"THE LORD'S COMMANDMENT"
“THE LORD’S COMMANDMENT”
Matthew 28:1-10; Matthew 28:20 (first clause); 1 Timothy 6:13-16
I have in mind, in reading these scriptures, to dwell upon the idea of commandment. As you will observe, in the last scripture read, the injunction is in regard to “the commandment”. The commandment has peculiar application now, especially as the keeping of it evidences love for Christ. However much we may speak of our love for Christ, we can only show it by keeping His commandments. A non-lover of Christ, I need not say, is unthinkable in the assembly, viewed in its proper relations and material. The apostle says, “If any one love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha”, (1 Corinthians 16:22). He makes much of this feature in writing to the Corinthians, that is, of love to Christ; he says that a spiritual man or a prophet would prove himself by recognising the things that he wrote as the Lord’s commandment (chapter 14:37) that is to say, he emphasises the idea of divine commandment coming by am accredited representative. The apostle asserts that he was accredited, no one can represent God save as accredited in some way, so he says, “The signs indeed of the apostle were wrought among you in all endurance, signs, and wonders, and works of power”, (2 Corinthians 12:12).
In this first scripture the angel says to the women, “I have told you”. There is a good deal of latitudinarianism abroad among the people of God; that is to say, your view is as good as mine, and mine is as good as yours; this principle sets aside the idea of accredited representation. God has never left Himself without this, so that we may be sure (and we shall be sure, if spiritual) as to the Lord’s commandment. The angel, here in Matthew, represents accredited [p. 191] divine representation. He says, The Lord is not here. We need divinely accredited representation if the Lord be not here. Thus the angel speaks as such; he says, “Behold, I have told you”. As we look at the description given we cannot doubt his authority.
This scripture, as we should expect, is in full accord with this gospel, for it is the gospel that presents to us the Son of David. You will all remember the opening verse, “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David”. It is therefore the gospel in which you may look for divine authority. How much this element is needed among the saints of God! And so, as the genealogy is pursued by the Spirit, as David is reached, it is the king — “Jesse begat David the king”. He was pre-eminently the king, and “the word of a king is power”, (Ecclesiastes 8:4). It is also said, “A king sitting on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes”, (Proverbs 20:8). So that we may look in this gospel for authority, but authority first of all in One who, as Son of David, has moral power as well as power by divine right; these two things must go together. There is the doctrine of the divine right of kings, but then that right can only be taken up by one who is morally fitted for it, and that One is the Son of David.
Moral power is of immense importance. Solomon, who typifies Christ, is presented to us in the divine narrative as a man of great wisdom and intelligence, and withal of compassion; a man who could bring to light, in his wisdom, the mother of the child (1 Kings 3). And yet he was then but a young man; this may remind young brothers and sisters that moral power is not to be regarded as the peculiar possession of older ones. It is within the reach of the youngest, for David says of Solomon that, as coming to the throne, he was “young and tender” (1 Chronicles 29:1), but nevertheless he had such wisdom as to bring to light which of the two claimants was [p. 192] the mother of the child. Such discernment, in a spiritual sense, is an important element in the house of God. It is required if we are to discern the maternal instincts that are proper to the assembly.
But then his knowledge was universal; we are told that he “spoke of the trees, from the cedar-tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of cattle, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes”, (1 Kings 4:33). Besides that, he was well versed in moral things. The book of Ecclesiastes shows the depth of his penetration into moral things, good and bad. There is nothing left behind by him in that field, in human conditions “under the sun” he has left nothing to be told. “What can the man do”, he says, “that cometh after the king?” (Ecclesiastes 2:12).
