GENUINENESS

^[p. 478] GENUINENESS

Romans 2:28,29; Revelation 3:9; Esther 3:13 - 15; Esther 8:3 - 6; Esther 9:12 - 16

It is in mind to speak about genuineness. At no time was it more needed than now. I have selected these verses from both Testaments because they speak about the Jews as representing genuineness and how it is worked out in the detecting of evil, and in dealing with it. Evil is on the increase, and it is taking on proportions publicly and nationally which are affecting the Lord’s people who are genuine. The public course of things is bearing in that direction. The enemy simply cannot bear that there should be those, almost hidden, yet genuine in regard of what is of God; that is, out-and-outers, as we may say. The enemy has watched this for years, and it has become increasingly abhorrent to him. He has moved internationally and nationally to circumvent it, and to this end would dull our consciences so that we are less sensitive and more compromising as to evil. Genuineness and faithfulness as to good and evil will involve suffering. There are the lines, as I see them, dear brethren, on which the enemy is moving.

I refer to the book of Esther to show how pronounced was the enmity against the Jew; it took form in the most virulent way in one man. That is the trend today — centralization, leading up to one man — and in time the man who will answer the purpose will appear. So that my word is to call upon the brethren for genuineness as to what we profess, so that we may not lose what we have. I take the verse in Romans to begin with, where the Spirit of God calls attention to those called Jews and shows that they were marked by certain outward things. In the book of Revelation they are spoken ^[p. 479] of as the synagogue of Satan; that is, they have a distinctive religious or synagogue character, not a temple character, but a synagogue character. The synagogue corresponds with what we call a meeting. A meeting is one of the most generally used words in our vocabulary as Christians, and there are those who take on that thought, but the position they take up belongs to Satan — the synagogue of Satan. One idea relating to the synagogue is that it is a local matter; the temple was the general thought. So that evidently the enemy has taken account of our Gatherings — he does not like them. He does not like the meeting rooms, nor does he like the stress laid on local matters — local responsibility, local privilege. He does not like what is current, and the Lord says, “Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. That is one of the most remarkable undertakings of the Lord and it applies at the present moment; it is a prophetic forecast of the present time. The Lord intends that others should know that He loves the saints, and He loves them in this local way.

Now these verses in Romans are very apropos as to what a Jew is, and what he is not. The outward thing is not it — “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither that circumcision which is outward in flesh; but he is a Jew who is so inwardly ... whose praise is not of men, but of God”. These verses fit very peculiarly into what I have to say and I press them now. They fit in the teaching of Romans, as if the Spirit of God would lay down in that fundamental book what underlies the lovableness the Lord hints at in Revelation — “That they may know that I have loved thee”. Professing systems which have now degenerated into a synagogue ^[p. 480] of Satan are to be compelled to come and worship before the feet of the saints, that “they may know”, says the Lord, “that I have loved thee”. Now that is a promise we are to take to our hearts and to use in our prayers. The Lord has particular pleasure in the saints presenting to Him His promises and asking for a fulfilment. But then how is this lovableness effected? It is a question, dear brethren, of being genuine in what we profess. It is to the inwardness of the position that the last verse of Romans 2 refers — “He is a Jew who is so inwardly; and circumcision, of the heart, in spirit, not in letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”. So that, in making these promises, the Lord approaches believers in this epistle with the thought that there is to be an inwardness, a reality, in believers and that their hearts are to be affected by the circumcision, that it is to be in spirit. I do not speak of the Holy Spirit, but of our own spirits. The word is very much used, and rightly so, but to make the spirit of a meeting of any moral value there must be this kind of circumcision, as the apostle says, “of the heart, in spirit”. We are to understand how circumcision is to be in spirit, and that will affect the spirit of any company — any number of brethren in so — called ‘meetings’. It is a question of the kind of spirit, not simply that we are together happily, but the kind of spirit; that is, circumcision in heart and in spirit. And then there is no thought of praise from men. I know well enough — no doubt all do — how we hanker after that. “Whose praise is not of men, but of God” — you leave all in regard to recompense and praise with God. Now that is what the Lord has in mind. He says that there are certain who deal in externals and in externals only, and in that way have come under Satan’s power in a synagogue character. That is what He has in mind — “I will cause that they shall come” — however many or externally great they may seem — “and shall do homage before thy feet”. It is such persons that are inwardly affected by the circumcision of Christ as indwelt by the Spirit, whose praise is of God and not of men. The Lord looks on that; He loves that, and He says, “I will cause that they ... shall know that I have loved thee”. It is persons who are real Jews.

