DIVINE MESSAGES
[p. 127] DIVINE MESSAGES
2 Samuel 19: 11 - 15; 2 Samuel 7:4-13; 2 Samuel 7:18; John 20: 17 - 23
Each of these scriptures affords a divine message sent. The first is to the fathers of Judah as being slow in bringing the king back; the second to David by Nathan delivered to him as to his service; and the third to the disciples of Christ to elevate them, to raise them to a higher level than that which they had hitherto enjoyed. We may see that what is to be said should be progressive, the first having application to persons — some such may be here tonight — who are slow in according Christ His due. It was a very critical time; although the main crisis was over in the destruction of Absalom the reconstruction period had begun. We may say that we are in the reconstruction period, especially in view of the great breakdown in the history of the assembly. God has come in in reconstruction, but many are slow to go the whole way and accord the Lord His due. He is King — God has made Him Lord and Christ. There has been a great revolt from Him; but the crisis was reached, as ever, for God never lets matters go entirely out of His hand. He lets evil go a long way at times, yea, even orders evil; it says in one scripture He creates evil, which scripture has to be understood in its context. We have a concrete example of it in David himself; one passage says that the Lord moved David to number the people, and another says that Satan did it. Both are true, but the first is more solemn because it is God’s ordering on account of the state of His people. So it is that a great revolt was allowed, if one may not say ordered, because of the great declension that arose in the early history of the assembly. It was allowed to go on for centuries, but the crisis came and Christ triumphed — not that all [p. 128] were restored, but the principle of triumph was there, and it is here now. But many are tardy in recognising the full result of the triumph. It implies acknowledgment of the whole truth, that we are to come to God’s choice — He has made Jesus Lord and Christ, and the triumph in the recovery implies that this is owned, believers are marked as keeping His commandments. No one has any claim to christianity really who does not keep His commandments; and the keeping of His commandments implies that He is acknowledged as in the place of command. God has made Him both Lord and Christ. The term ‘Lord’ is authority, ‘Christ’ is operative or constructive. We must acknowledge the Lord before we can come into the constructive services of Christ. He is the One that does all God’s will; and if He is to do all that is necessary for me there must be the unreserved acknowledgment of His authority, so that the convert says ‘Lord’, as Paul (Saul of Tarsus) did. Now there are many, I fear, who are tardy in going the whole road involved, the unreserved acknowledgment of Christ’s authority; whether it be general, or broken up in detail in specific demands, the test is that I keep them; otherwise I have no claim at all, no right to claim to be His, or at any rate to love Him, for He says that is the evidence of it. In a crisis, peculiarly so where a revolt has taken place, our state is disclosed, our rebellious state; and the only hope of being acknowledged now as one that loves Christ is by the evidence of keeping His commandments. That will bring in Christ as operative. Christ dwelling in our hearts is the supreme thought of that, that He has a place in our hearts as the Christ. The heart is the very centre of operations, and it is on the principle of faith — a great universal thought, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”, Ephesians 3: 17. It will be operative in relation to others, too, as the Christ dwells in their hearts, and great things will come [p. 129] about. That is what is going on, but some are out of it. The young people here — or many of them — I am afraid, may be out of it, and this first scripture is for you particularly. So I may say I am here with a message — there are three messages implied in what I have read, and this is the first. The word ‘messenger’ has a great place in Scripture — it is applied to the Lord Himself — and one may humbly say that one has a message for the young people, and that message here is, “Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?” That was the question. The house, for the purpose of the present moment, must be taken to be one’s heart, so that we must look into our hearts and see how they stand in this matter. Are others keeping them, or is there another keeping them, besides Christ? Why then should I be the last? others are ahead of me. The king says, “Seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house”, meaning that there was a great movement in the reconstruction period. If I am not keeping the commandments, I am out of that. It is a reconstruction period now and construction requires material; and material in the sense in which I am speaking of it requires