HOW GOD MAINTAINS THE CHARACTER OF THE DISPENSATION
[p. 314] HOW GOD MAINTAINS THE CHARACTER OF THE DISPENSATION
The Lord refers to the prophets Elijah and Elisha at the beginning of His ministry in Luke. They evidently represent the ministry of the prophets as a whole, that is, the patience of God. In Elijah we see that even if an honoured servant or a number of servants break down, the service that God renders to His people proceeds. Ahab was king and Jezebel was queen in Samaria. Jezebel had succeeded in causing Elijah to flee. God nevertheless takes up Ahab and gives him a most signal victory. I think the situation as it stands illustrates how God maintains the character of the dispensation. Although Elijah thought he was the only one here we have in chapter 20: 13 a prophet available to the Lord for the declaration of His mind. Many are not distinguished by name but are available to God. There are those who are obscure. God knows them and carries on His work unhampered, “And behold, a prophet drew near to Ahab king of Israel”, 1 Kings 20: 13. Just “a prophet”. Elijah himself stands out as representing the prophetic service and the facts connected with his ministry bring out the faithfulness and patience of God. He is not dependent on any one; the work proceeds. What you see in the breakdown of Elijah is that God is attending to him too as well as looking after Ahab and His people. God gives Elijah two breakfasts in one morning. God would show the bountifulness of His provision. The two breakfasts were sufficient to carry him forty days to Mount Horeb showing the wonderful patience of God and His attention to His people in carrying on His service. He can use even an Ahab and nameless servants in the provinces are available to God for this great victory: “By the servants of the princes of the provinces”, 1 Kings 20: 14. Led by Ahab a marvellous victory is accomplished by God Himself, not by the faithfulness, righteousness or holiness of the king. There is nothing said of the young men God uses. He was thinking of His people. He never gives up His love for them.
Jehovah’s voice was not in the things mentioned, the wind, the earthquake or the fire (verses 11, 12). Jehovah was there in the character of the soft gentle voice; but it was unmistakably the voice of God. The attention paid to Elijah himself reminds us of the wonderful thoughtfulness of God for those who serve Him. How fair He is and how considerate! Elijah went for his life and came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there (verse 3). Beersheba strictly belonged to Simeon but passed back into Judah’s hands; it represented the faithfulness of God, “the well of the oath”. Had Elijah been energised by faith he would have stayed there. Those who serve ought to be specially encouraged. He passed by and left behind the faithfulness of God, yet God takes care of him. “Jehovah, take my life” (verse 4); “And behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise, eat! ... At his head was a cake, baked on hot stones, and a cruse of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of Jehovah came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise, eat; for the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God” (verses 4 - 8). This is particularly what those who serve can count on. The consideration of God for those who serve is very encouraging. The angel of Jehovah spoke not once, but twice. The second time is an added testimony to God’s care. In waiting for it you get what supports, he went in the strength of that food to [p. 316] Mount Horeb. He was just going to resign his commission. Moses received his commission, but did not want to go. There is a tendency with us to receive our commission and not go. God says, ‘I will enable you to go’. He had passed Beersheba and said, “Take my life”. Jehovah meets him in this wonderful way and strengthens him by this food to go to Horeb. God as it were says, ‘You are passing back seals of office, but the king’s government must go on’. You can reckon on God at Horeb; you are going back to the beginning. God met His servant there, for it was weakness, not will, with Elijah. God had begun at Horeb, and He would indicate to Elijah that He was not giving up. God says ‘I will accept your resignation but the king’s government must go on; the dispensation must be maintained. I have plenty of power at My disposal’. He causes all those things to pass before Elijah (verses 11 - 13). He was there Himself and in all the power that marked the beginning of His movements. Elijah is to know this. Changed circumstances are to be taken account of. Elijah should have been in the land serving the people. God says, ‘I will get someone else to do it’. This is the way God carries on His government or service, whatever the servant may do. God does not give up His servant but goes on with him in wonderful favour.
Verses 15 and 16. The next book brings out the service of those three men. Elijah is told here to anoint them. God still pursues His service; there is no lapse at all. A Prime Minister is supposed to propose another one, but Elijah had no thought of that. He said ‘All is over’, but God says ‘not at all; I am going to take up Ahab, and a nameless prophet, who is near enough to Me to give him My mind’. This shows the kind of people God can take up. The work goes on. The book of Ezekiel represents this great principle, the king’s government [p. 317] must go on. Far away from Jerusalem Ezekiel saw a wonderful array of power, all under the direction of a Man in heaven. In Ezekiel 1 we have the likeness of four living creatures, everything taken account of universally. The still small voice stimulates Elijah. He comes and serves with Ahab again, but only till the new officers are ready. There is a further word to him, “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus” (verse 15). So God links on now with Elijah those known to Him, what He had reserved to Himself, “Elisha the son of Shaphat ... shalt thou anoint prophet in thy stead”. The offices are all filled. Elijah has heard the divine voice linking him with those whom God had reserved for Himself. One thinks of the Lord’s servants a little as to how much place they have with us. We see here the wonderful thoughtfulness of God for those who serve, even though they may break down. Elijah interceded against the people, according to Romans 11: 2 - 4, which is not a levitical thought. How much thought is there as to their needs? Paul was ready to sacrifice his life in going to Jerusalem; he knew that bonds and imprisonments awaited him; but he went on. The Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good courage”, Acts 23: 11. Paul was not found pleading against the people. Moses took his place before Jehovah and intercedes for the people; he was prepared to sacrifice himself for them. Samuel says, “God forbid that I should sin ... in ceasing to pray for you”. How Moses rises from that point; he looms up in wonderful lustre. God is ready to honour a man who is willing to be blotted out for the saints. The man Moses is a great consideration for us; he was before his dispensation. He said, “Let me, I pray thee, see thy glory”.