Well now, the book of Esther, as we have often said, shows the character of the enmity against the Jew; that is, the real people of God. And I want to work out from this book how the evil that is determined is to be met. Satan is working on a wide scale, much wider than we may realize, and all is converging on the Jews, however many there are. It is not a question of numbers, but of quality - all is converging on the Jew. Let us not be mistaken as to this, dear brethren. The thing is coming nearer and nearer to us, and it is a question whether we are going to face the issue with God and accept the consequences. Our profession of rich ministry and good meetings will all disappear unless there is a facing of the issue at the moment, acceptance of the consequences.

The enmity in this book was headed up in the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. You will observe how things were moved one way and another like a weather-vane. The supreme power was affected, either for good or evil, in relation to the Jews. Let us understand the magnitude of the position of the Jews — I mean real Christians — at this time. The book of Esther shows how the balance goes in favour of the good through the influence of real believers. We cannot stress too much the importance of real genuine Christians who are prepared to face the issue and accept the consequences at the present time. The first passage I read in Esther shows how fixed the evil was. The matter was settled; the king ^[p. 482] had veered to the side of evil and committed himself to Haman. A covenant was made, a weapon formed against the people of God. And the city of Shushan “was in consternation”. They were perplexed.

It is well to have an eye on current events. You will see that as soon as the supreme power is moved and veers towards evil, that peace is taken away, there is disturbance. The truth is being given up, not only by individuals, but by nations at the present time — but “the city was in consternation”. The king and Haman were in agreement, and they sat down to drink — that was the position — to intoxicate themselves, but “the city was in consternation”. It is well to have our eyes open to what is current, to what can be seen.

Now, having called attention to that, dear brethren, I want to show how the situation was dealt with and to seek to carry our feelings along with the Jews. It is a question of those who are real Jews; those who are so inwardly, those who are circumcised in heart and spirit, “whose praise is not of men, but of God”. Keep your eye on such. It is not now a time for saying, Prophecy says so-and-so; and, so-and-so is the antichrist. We say these things glibly, and yet may not have much thought as to what is really meant by the word ‘antichrist’. We know that antichrist comes — there is not a more solemn thought conceivable than that — but then the Spirit of God says, “Even now there are many antichrists” (1 John 2:18). So that we should understand and meet the matter in so far as we may. And chapter 4 of this book opens up the way to meet the matter. There is one man who is characteristically the Jew. One of the most interesting men in the whole testimony of God is spoken of here. If you can get one man representing the idea, then you have something to look at. God always gives a lead; there has never been a time when God did not give a lead to His ^[p. 483] people — but to see it is another matter. Esther was not just ready to see it, and in truth she had not prepared herself. There are many like her; she had not as yet declared her identification with these persecuted people. As far as Haman and Ahasuerus were concerned, the matter was fixed, but the Spirit of God had said, “No weapon that is prepared against thee shall prosper”, (Isaiah 54:17). We are to reckon on that, dear brethren. There are weapons being formed that I fear we are not aware of, and the enemy has the advantage. What is current, in that way, is a great advantage to him. But Mordecai was the leader; he represents what I am speaking of — genuineness — and he represents a man who is prepared to suffer, not only for himself but for others. Chapter 4 calls us into that; calls us all into it.

