RECOVERY

J. McKillop

Ezra 8: 24, 26, 27; Matthew 18: 19, 20; Acts 3: 1–7; 2 Timothy 4: 11; Hebrews 13: 23

I have in mind, beloved brethren, to say something to encourage all of us in view of recovery.

In reading through Ezra’s book and the recovery there, one was impressed with the statement, “Two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold”. In the first chapter of the book we find a list of the vessels that were already given and counted, five thousand four hundred vessels of gold and silver (Ezra 1: 11), and all this in view of the service of God. In the scripture in Acts we find two men who bring about recovery in a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb, over forty years, and in 2 Timothy we find Mark recovered, and Timothy. In that way Peter and John and Mark and Timothy become “vessels of shining copper” which involves, beloved brethren, the process of judgment. As you know, the scripture speaks of copper being used in relation to the tabernacle system. Whatever part one may have in the divine system, the great principle of judgment must enter into it—personal self-judgment, and then there is God’s judgment which the copper represents, and there is assembly judgment. In the book of Revelation we have God saying as to the saints in relation to Babylon, “God has judged your judgment upon her” (Revelation 18: 20), so I thought, beloved brethren, that we might get help as we look at how God operates in the way of recovery.

The first person recovered, as the brethren would know, was Adam, and God did it Himself because there was no other to do it; He clothed Adam and his wife with coats of skin (Genesis 3: 21) and He set him up in mercy and grace in relation to what could be developed under God’s eye in the creation. Then He takes up Moses to recover His people out of Egypt—of course under God’s intervening power, but Moses was the law-giver and it was he who brought them out—and the testimony was that the people were to “stand still” at the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 13) “and see the salvation of Jehovah”.

There are various ways in which God operates in recovery. There is what is administrative; there is the way of priestly grace which I think is seen in Ezra; and there is a way of levitical service seen in Peter and John and in Mark and Timothy. I feel that the recovery brought out in Ezra, and specially as to these two copper vessels, is unique in the Scriptures. Copper has a great place in Scripture; we have the altar of burnt-offering composed of copper, and its horns and the staves for carrying it covered with copper; and God says through Moses in relation to their going into the land, in Deuteronomy 8: 9, that they will find stones of iron and dig in the mountains for copper. That involves exercise, dear brethren. It involves an understanding of why God specifically brings in copper in this way. My impression is, as we look over the Scriptures and see God’s ways with His people of old and with the assembly under Christ and in Paul’s ministry, that self-judgment is of prime importance if we are going to continue in the service of God for the recovery of persons.

It is interesting that these vessels were in Babylon. Artaxerxes was moved by God to send Ezra to beautify the house of God, and the vessels were made available for the recovery of the service of God at Jerusalem. It is interesting too, dear brethren, that God’s thoughts are always prime thoughts. He takes up His own thoughts, His own counsels, and He works them out. He works them out through persons. In some cases He works sovereignly Himself, apart from others, but generally the Lord works through His servants to bring about recovery. Copper is a prime metal, there is no alloy in it, but it has to be treated. It has to be brought under the constant heat of the furnace to eliminate the debris that may be in it, but it is a prime metal. God’s thoughts are prime thoughts and copper is a prime metal that God uses as a figure to let us understand something of the glory of His thoughts beginning with Himself, and we have this day the privilege of working out these thoughts for His glory.

Copper has to be used to keep it shining, otherwise it tarnishes, and many have become tarnished. They are not in use. They are not available for the service. They are not shining. I trust that my word today, simple as it is, will cause the beloved saints to become vessels available for the Master’s use. Shining faces!—I love to see the faces of the brethren shine as I look at them. I love to come into the meeting early and see the brethren come in. I have been with the beloved brethren in fellowship seventy years through God’s mercy and His grace and I love to see the brethren in many places, but one’s heart gets heavy at times because of the tarnish on these copper vessels that have been recovered and are not usable for the service of God, they are not usable to attract persons. But what is in mind in recovery is

“two of you”, two of the assembly; not just two people who have agreed to differ or agreed to go on. Amos says, “Shall two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3: 3). The Lord says in John’s gospel, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst, yourselves” (John 13: 35), and, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15: 12).

So these vessels come back from Babylon, and I would like to get to the prime thought that God has in mind for us in the “two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold”. Think of that! Redemption would be in mind in the silver earlier, the righteousness of God—that is our general position, but are we “vessels of shining copper”, available for God’s service, to the saints, to people around us “to succour by a word him that is weary”, Isaiah 50: 4? Or do we just like to slide along, go with the current, not pulling our share on the oar but just sliding along? But the Spirit of God has indicated that these vessels should be taken account of; “two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold”. I think in the application of it, in one’s simple thoughts, it means two of the assembly. That means we are moving in the light of what Christ has in mind as the greatest object for His heart. He “loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it” (Ephesians 5: 25), and as it says in Hebrews, “who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame” (Hebrews 12: 2). He went through it all, the cross, the grave, beloved brethren, to get the assembly, but He wants these “two vessels of shining copper” in His service, and we find that in Peter and John.

They were recovered persons! John was a recovered man. You may say, But did not John always stay with the Lord? He was in His bosom and leaned on His breast, but when they came to take the Lord in the garden they all fled, John with them, and left Him alone. It is recovered persons that are vital to the service of God and the service of the glad tidings. Then Peter denied the Lord, and the Lord told him he would do that. ‘No, Lord; suppose I have to die for You; I shall go with You’.

