ELDER BRETHREN AS SPIRITUAL EXAMPLES
[p. 310] ELDER BRETHREN AS SPIRITUAL EXAMPLES
1 John 2: 13 (first clause); Genesis 24: 1 - 9; Genesis 48: 12 - 14; Deuteronomy 31:14,15; Deuteronomy 31:19; Deuteronomy 31:30; Deuteronomy 32: 1, 2; 1 Chronicles 29: 20
What is in mind in reading these scriptures, dear brethren, is to speak about the elder brethren. In almost every meeting of this kind a special appeal is made to the younger saints, and God is honouring these appeals, but the burden tonight is the elder brethren. It was in John’s mind, as you will observe, in this verse. The younger were in his mind, too, the children and the young men; but the fathers were in his mind, and he says, “I write to you, fathers”, and then, “I have written to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning”. He was a father himself, he was an apostle, but he had acquired, through exercise and affection in caring for the saints, the status of a father, so much so that he addresses the saints in the beginning of this chapter as his children. That is to say, children characteristically, not merely little ones, those of a family. He had evidently lived, as we say, to a ripe age; but fatherhood is not founded on years alone, it is founded on experience with God in the care of the saints in a parental way, so that the status of a father develops and is owned. Now, in calling attention to John in this way and to the fact that, as is generally understood, he lived to be old in the service of God and was owned and could take the place of a father in writing to the saints and in ministering to them, I would say that the thought of fatherhood is not necessarily a question of old age as regards years, for some become old quicker than [p. 311] others, and Paul alludes to himself in writing the beautiful letter to Philemon as “being such a one as Paul the aged”. He could not have alluded to himself as particularly old from the standpoint of mere years, the facts that we have as to him would indicate that he did not live to be a very old man, for apparently he suffered martyrdom comparatively early. I have no doubt he was as young at the time of his martyrdom as many of us here. David too was regarded as an old man at seventy, and there are many of us here that age. Again, Solomon is alluded to as having become old when, from the facts we have, he could not have been more than sixty, and there are still more of us here of that age. Indeed, oldness relatively may begin even earlier than sixty, and certainly we may take on the character or characteristics of a father before we reach that age. So that what I have to say will directly apply to a goodly number of persons, and will, I hope, have instruction in it for all. For, whilst John addresses the saints in a graded way, little children, young men, and fathers, he also addresses them all in the same passage, not in three epistles but in one. So that what he said to each grade would be of profit to all, for surely a young person, a young believer, would have certain aspirations come up in his heart as he hears these words of the apostle, “I write to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning”. Would not the youngest normally aspire to this? It is set before us — to know Him that is from the beginning; that is, Jesus from the outset, whether it be His birth or His testimony here. No believer normally would settle down to know just enough to get through, as we say. Normally a believer who loves Christ would aspire to know all about Him, and what a prospect, may I say to the young, lies before you, to know all that may be known about Jesus, about Him that is from the beginning.
[p. 312] Well now, I proceed to the Old Testament, having in mind Paul as the characteristic old person in christianity, that is, “being such a one”, as he says, “as Paul the aged”. I suppose, whilst he was not egotistical in the remotest degree, the Spirit had in mind that he was most distinguished, if not entirely unique, “being such a one as Paul the aged”. That is to say, one who had gone through so much; for the Lord had said of him earlier, He is “an elect vessel to me ... I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9: 15, 16). What a history prospectively lay stretched out from the Lord’s point of view, what this elect vessel should be, what he should suffer! He says, “I will shew to him how much he must suffer”. It became God “in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings” (Hebrews 2: 10), and this thought would apply in the Lord’s mind to this potentially great servant, that he should suffer. That was the great thought initially in the Lord’s mind that he should suffer, a thought that is not much relished by us, but yet, beloved brethren, it must be accepted. If God is bringing us as sons to glory, surely we should aspire to have some part in the sufferings, for our Leader is made perfect through sufferings. It is not that there was any want, anything lacking, in Christ at any time; all was perfectly normal in Him at every stage of His holy life, but perfection through suffering alludes to what was needed, in the mind of God, for us, a standard for us. It was needed for Christ to reach where He is on that line — it became God. “It became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things”. Think of what He had in mind, dear brethren, what He intends us to be as before Him, as in relation to our great Leader; He intends us to have part in the sufferings. You may say, ‘It becomes us’, but it became God; it was necessary from His point of view [p. 313] that the Leader of our salvation should be made perfect through sufferings, and He intends to have us before Him in accord with that Person, with that holy Sufferer now glorified. As seeing Him there, we shall understand how essential the sufferings were, so that He should be there answering to the counsels of God as our Leader. And so, as I said, I take Paul (I believe rightly) to be the characteristic aged person in christianity, such a one as he. I proceed to the Old Testament to show how the features that are proper to old brothers and sisters shone in Old Testament times as types, and more than types, for in some sense there was substance in all these persons, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and David. They tower above all others, I may say, in this sense, and the Spirit of God gives us their ends so that we might see and learn what is expected from us as advancing in years, how we finish in setting out or maintaining the mind of God in some particular feature. It may be the feature that has been especially set out in our little service, for the idea of the libation, the drink offering, should certainly come in at the end, to be poured out, as the apostle says, “as a libation on the sacrifice and ministration of your faith” (Philippians 2: 17).