There is no outward pretension of religiousness with Mordecai, nor, in fact, with the Jews, generally. But I am not speaking of externals. I am speaking of genuineness with brethren; the thing is there and every spiritual person will put a name on it. So there is Mordecai; he goes out to the very midst of the city. His office was there, in the king’s gate. He had a distinctive place and he filled it well. But now he goes into the city clothed with sackcloth. “When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry” (Esther 4:1). What a testimony that was! What ridicule, what reproach would be attached to it! That is the point, dear brethren. That is what we evade. One observes, also, a slothfulness to discern evil in the local meetings. Unless we discern the thing while it is yet small, it will become so big that we are surprised at it, and it will make room for the devil. So that if we are to have any power, publicly, we must look to the local conditions. Each must look after himself, of course,

^[p. 484] and see if he is thinking of the praise of men or the praise of God, and what his ambitions are. I have a little gift, perhaps — what are my ambitions? What have I in view? All this enters into what I am speaking of — that, unless I am a real Jew, exercised by the inward side of the truth, I shall come under the power of the devil. But a real Jew will discern the evil and will face it. One may say that the brethren are slothful about it; what can I do? But what did Mordecai do? He went and clothed himself with sackcloth and uttered that very bitter cry, which he did not conceal, in the very midst of the city of Shushan, and came as far as the king’s gate. And then Mordecai said to Esther, “Imagine not in thy heart that thou shalt escape” Esther 4:13. Nor will you. So that each has to take it to heart. A good lead is effective; Esther is brought thoroughly into it. And then there is another thing we can reckon on, dear brethren; that is, that God always sets something in the midst of the enemy’s camp that will disrupt it — we can count on that. This matter comes to the ears of the queen of the Medes and Persians; she is an ambush in the enemy’s stronghold. Not that she had intended that, but God did; she is in the enemy’s camp, and she is going to disrupt it. Thank God for that! We can reckon on God coming in in this way. But we must not leave it all to God — Mordecai did not. It is most baneful the way brethren let things drag along; they say, God will come in. Yes, but God says, “I will be an enemy to thine enemies” (Exodus 23:22). Then let me make the thing my enemy. God says, ‘If you have an enemy I will be the enemy of your enemy; I am in the conflict’. That was exactly the position of Mordecai and he brought Esther into it, and she came into it nobly. There is only one end to that - triumph for the truth and defeat of the wicked one. The arch enemy here was Haman, and Esther puts a name on him — “The adversary and enemy”, she said, “is this wicked Haman” Esther 6:6. He is the enemy of God’s people and God says, “I will be an enemy to thine enemies” (Exodus 23:22). — and He was. Now everything moves in the direction of victory for the Jews. But, dear brethren, let me press it upon you that it is through each one taking his place in the matter and making the evil his enemy and dealing with it in so far as he may as his enemy. God gives us a lead, let us follow Him in it. Let us not make excuses and say it is a local matter, a governmental matter, and what not. Evil is evil and has to be faced as evil by the Jews, by genuine Christians and, as faced, God will be with us.

You will observe that I am speaking of just one line of thought — how evil is met by the Jews; that is, by real Christians. First of all, it is by openly identifying ourselves with God’s people, as Mordecai did; going into the city with an exceeding bitter cry and being clothed with sackcloth. He was not ashamed to come to the king’s gate in such clothes. Mordecai thus gives the lead. Let us each begin with ourselves and with our local meeting. I am not beside the mark in saying that in some cases evil is allowed to drag along and is not faced. In every such case Satan has an advantage. So that the thought is to go into the city, or wherever the evil is, wherever the weapon formed against the saints is, and express yourself. This cry of Mordecai, a bitter one, came from the depths of his soul, and all the Jews rallied to it. And Esther nobly comes forward; she is an example of saints coming forward to meet the situation.