Elisha comes in as one who poured water on the hands of Elijah. We see here the faithfulness of God in giving Elijah such a wonderful finish after all this.
[p. 318] Service is such an essential thing with the people of God; they are so scattered. How much do we think of those that serve us? Who watches for my soul? There are those who watch for our souls. How many were praying for Elijah? He wanted to be sustained. We think there is no need to pray for such a one. After a great victory the servant needs to be prayed for. What a difference between chapters 18 and 19! In chapter 18 Elijah slew four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal; in chapter 19 he runs away from Jezebel! It is an immense thing to get a conception of the greatness of the service. The anointing was in the right order. It was Elisha who actually anointed Jehu and Hazael. It was much better to bring in Elisha first, before anointing the two other men. See the position of the servant here. He has a signal victory, but it is in the flush of success that we overlook the necessity for preparation. We must have Gilgal. Chapter 19 brings out the danger, but brings out too what God is to the servant. Abraham was saved by Melchisedec coming to him with bread and with wine as he was exposed to the influence of the king of Sodom. Elijah had learned the lesson of the “soft gentle voice”; he was greatly delighted that God had a man. He found him; it was not accidental. God had Elisha in His mind; he was content to be the least of all. God can go on with His work through the most unlikely people. You cannot despise the meanest. The Syrian is the hereditary enemy of the people of God, ever ready to attack. It was an extremely dark day; Jezebel was in power in Samaria, and how is this tremendous attack to be met? We should never think of Ahab being used. I have been thinking of the word to Joshua, “As captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come”, Joshua 5: 14. You must let the Captain act Himself. He takes up unlikely persons. What you see is that God is unchanged. God has His own special vessels [p. 319] in view, but meantime there is no lapse, the work goes on. So Ahab is taken up. God shows how long He bears with those in responsible positions. This period synchronises with the Reformation as a type. There were those then in responsibility, kings and others, who acquiesced in the attack on idolatry. God went on with them as far as He could. Judgment does not descend on Ahab’s head, because he humbled himself, a wonderful evidence of God’s patience. But God has His own anointed ones. The service goes on through Sardis to Philadelphia, which corresponds to the ministry of the anointed ones. God commits Himself definitely to these, so that the work goes on; an anointed one is one who has the Spirit.
There is nothing about Elisha in all this, but his time was coming. You get the anointing in principle, in 2 Kings; Elisha does that, see 2 Kings 8: 13 and 2 Kings 9: 6. It was in the mind of God that grace should precede judgment. Elisha represents the grace of God, the heavenly element which comes in.
God gives a signal victory (chapter 20: 16); the servants of the princes of the provinces went out at noon, two hundred and thirty-two of them, and seven thousand of the children of Israel. These went out against Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings that helped him. The order is according to God. I think it was no longer a metropolitan but a universal movement. Metropolitanism is always in the way. The great principle of Rome is metropolitanism; here it is the universal thought, the servants of the princes of the provinces. The Reformation brought in all kinds of things. Ahab, and those with him, represent the general features of that movement. You get another type in Micah; he is selected rather than Elijah. As we draw near to the end of this section we see those in responsibility, king Ahab and king Jehoshaphat, depending on their kingly position,
[p. 320] sitting on their thrones in the open place at the entrance of the gate. There is nothing to come out of that. It shows also how far the prophetic ministry had sunk, until it became the mouthpiece of lying spirits. In chapter 22 the alliance of the two kings was wrong. Here they are in their pomp, but the prophet Micah says, “I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne”. The result of all this is the disclosure of the enemy. Ahab is flattered by lying prophets, spoken to by lying spirits to support an outward show in things relating to God, “Who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?”. “A spirit ... said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said unto him, Wherewith? and he said, I ... will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets”. In verse 24 we have a distinguished man; his name is given. Lying spirits go forth to support a false position. It is interesting to see that all the host of heaven was shown to Micah; all that was available for him. We hear of the Church of England and the Church of Rome about to come together. There are plenty of lying spirits to support them. Micah says (verse 23), “Behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets”. Finally he says, “Hearken, O peoples, all of you!”.
The Lord saved Jehoshaphat; his disguise did not hide him from Jehovah. So much for amalgamations with what is false. This is a time of lying spirits. It is simply dreadful, birds of heaven come and roost in its branches (Matthew 13: 32). In Babylon they are in a “hold”, or a prison (Revelation 18: 2). Rome will not allow them to say what they like, but Protestantism gives them liberty. Scripture calls them “unclean and hated”. The apostasy is manifesting itself now through Protestantism.