And then as to marital affairs, we see in Solomon a man capable of a most remarkable composition, showing that there was there an understanding of holy love. His song, which is called, “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s”, treats of holy love; no one can read it aright or profitably, save as he reads it from that point of view. He had also great discernment as to family affairs. The book of Proverbs is from the son of David. Every young man and young woman should read that book from the standpoint that the writer knew parental love. Proverbs speaks of parental affection and the due response in children; you have in it the wisdom of the son of David, as entering into all family relationships — and how entangled they are! The family idea is becoming lost in this world. In the East, indeed, it hardly ever had a footing; in the Western world it had a certain place, and hence, as I apprehend, this section of the world was selected in the wisdom of God for the development of the assembly. East of Palestine the gospel and the mystery made little or no headway. In regard to marriage, the Lord goes back to the [p. 193] beginning; (Matthew 19:8). Genesis is quoted in Ephesians 5:31 in the same connection. The saints need to be reminded of that wisdom that preserves intact family relationships. We cannot be in the assembly according to God, save as our houses are ordered according to Him. But I speak particularly of the spiritual family, and Proverbs is intended to maintain us in that relation. It is intended to maintain the links between us and the Father and the Son, and with each other as brethren.
Thus, dear brethren, you can see from these three books, and what I have cited from 1 Kings, how morally qualified the son of David was to rule. And hence the setting of Matthew’s gospel, and especially this chapter. It is to enforce the idea of rule and of commandment coming to us through accredited representatives; so that we may have no question in our minds as to its being of God. “Let him recognise”, says the apostle, “the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment”, (1 Corinthians 14:37). And when we come to commandment thus given we are on the surest footing. Acting on it we are perfectly certain of our position. As one said, ‘Here I stand, I can do no other’. It is a fine moment in the history of a young christian when he reaches the sure footing of “the Lord’s commandment”. It sets aside man’s will, what he would have — it is the Lord’s commandment.
Now these women, Mary Magdalene and the other, came to see the sepulchre. They needed adjustment. There was not so much in coming to see the sepulchre, and yet others had not come. There was no rush that morning, and yet it was the most glorious of mornings. Never a morning like it in the history of time! There was no stir, but these two women came. How devoted and privileged they were! “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”. They came to see the sepulchre, we are told, and then we have the description [p. 194] of the accredited representative — the angel. Is there anyone here unbelieving enough to assume that God has left Himself without an accredited witness in this world? He has not. There is such a thing in this world as accredited witness, and that is the point here. “An angel of the Lord”, we are told, had descended from heaven. He descended from heaven. You see, Matthew always sets heaven over against Jerusalem. For him heaven had superseded Jerusalem, and heaven was asserting itself in the most positive and unmistakable manner; as later, on the day of Pentecost, there was heard “a sound from heaven” (Acts 2:2) as of a rushing mighty wind. There also heaven was asserting itself. And so here, an angel had descended from heaven, and there had been a great earthquake; the angel had rolled away the stone and sat upon it, and his countenance was like lightning and the keepers were like dead men for fear. Can there be any question as to this angel being accredited?
And so he says to the women, “Fear not ye”. There is nothing to fear from an accredited witness from heaven, if we love the Lord. The Corinthians were losing sight of Paul; they were discrediting him indeed. A sorrowful situation, but he says, “examine your own selves if ye be in the faith”, (2 Corinthians 13:5). They were an evidence of his apostleship. We very readily slip into discrediting what God accredits. It is a most serious matter to be at issue with God in this way. That is what the Corinthians were doing, and yet they were christians. But the angel says to the women, “Fear not ye” — they loved the Lord. The lovers of Christ have no fear in regard to divine representation, even in the sense in which it appears in a king, or a president, or a policeman; but I am now dwelling on one qualified to represent God directly — an angel come down from heaven — the lovers of Christ have nothing to fear from him. We [p. 195] have nothing to fear from anything that God establishes or supports — it is all for us. As regards angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). The angel says, “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one”.