In chapter 8, after Haman’s destruction, there is the finishing up of things. That is so important in these matters; not only that the evil may be dealt with in the main, in the locality, but the acts that have marked it remain, and these must be followed ^[p. 486] up with a priestly, determined hand. So it says, “And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. And the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther”. She is concerned as to the effect of the evil. It is not a question only of the main leader in it, but of the effect of it and the spread of it. She is concerned about that now, and the golden sceptre is held out. How auspicious that is, it means that the supreme power represented in Ahasuerus is now in favour of God’s people. The golden sceptre is held out — it is a matter of our prayer meetings. It says, “So Esther arose and stood before the king, and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces”. Now think of these letters! How many wicked things are sent out; how much literature. The writer may die, but the writing remains and the influence of his teaching, or principles, or morals remains and all that has to be dealt with. And how diligent was this warrior queen, Esther, in securing the favour of the supreme power. It was Ahasuerus, of course, but it is God, although His name is not mentioned in the book. So Esther is in favour, and she says, “How can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?” What a wonderful speech for a sister, or a brother — “my people”, “my kindred”. She is the queen of the Medes an Persians, but see what she is morally! Mordecai led her into this. She hesitated, but she was brought into it. Thank God for people like this! When they ^[p. 487] are in the fray they are truly in it as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We pursue matters in our prayer meetings, the whole matter must be dealt with in its roots and full effects. Letters were sent through the post, for the matter had to be attended to in all the provinces. Thus Esther identifies herself nobly with the despised people of God, like Moses, her great prototype, who identified himself with the Hebrews. That was the despised name then; now it is the Jews, and Esther says they are “my people”, “my kindred”.

In following this matter through to completion in the ninth chapter, the king is seen as taking it on. But God takes the matter on; God acts of Himself. God is always active in these matters. I am speaking now of the supreme power, whether it be Ahasuerus or others — it is what God is doing. So the king says, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman” — the Jews have done that. The king, the supreme power, is noticing now what is being done. We might say, Haman is gone, that is enough. But it is not enough; evil has to be pursued to its full extent and dealt with. “Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves”, says the apostle (1 Corinthians 5:13). How can you bear wickedness among yourselves in one form or another — ‘Remove it’, he says. Esther knew what had been done, so when the king asked of her, “What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces?” - it was for her to say. Her answer is not given, but no doubt she knew; she had an ear for what concerned the brethren. It distresses one to find that brethren are often so local, they do not develop assembly ears. It speaks in the Acts of tidings having come to the ears of the assembly at Jerusalem. But the king puts it on Esther — “What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces?”. What do you know? What do I know about what is being done ^[p. 488] in the provinces? What is being done on the Continent? What is happening? What are the brethren doing? The king then asks, “What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; or what is thy request further? and it shall be done”. There is not a word about prayer to God in the book — I quite admit that — but there was prayer, Esther was praying. She said, “If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows”. You say, They are dead! That is true; it says so earlier in the chapter; but they were not hanged yet. You say, You are too severe, too exacting. Is Esther too exacting here? Let us deal with the thing in the presence of God. The word of God says, “Cursed is every one hanged upon a tree”, Galatians 3:13. The Lord Jesus hung on a tree: why should I allow evil? Let us deal with it according to God. “And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons”. We never hear of them again; we never hear of their roots coming up again, they are dealt with for ever; dealt with drastically. That evil is dealt with; other evil may come up, but let us deal with the present and deal with it as God dealt with evil in the cross of Jesus.

What I had to remark further, dear brethren, is that the people, as you will observe, are brought into this. It says, “The Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan”. The thirteenth day had done its work, that was the main day for destruction; but let us go further and deal with the thing thoroughly. It says, “But on the prey they laid not their hand”. And then it says, “But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together,

^[p. 489] and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey”. That is, it is a great matter now, spread abroad, the evil is dealt with universally. God has allowed widespread matters of this kind — not lately, thank God — but what He is doing is dealing with evil in localities, and He is calling on us to do it or we shall have a more widespread matter to our sorrow and our loss. All the people are brought into it here and what comes out is that selfishness is foreign to them. Three times over it says they did not lay their hands on the prey; they made no claim to anything that would add to themselves; it is God’s matter. We know that Jews, naturally, will lay their hands on the prey. The teaching, therefore, is that these are not mere outward Jews: they are Jews circumcised in heart and in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. Men will praise us if we do well for ourselves and take the prey, but they do not do it here, thank God! This beautiful trait mentioned by the Spirit of God shows that they were real, and that is the point I would stress in closing — that we might put on these beautiful traits and be marked by unselfishness. We want to have part in what God is doing. In what He may permit us to do we are not taking credit to ourselves; the excellency of the power is to be of God, and the results are to be for God.