Now in Abraham we have one imbued with heavenly thoughts as he is finishing, and how essential it is that in passing off the sphere of testimony to be with Christ, or as finishing up the dispensation if He come soon, we should be imbued with heavenly thoughts. That, as the apostle says, we should apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus (Philippians 3: 12), that we should obtain the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. How important it is that we elder ones should be full of these heavenly thoughts, thoughts indeed that are proper to us, that belong to our place, our commonwealth which is in the heavens, as we are told, and that our backs are really to the world and to the earth,
[p. 314] even, as we say, in a good sense, that we have left all, that we have learnt the gospel of place, the salvation from place by the laying hold of the heavenly position. Now that is what comes out in Abraham. He is an old man, but he is very definite as to what is in his mind; that is another great feature, to be definite as to what is particularly in one’s mind. And he is thinking of his son; he is thinking of Christ in type. He is thinking of the assembly in type, and he is determined that there shall be no admixture allowed, that there shall be nothing unsuitable allowed in this proposal; that is to say, the bride must be of the family of Abraham. I need not enlarge on that, it is well known amongst us, I trust; Isaac must not be taken out of the land; he must remain in the land. It is no question, dear brethren, of Christ coming out of heaven corporeally. It is a question of how we regard Him, and what we connect Him with, whether we have come to it to connect Him only with His own place, with the place to which He is indigenous, that He is of heaven, that He belongs to heaven, and that He is to be there eternally in fulfilment of the purpose of God, and that He is to have the assembly there. It is a question, as I said, of our thoughts, what is in our minds as to Him, what is in our ministry as to Him and what is in our minds as to the assembly. Abraham is most definite that Isaac must not be taken out of the land, he is to stay in it, and that the bride must be brought to him there, that she must be of his kindred, and that she is to follow. And he is so definite about it that he requires the eldest servant of his house to swear that there shall be no deviation from these great and holy thoughts that possess his mind as he is about to die.
Now I go on to Jacob (I pass by Isaac — there are many that one could touch on as bringing out salient features of the fathers). Genesis is the patriarchal [p. 315] book, the book of the fathers, and Jacob comes out at the end as imbued also with great thoughts. I wish, dear brethren, that we might dwell on this a little, so as to be full of these things ourselves. Jacob stands out here as occupied with the sovereignty of God, that that must go through, that there must be no allowance of the slightest thought or shade of a thought in anything that we say or are, or in what we minister, to interfere with the sovereign selection of God. It gives great steadiness of mind to the saint when the principle of selection enters into it, the principle of exclusion and of selection. It gives great steadiness of mind to understand that God has His number; His counsels require a certain number, and they are all known to Him and He will have them and, ‘As far as I am concerned’, you say, ‘He will have them. As far as my influence goes, as far as my words go, as far as my service goes, God’s thoughts shall not be thwarted in the least degree. I will work with Him, and see to it that those He has in His counsels are to be brought in’. As the apostle says, that the elect “may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2: 10) — the elect. He laboured and suffered reproach because of this; he had it in his mind that there were a certain number that God has set His heart upon, and that these must be secured; there must not be the slightest discrepancy between the number secured and the number desired in counsel. Now that was what Jacob had in his mind. I do not say he understood, I am only speaking of what the Spirit of God, who understood, has set down for us; for all the Scriptures are for us. They all awaited a people who had the Spirit indwelling them on the ground of redemption, who would be thus capacitated to understand these things. So that Jacob, though blind (he was in a normal old-age condition and did not ignore it; he could not do so — he was blind) was imbued [p. 316] with the sovereign selection of God, that that must go through. The greatest man in Egypt under the king, Joseph, could not divert him from it. He says, “I know;” as much as to say, ‘I know what I am doing, I am with God in what I am doing, and I am not going to be diverted’. It is the acceptance of the sovereignty of God that