absolute obedience to Christ, otherwise you are out of it, you are unfit for the structure. So that the word, the message, is very plain and simple why are you the last? — putting it off maybe for some period of time which you have in your mind that you will reach. But how can you tell that you will reach it? You may, in the goodness of God; for He does promise long life to young people. It is not that He means to make us earthly or earth dwellers, but it is natural in young people to see good days, to live long in the earth which the Lord our God gives us. It is quoted in the epistle as cited in the Old Testament — the epistle that affords us the greatest principles, the most exalted truth, the heavenly side of the position — the epistle to the Ephesians; and yet the [p. 130] young people are promised to see good days, to live long on the earth. It is a blessing. God is always ready to take account of young people, to encourage them. In that section the word is, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord”; that is, godly parents would bring their children up not only to obey themselves but “in the Lord”. So that as the light of the epistle to the Ephesians comes into the soul of a young person he is ready for it on account of having been brought up in obedience. But then the question is, why are you behind? why are others ahead of you in bringing the King back to His house? Notice that the King sends spiritual men with this message he sends Zadok, pre-eminently the priest of those days, a man that reappears in the millennium according to Ezekiel, the priestly head because of his faithfulness. This is a most faithful message; as it were great pains are used so that the bearer of the message should not antagonise us in any way. A priestly man will not do that, he will exercise grace, and so there is not only Zadok but Abiathar also. It is a priestly matter and the young people need it. They are so easily offended, turning away like a child because something has happened, even going so far as to say, ‘I will not remain in the fellowship any more’. They do not know what they are saying; they think these matters are optional, whereas they are not optional. Easily offended, and hence these messengers, Zadok and Abiathar, would rather allay all resentment and say, Now why are you delaying, you men of Judah? You know you are nearer to David tribally than any. Is there anyone here that says, ‘I am not as near as that to David’? Then you are eliminating yourself from the heritage. That is the position, you belong to the tribe of Judah, for it is to them the message is sent, and why should you be below your tribal position? You have great advantages in that the King is of your tribe, and He is ready to say “I am bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh”. Why should I throw that away for some paltry thing in this world, why should I be the last, for some paltry hindrance, to bring Him back to His house? He is regarding us in that light. No doubt the house was in that tribe, although primarily in the tribe of Benjamin, it is regarded as being in Jerusalem, belonging to Judah. Think of what was involved in not making way for the king to come back there. Well, thank God, the message was successful: the messengers were successful, David was successful, Zadok was successful, Abiathar was successful. The message bowed the hearts of the men of Judah; in fact it was David, he did it. The whole matter reverts back to Christ, for it is He who is doing it. Whatever I am doing here tonight, He is the Operator — for Christ means that. He bowed the hearts of the men of Judah, and as you will observe, it says, “Even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants”. That is a very thorough thought. If you profess to love Christ and have Him back in His house, you will not omit His servants; you will have them back, too. It is often the test of our genuineness as to how we regard the Lord’s servants; or the Lord’s people even, extending it further. Some of us were speaking this evening of the marriage in Cana of Galilee; Jesus was invited to it and His disciples. Simon, the Pharisee, did not invite His disciples; he only had the thought that Jesus was a distinguished Man and he would honour himself by inviting Him — many do that — but His disciples are not mentioned. Here there is true recovery. True bowing of the heart to Christ, to the message and to the messengers, as I may say, will lead you to receive not only the King but His servants, for He needs servants. What can any king do without servants? You do well to let them all come, because they will all serve you. Do not omit any of the Lord’s servants; if you receive Him receive them, because He works through them. He has made a careful selection of them and they are all for you, as Paul says, “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, ... all are yours”. Why should I shut them out of my house? they are appointed of the Lord to serve Him.