And then he says, “He is not here”. And I say to you tonight, in the same sense, The Lord is not here. The position is that the Lord is not here, He is in heaven; He is risen and gone into heaven. He is here in the sense of representation, and woe be to him who sets that aside, that is, the principle that the Lord is here in a representative way. The point is, “He is not here”; but the angel was there, and he was there armed with divine credentials. Who could deny it? If you had asked those keepers, could they deny it? They could only do so by lying, which they did. There are those who lie to set aside this great principle of the resurrection, and accredited representation. The angel further says, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay” — they are invited to do that. It was “the Lord”, not ‘Jesus’ there. Then he says, “go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him”; it is a question of commandment, he says, “I have told you”. Can anyone here say that such a word has not come to him? “Behold, I have told you”, he says.
Now I want you to see the effect of this. They were “not disobedient to the heavenly vision”, as Paul says of himself later; (Acts 26:19). They ran, it says, to tell His disciples with “fear and great joy”. Not that there was really occasion for fear, he told them there was not; but in view of what we are it is a very wholesome combination. Where were they going? They were running to the disciples to tell them. Happy is he today who is in such an employ! There are many who are fitted for it, thank [p. 196] God, under commandment! The idea of being a free-lance is foreign to Scripture. There are many such. “I go a-fishing”, says Peter (John 21:3); he is doing what he wishes to do. Poor man! How many there are like him! The apostle Paul, on the contrary, says, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10.) It is a great thing to be consciously under command, and no christian is right till he learns that. Thus we are available to God in His service.
In the case of the woman of Zarephath, God says to the prophet, “I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee”, (1 Kings 17:9). The whole creation is under that principle; man has veered from it, carrying all under with him; but the whole physical system obeys divine commandment. What about us? I appeal to young people here, Have you the sense of being under command? You may say, You want to make us legal. Not at all! for “his commandments are not grievous”, (1 John 5:3). I have often thought of regulations that are in wisdom imposed upon us, even in a meeting like this; but there should never be rules formulated or imposed upon the people of God that do not bear the character of the perfect law of liberty; (James 1:25). That belongs to the people of God, it is their heritage, the royal law (chapter 2:8), the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob; (Deuteronomy 33). And so the commandment is not grievous; every lover of Christ finds pleasure in the commandment, and what you find is that there is always an advantage in it, as we see in what follows.
The women ran to tell His disciples, and the Lord met them. Is that not worthwhile? It is not now an accredited representative — it is Himself. As they ran to bring His disciples word, Jesus met them, and, as it were, saluted them, saying “Hail!” What an honour! Is that far away from us? Not at all. John tells us that the lover of Christ who keeps His [p. 197] commandment should be loved of His Father and of Him, and that He would manifest Himself to him. You see, it is the keeping of the commandment. I would urge on young christians the importance, as loving Christ, of being under command and doing it — keeping it. You will find a manifestation of Christ in it. “Jesus met them, saying, Hail!” How delighted He was as He saw those quickened steps hastening in the fulfilment of a command; a commandment not directly from Himself, but from an angel, an accredited representative. He says, “Hail!” now they are in direct touch with Him. You see how the commandment brings you into touch with Christ. Those who disregard the commandment do not come in touch with Christ, nor do they show their love for Christ; He manifests Himself to those who keep the commandment. And now they hold Him by the feet, and they worship Him.
But the commandment is not everything. The Lord says to them, “go, bring word to my brethren”; there is also the word; they are linked together in John 14. The ‘word’ is an additional thought; it is adjusting — the mind of the Lord. One said to Him, “how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” He said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (verses 22,23). That is a further thought. These dear women needed that, no doubt. This was no time to hold Him by the feet, for He was in movement, He had others to see, doubtless, that day. But they worshipped Him, they had the manifestation, and would be prepared for the word. Now, they bring the disciples word; but the Lord does not here call them disciples, He calls them “my brethren”. The angel sent them to the disciples; the Lord sent them to the brethren. You see how beautiful that is, to be sent to the brethren by the Lord. ‘Brethren’ is a family term. He says, “go, bring word to my brethren”, and they go and tell the brethren that they should see Him in Galilee.