How like me, undependable! The first man is of no value in what God has in mind. Think of the grace of recovery in the great Priest, Christ, as He turned and looked at Peter as the cock crew. He looked at him, not with eyes of fire, not with eyes of rebuke; He looked at him with the eyes of the dove, the eyes of love, and what is the result? “Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly”, Luke 22: 62. But he was a recovered man. John 21 tells us that. He is recovered fully, and the Lord probing him brings him to it, “Lord … thou knowest that I am attached to thee”. He was attached to Christ, a recovered man, a shining vessel for the service of God. We had a touch the other night on the fishing trip. John had gone astray with Peter to fish. Any of the brethren here going fishing? I mean morally, looking for something that they cannot find. Stay with Christ and you will get the haul—greater than you ever expected.

“Cast the net at the right side of the ship”; and what did they find? They did not get minnows or little sardines—a hundred and fifty-three great fishes! Dear brethren, that is what we are looking for. Every recovered person in the light is a great fish for the service of God.

In the third of Acts we have “two vessels of shining copper” and the man looks at them, expecting to receive alms, but how wonderful what he received. He received the blessings of the gospel; he received a link of association and fellowship; and he was raised up. Peter says, “Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee—In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean …” Think of that Name, linked with the reproach of Christ, the Nazaraean.

How many love to be linked with the great churches, the great big edifices! “He raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God”. We have here another good burnished copper vessel, shining in the light, as the sequel shows. I do not want to go into detail, but there are things in the Scriptures so delightful, so positive.

Now, dear young brothers, I have a word for you. Who are you following—someone like Peter who wants to go fishing elsewhere, going out of the province that the Lord has brought them into the service for? The Lord said to Peter, “I will make you become fishers of men”, Mark 1: 17. You are not made a vessel overnight. There is a process, the same as the process in making copper; there is the furnace, and the mill, the opening up and rolling it out, thin or thicker, making it available to be wrought into vessels. I know, dear brethren, the physical side. I started to learn to be a coppersmith when I was fourteen years of age, and I loved to see that shining copper, and every time we finished a vessel, what did we do? We took it and polished it to make it look beautiful. And the truth is, if you are not in use in the service of God, you become tarnished. There is a look of dullness in you. Let us not have any dull faces here today, not because of what I am saying, but because of the ministry of our beloved brother as to the death of Christ, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension, the glories of that Man in heaven who is shining out with all the glory of God in His blessed face, available to shine in our hearts “for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 4: 6.

Now we think of Paul and Silas in prison. Sometimes in pressure persons are recovered, and that is what happened in the gaol at Philippi. God came in in His own inimitable way and caused the earthquake, and all the bonds were loosed and the jailor rushed in, having asked for lights, saying, “What must I do that I may be saved?”, Acts 16: 30. The two vessels of shining copper that had been under pressure gave light to that jailor in what they said—“Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. Not just yourself, but the whole house. We want all these little copper vessels available for service in the house of God.

Then we come to Timothy and he has been released from prison. What a vessel Timothy was! What a vessel for the young men to emulate! It says, “… our brother Timotheus is set at liberty”. Oh how choice these expressions are, ‘our brother’, ‘our sister’, the two together, Aquila and Priscilla. Sometimes she is mentioned first and sometimes he is mentioned first.

She is equal in that way as serviceable with her husband, and he is equal to the sister, his wife, in affection. I think they bring out a beautiful example for households. It is of interest that the laver was put in the tabernacle system. Do you know how they got it? It was made of copper, and it is of interest that the priests had to wash their hands and their feet before they entered into the service of God. How they got that laver is testing to the sisters. Do you all know how they got it? Are you prepared to provide a laver today? They took their looking-glasses and these were melted down and made into a laver. You can still in your spirit, beloved sisters, commit yourselves to the service of Christ. It is wonderful how these copper mirrors or looking-glasses—they were not glass, they were copper were made into a laver for the purification of the priests for their service Godward.

Now we find Paul saying, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself”, as he addresses Timothy. “Luke alone is with me”—they had all left him, Demas “having loved the present age”—so, “Luke alone is with me. Take Mark …”. Oh how delightful! a recovered vessel, coming out in principle from Babylon. Paul says, “he is serviceable to me for ministry”, for levitical service. Earlier he had said as to Timothy, “I have no one like-minded who will care with”—‘feeling’? No!—“genuine feeling how ye get on”, Philippians 2: 20. It was real concern, real interest in the truth with these two younger men, and their service is now available for the saints, and the great apostle of the Gentile church is bringing them to be serviceable to him. O, dear brethren, let us be serviceable to the brethren! Let us bring out some of the glorious shining features of the Man in the glory!

Think of what Mark did after he was converted and brought back to Paul. He wrote his gospel, and no doubt Paul gave him much that was instructive that Mark brought into his gospel. Think of the urgency of Mark’s gospel, how the Lord comes in directly in relation to the urgency of the conditions, casts out the demon, heals the leper, raises Peter’s wife’s mother up. These things are practical. By the power of the Spirit of God in inditing the Scriptures we know how to conduct ourselves in God’s house which is “the pillar and base of the truth” (1 Timothy 3: 15), but let us, beloved brethren, look on those whose faces are shining. I can go back sixty-two years to my first meeting with beloved J. Taylor in Indianapolis in 1923 when I was a young man fresh from this country. After that meeting Mr. Taylor was speaking to some and I was going over to hear and a dear servant of the Lord, now with Him, said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I want to hear what Mr. Taylor is saying’. ‘Fine’, he says, ‘Come in front of me’. I laid hold of that man and his ministry and I remained—thank God for His grace—with him until the Lord took him home.

Beloved brethren, I just submit these things, simple as they are, but, I trust, attractive to us so that these “vessels of shining copper” may be more in evidence among us and that the result of our service will be recovery in the way of administration, recovery in the way of priestly grace, or recovery in the way of levitical service. Whatever the Lord commits to us, let us do it with all our might for His glory and the blessing of the beloved brethren whom the Lord loved and gave Himself for, for His name’s sake.

Address in Edinburgh
5 April 1985