Another thing it says, “The king returned, and came to Jordan”. That is the next thing. You say, ‘To Jordan? what does that mean?’ You have never broken bread, we will say; you have never committed yourself to the fellowship; well, the King is saying, That is the idea, it is My death. The Lord is saying it. You have to go there. The King is coming back, He is coming into your house; but then if there is any movement at all, any love, any genuineness in your profession that the King is coming back to His house, you must move, too, and move in the direction that the flesh abhors. The King came to the Jordan. Now it is your turn to move. “And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan”. A fine move! They were to march down from Jerusalem to Jordan. What glory shone in them! It is from glory to glory when we are on the return to Christ, when there is a move back to Christ; it is the work of God. It would be glorious to see those men going down from Jerusalem. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘We are going to meet the king. We have already sent word to him to return, and his servants; we are going to meet him’. There is something on now. The brethren are rejoicing when they see young people moving that way, going to Gilgal, where the flesh is rolled away, the reproach of Egypt, to meet the King. And not only that; He would be ashamed of them if it were otherwise. Christ has no pleasure in the flesh at all, He has died to put it away from the face of God. He would honour going to Gilgal. It is really where [p. 133] all the reproach of Egypt that attaches to us had to be rolled away, and so we can take the King back to His house.
The next thing is in chapter 7. David himself had received a message. It is now a question of a servant being limited in his service, which most of us do not like. We like to have a free hand, but God reserves His right to say, ‘I have other servants, and other thoughts. You are only one’. David was the king and had a good desire in his heart, as of course anyone serving the Lord would assume to have, but let us never forget that God has His thoughts. How great are His thoughts, they cannot be numbered or counted; He is God and I am man, limited of necessity. God is God. How great a thing it is to have to do with God at all. He says to David, You were only caring for the sheep when I took you up.. It is well to be reminded of this, that God takes us up as He pleases. You were following the sheep; you are now a great man, like the kings of the earth; you have a great name. You want to build Me a house but I have other thoughts. The message implies all this, so that the point, dear brethren, in this message that each of us who is seeking to serve has to recognise is that God has His own thoughts. What I am doing does not cover all that God has in mind. Even what Paul did, did not cover all that God had in His mind. God has a right to reserve His own thoughts, the eventuation of His own thoughts, and to use whom He will, lest any servant should assume that he is essential, that God cannot do without him. No doubt he is essential — everyone, such as David, that God takes up is essential — God would not have taken him up otherwise; but he is not everything, great as he is. God has other thoughts and He is waiting to let them come out, and one of the greatest of these thoughts is sonship. This message was carried by a man whose name signifies Gift. He was a worthy man. This is [p. 134] the first time he is mentioned; of course he had a place with David before, but the Spirit of God waits to mention Nathan in this connection. He is a reserve man. That is another great thought in the service of God, that God has reserve men and they come out when they are needed, according to what God has in His mind. Nathan was needed at this time, he was the man for the moment. He failed at the beginning, he told David to proceed and do what he had in his mind to do. He was wrong in that, but he soon corrects himself. God corrected him, He spoke to him that night and said, Deliver this message to David. As I am speaking, dear brethren, I would take it for myself; God has other thoughts, thoughts that I may not understand. He has reserve people, whether they are already in the field or otherwise.
He knows them and He may have other thoughts to set out. Peter laboured very much as an apostle, the leading apostle, but the time came when God took up another: He took up Paul, and immediately Paul is on the ground he preaches the Son of God. That was a great thought. It was the thought that Nathan had, it was involved in the message. We never hear of Peter preaching the Son of God; he knew about the Son of God but we never hear of his preaching the Son of God, but Paul, as soon as he is on the field, is preaching the Son of God, and we may say thankfully that Peter is in accord with this immediately.
He is not resentful. We are told that he went everywhere, went to all quarters, meaning that he is not any more centring in Jerusalem, but that there is a new holy current flowing that is in connection with the sonship of Christ, and it implies that the economy is given into His hand, as John says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand”. That economy means that there are to be assemblies in different cities of the world and that the administration of heaven’s bounty is to flow out [p. 135] through those cities, those meetings, those assemblies, and Peter is not behind in this. It says he went to all quarters, and he comes down to Joppa, and there is a man there who is paralysed and he calls him by name and says, “Arise, and make thy bed”. That is Paul’s doctrine, although Peter did not understand it. Learn to do things for yourselves, in your own locality; the principle of sonship, rightly understood, will enable us, however small, to go on, to carry on; the principle of sonship is enough to enable us to carry on, the Spirit of God enables us each one to do his part. That is what Peter has in mind. He is abreast of the times, so to say. If he is to be superseded or eclipsed he is ready for it, and that is the attitude of every servant. In sending this message to David God is most gracious. I am going to build you a house, He says. I have settled the matter for you for ever; you have no need to be anxious, I have settled your place for ever, and David goes in and sits before the Lord without an atom of jealousy in his heart, he is full of worship. This is an important matter for any of us who may be serving. God may need someone else to do it, anything He has to stress; but we can be sure that God has spoken of our house for a great while to come, the matter is settled for ever — “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven”, Psalm 119: 89. His counsels are settled; not only are they going through in a general way but for each of us. And so David goes in and sits before the Lord; he is perfectly happy, never more intelligent. He never used such a list of holy, divine appellations as in these few verses; he is perfectly restful. That is the effect of this message.