Over against their action we see — and it is a very solemn thing — that the enemy acts. In their keeping the commandment of the Lord, there is a lying movement to discredit it at the same time. As they went to tell the brethren there was a movement on the part of the enemy to deny the resurrection of Christ. I do not dwell on that, but it shows what we have to contend with in keeping the commandments of Christ. And the word to the apostles is, “teaching them to observe ... whatsoever I have commanded you”. They were to see Him in Galilee, and He met them there. The Lord came to them in the mountain, and said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”.
What a word to those who are in the position of teaching! Can we make disciples? You see what a test that is to all of us who are seeking to serve the Lord. How can I make a disciple until I am a disciple myself, having learnt from the Master? A disciple has learnt from the Master. It is a question of moral power in those who are sent. True disciples can be made in no other way. “Baptising them”, He says, “to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”; this introduces those baptised into the full light of God revealed in Christ. And then, “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”.
Of course this is apostolic, but it bears on us in principle. I am speaking particularly of what the Lord commanded. Let us not let slip one iota of this. There can be no compromise whatever on this line, no meeting in the plain of Ono, as of old; (Nehemiah 6:2). How much compromise there has been in the so-called evangelisation of the world! Kings have been baptised and remained kings and sinners,
[p. 199] and other lawless men accepted as well! That is not discipleship, that is not “teaching them to observe ... whatsoever I have commanded you”. Nothing must be let slip of what is commanded or Satan will have an advantage. Then He says, as if to assure them that all that He said could be done, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”.
There is just another word, and that is in Timothy, and it is a very solemn one. It is one of the most solemn charges, if not the most solemn charge, that you can find. He is enjoined before God, and before Christ Jesus, to keep the commandment “without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. It is urgent at the present time. We cannot say we have not got the commandment; we have, and it is to be kept. We are enjoined in the presence of God and in the presence of Christ Jesus, to keep it without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The commandment takes the place of Himself. “He is not here”, says the angel, but there was one there accredited to convey His mind — His will, and the women carried it out. They stand before us as models of obedience, and of the gain of it, for the Lord met them.
And so it is until the Lord comes, until His appearing, that the commandment is to be kept without spot. Then we shall have the display of personal authority, for that is what it is; authority is not vested in a council, it is vested in a Person — that is the divine thought. The divine thought is the endowment of one Person with divine authority, so that when He appears He shall show in His time who is “the blessed and only Potentate” — the blessed One, and the only One, who is “King of kings, and Lord of lords”; that is to say, all divine authority is vested in Christ, “who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no [p. 200] man has seen, nor is able to see”. What a prospect, as we suffer under the irregularities of the government of this world! It is not that one says a word against them (we recognise rulers as of God), but we see the irregularities and the powerlessness of legislation.
What a prospect to see it in its infinite perfection in one Person, the King of kings, and Lord of lords! What an incentive there is in all this to love His appearing and look for it! Every one who loves His appearing, we are told, will have a crown of righteousness; (2 Timothy 4:8). Why have I a crown? Because I am righteous now, I love righteousness if I love His appearing. As the hymn puts it:
‘We look for Thine appearing, Thy presence here to bless; We greet the day that’s nearing, When all this woe shall cease’. (200:4)
That is what we look for; but what is our employ in the meantime? Keeping His commandment. Be assured of it, the commandment takes the place of Christ in this sense; it is here in His stead. The Holy Spirit enables us to carry it out. It stands for Christ. The angel said, “He is not here”, but instead there is accredited witness in the power of the Spirit; so that the lover of Christ has no question as to the commandment, that it is the commandment of the Lord.
Accredited representation of Christ here lies in the Holy Spirit, but He uses believers in this service. The ‘seal’ (2 Timothy 2) implies this representation in a moral way. It has on the one side, as it were, “The Lord knows those that are his”, and on the other, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. Where these things are maintained, there is divine representation in a moral way. The Holy Spirit supports it and makes it effective, without pretension to be official. May we all have part in it!