philippians, exhorting them to stand fast in the Lord, in his priestly discernment he understood there was a danger of two sisters not being of the same mind in the Lord, so he immediately exhorts them. He says "I exhort Euodia, and exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the Lord", chap 4: 2. How powerful had been the apostle's word earlier in the epistle: "For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus", chap 2: 5. Then he goes on and he says to these two beloved sisters, "I exhort Euodia, and exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the Lord". Then he says "yea, I ask thee also, true yoke fellow, assist them"; that is, he calls upon that priestly watchman, the true yokefellow, to assist those two. He exhorts the two sisters, then he asks for assistance. He does not ask for assistance for one, he asks this true yokefellow as a priestly person to assist them both. Let us carry this forward into our own time. Where do we fit in? Would we in the presence of God have to say, Yes, I am just like Euodia? Or would we have to say, Yes, I am just like Syntyche? Or would we be able to qualify to be the true yokefellow? When difficulties come in, whether it is between brothers or sisters, or even more sorrowfully between local assemblies, it is rare that both are absolutely right. There is no suggestion here that Euodia was right and Syntyche was wrong. How easily we conclude if one is wrong the other one must be right, but Paul does not say that. He was a priest and he exhorts them both. He is not saying they were both absolutely wrong; they were both still breaking bread, both still in fellowship, both there no doubt when the letter was read. He discerned there was something in which Euodia needed adjustment and something in which Syntyche needed adjustment, and so he exhorts them both to be of the same mind in the Lord. He counts on this true yokefellow, as taking on the privileges of a priestly watchman, of assisting them. That yokefellow would take on the spirit of Paul. He would not have drawn near to Euodia and said, You were absolutely right in that, you stand firm. I think he would have said, You know you need to accept adjustment as to so and so. And I think his approach to Syntyche would have been somewhat similar. He would not have dwelt on where they were right (God took account of that), he would have sought to assist them so that they might adjust what needed to be adjusted and that they might become of the same mind in the Lord and see eye to eye. What a matter it is to see eye to eye, not as agreeing according to the flesh but as being of the same mind in the Lord!

The normal condition in Zion is that the watchmen are seeing eye to eye, and they lift up the voice and sing aloud together in the service of God. We are thankful for these watchmen who have special skill in singing, brethren who can start just the right tune when it is needed, but then all of us are brought into this service of singing aloud together. When the greatness of Christ is recognised in every local assembly in all His distinctiveness and glory, and when His rights are fully made way for, we shall be able to sing aloud together, "for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion", There would have been a result from Paul's epistle to the Philippians, I am assured. The Lord is active amongst us at the present time to help in any matter that needs to be adjusted so that it is adjusted rightly in a priestly way with a view to all of us truly seeing eye to eye for the glory of God in Zion. The rights of God in mercy, as seen in Zion, are the basis for adjustment coming in. As we get before God we do not dwell on the things where we have been right but on the things where we are beginning to understand that we need adjustment. We are caused to cry to God for mercy afresh and we get a fresh sense of the sovereignty of God's mercy in Zion and we begin to see eye to eye. Reconciliation would enter into this whichever scripture we may refer to.

When we come to John's epistle we have John 's delight in having those with whom he can speak "mouth to mouth". He had to write because he was unavoidably at a distance, but he did not write more than he had to. What he had in mind was to speak mouth to mouth: "I hope soon to see thee, and we will speak mouth to mouth". That would be the normal enjoyment of nearness amongst us as brethren dwelling in unity. What a joy it is to have brethren you can be happily in fellowship with, in whom you have confidence, whom you love, with whom you are free to break bread and pray and gather for all the assemblings together, brethren with whom you can, at least in a large measure, see eye to eye and to horn you can speak mouth to mouth. What an experience it would have been to hear John speaking mouth to mouth to these persons, particularly to Gaius. Gaius would speak to John too, for this was not a one way matter. This would have been mutual conversation for mutual profit and for comfort. I do not think they would have spoken over-much about Diotrephes; divine power would have dealt with Diotrephes. John as a son of thunder would have dealt with Diotrephes; that would be quickly cleared and these men would have proceeded to speak in happy enjoyment of fellowship, mouth to mouth.

John speaks in his first epistle of the distinctiveness of the fellowship of the twelve, but we are brought into that fellowship, and through that into the fellowship of God's Son. It is not our fellowship, nor is it a fellowship connected with any of us. How sadly persons get astray when they begin to connect the fellowship with some man; it is the beginning of disaster. Let us be preserved in the enjoyment and experience of the fellowship into which God has called us, the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. We can speak mouth to mouth in relation to the great and glorious things that relate to God and to the prosperity of His interests. There are things to pray about and to weep about, but how much there is to rejoice about. How many births there are amongst the brethren at the moment, a matter for rejoicing. These things are not just by the way; they cause the hearts of the saints to rejoice that if the Lord leaves us here there is a further strengthening of the younger generation.

Let us be encouraged to speak in a way which will promote the peace of Jerusalem, and then it will promote friendliness. John says "Peace be to thee". We always need to be strengthened in the enjoyment of peace. Diotrephes was still there, a man who was causing trouble, but Demetrius was there too, so there was cause for peace. There may be conflict in some measure right through to the end when we shall see Jesus face to face, but until then the word to each of us and to every local assembly would be "Peace be to thee". Then he says "The friends greet thee", that is, the friends where John was. He was writing as the elder and in happy fellowship with the friends where he was. Friends are friendly with one another. It speaks of the brethren of Joseph that they could not greet him with friendliness", Gen 37: 4. What a foreign state to the assembly! Never let that be found amongst us. Let us be found as those who are friends able to speak mouth to mouth because we see eye to eye. Then he says "Greet the friends by name". It is as though John would be so drawing on his own experience of nearness to Jesus as in His bosom that he desired that the beloved brethren might be increased in their experience of nearness to divine Persons and as a result be in nearness to one another. That is the way it works. The nearer we are to divine Persons the nearer we shall be to one another. We shall find our valuation of the friends is increasing and we shall be able to greet them by name. We may not always remember the natural names but the Spirit of God would give us increasing ability to be able to greet the friends by their spiritual names. There is a large measure of what is secret in relation to the surname that each of us has, but along with that there is priestly discernment amongst the brethren. As we are with God we begin to gather impressions of the surnames that have been given to one another, and we greet the friends by name as seeking to value them according to divine valuation.

As we are preserved in nearness we shall be waiting together for the final gathering when the Lord's voice is going to be heard and we will all go up together. We will not go up as local companies but with all the saints, all the dead in Christ, all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. We shall see face to face the Man whom not having yet seen we already love because He has first loved us. For His Name's sake.

 

MAIDSTONE

24 March 1978