The final thought is in John’s well-known verses. My one thought now, dear brethren, is to show that this message is to elevate us in a moral sense, because we are apt to be very small at all times in our thoughts, and to use terms of abnegation in regard to ourselves [p. 136] which sometimes we do not mean, and I do not think they are of any value at all if they are not genuine. How Paul could say that he was “less than the least of all saints” it is not easy to say, but he said it, and you may be certain he spoke the truth.
How could he say that? I am sure it was in the light of the great elevation that he understood himself to have in the counsels of God. He understood the Son of God. Association with Christ as Son settles the whole matter. I can well afford to be little in my own eyes, and it is needful that I should be because the flesh is so assiduous in its prominence in the most spiritual of us. It is needful that one should maintain the level that divine purpose has given in Him. In the power of that Paul could speak of himself as little. Paul said what was absolutely true from his point of view when he said I am “less than the least of all saints”. There was some sense in which that was absolutely true. Paul says that he knew a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven. That was true, too, and it gave him a lower status than that man in that sense. It is well to recognise it.
Whilst following our status or calling according to the purposes of God, we must not forget to reckon any disadvantages that mark us according to the government of God. The government of God may mean disabilities in me or in any of us, and if I am an honest man I shall observe them. God intends us to observe them; anything that detracts from me as a man in this world I must observe it; but never lose sight of the counsels of God. That is what this message means, the greatest of all messages, I suppose, at least in the sense that it gives the saints their divine calling. For you will find what eventuates in the passage — and that is why I read it right down — is that I am sent. The Lord says, after coming in amongst the brethren, “Peace be unto you”, and they were glad to see Him; but then He says, “Peace be unto you” again, and He says, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit; Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”. This is a most important thing — that we are trustworthy. The elevation is for the moment, to make us trustworthy, to make us representative of God, of the Father, and of the Son, and so trustworthy that the Lord can say to us, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted”. It is confidence. The Lord does not trust the flesh in any of us. Take a man like Samuel, he failed as an old man, he would have anointed another than David, so that no one is immune from the enemy’s suggestions, however spiritual. Even Joseph failed, he would have the wrong man promoted. So that confidence implies that I identify myself wholly and solely with the work of God in me. This is an abstract view. There is nothing wrong with the saints in this view; it is the abstract view and I am entitled to take it, to regard myself wholly and solely in relation to the work of God, and the Lord says, You can be trusted. Nothing but the work of God in us can be trusted. That is why, I believe, we get this abstract view in this message, that we may treasure it in our hearts, that we are identified with the work of God. Nothing else will stand, all else is untrustworthy and will break down. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you ... . Receive the Holy Spirit”. So that, dear brethren, you can see how this last message is the greatest of the three. It is most essential for our testimony here, for our place in heaven by and by, for our place in the assembly, too, and the service of God. To forgive people is a hard thing, I mean if you have to do with them every day and there are transgressions upon transgressions, it is hard to forgive,
[p. 138] but the Lord is trusting us to forgive. He says, whom you forgive heaven will forgive, and you do not want to be out of accord with heaven, and the only way to be in accord with heaven is to identify yourself with the work of God, the abstract thought, and then rely on the Spirit’s power — “the Holy Spirit” it is here”Receive the Holy Spirit”, so that there is power to hold myself in relation to the work of God, and I am trustworthy.