gives great restfulness, the sense that I am with God in His workings and I know what He has in mind will go through and I am going to be with Him in it and not allow anything to interfere. Then another thing about Jacob is he tells his sons the truth. “Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father”. A great matter in ministry and in our conversation is that the truth should be told out, whatever feelings may be aroused by it. Whatever Reuben is, whatever Levi is, whatever Simeon is, let us hear it, let it be known. Think of what Levi came to afterwards. Did it do him any harm to be told that he had to do with murder? No, beloved brethren, he had to come to that. Whatever has happened in our lives, we have to recognise it if we are to come into the purpose of God, to the sovereign selection of God, consciously in our souls; we have to come to accept everything, there is to be nothing unsettled, and the quicker we have things settled the better for us if we are to enter into these things. So he goes over the tribes and tells them everything, the good and the bad, there is nothing withheld. See what a man he was in his old age, dear brethren, what an example for us to carry on and tell the saints the truth, so that there might be a true estimate in each of us of ourselves as before God, and that everything should be settled, whether secret or public, that nothing should be unsettled, that everything is to be adjusted before God according to God. There is the means for it. John’s epistle, with other scriptures, show us the great provision that is made for us so that things should be settled, that nothing should be left unsettled in our histories. Now that, in brief, is what I see in this patriarch, Jacob, as he is about to pass away through death. He knows it, he is not overwhelmed by the thought, he is victorious and he is full of the thought of the sovereignty of God and of the purpose of God in the tribes; so that, whilst he tells them the truth, it says he blessed them. He blessed all the tribes, even Dan, in spite of the things he has to say about them. You see what an example this is, dear brethren, for those of us who are getting on in years, that we may set out to the younger ones the reality of christianity, what it is, and how substantial it is, and how years do not interfere with it as faith is active in our souls. Years indeed only add to it; we become more mature and more appreciative of what is in Christ.
Now I come to Moses and drop from the patriarchal platform to the ministerial platform. Genesis is properly the patriarchal platform. Although David is called a patriarch and the heads of the twelve tribes are called patriarchs, yet the patriarchal book properly is Genesis, and those of us who are older do well to feed in that pasture in the light of the New Testament. Now when we come to Moses, as I said, it is a question of the ministers, those who are engaged through gift or other qualifications from Christ in heaven to serve. As advancing in years, what are our characteristics? Moses stands out as entirely unjealous in regard of the younger brethren. He says to Jehovah, “Set a man over the assembly” (Numbers 27: 16). That was a fine sentiment; he never thought of nominating anyone, he left that with God. It must be so; nominations must come from God, promotions must come from God. How one loves to see a brother standing up in the assembly [p. 318] in ministry and to have the consciousness that God is promoting that man in that very instant. I have seen that. God is doing it; the assembly is His sphere and He knows how to promote the young men. I have no doubt that Moses had watched Joshua; he was his servant, his companion, but he does not nominate him. It is an entire mistake for any brother or brethren to press forward anyone to be a leader amongst the people of God; that is the province of God, that is His prerogative — I mean through Christ. So Moses wished that there should be such a one, a suitable leader, in view of his own death, for he was about to die when he said that. And Jehovah says, “Take Joshua ... a man in whom is the Spirit” (Numbers 27: 18). How Moses would understand; he needed no enlarged explanation of what that meant. He does not stop to ask Jehovah to tell him how he might know that Joshua had the Spirit. Jehovah says, ‘He has the Spirit’. There can be no qualification for ministry apart from having the Spirit. The great Minister, Christ, had the Spirit: what He did He did by the Spirit here in His service. He is an example for us. Well now, in Deuteronomy 31 Jehovah requires that Moses and Joshua are to appear before Him at the tabernacle door. I dwell on this to show how this great servant in his closing moments took on the divine thought; and I can picture him standing there with this young brother. What a beautiful scene that was! The photographers of today try to get such pictures, but that is nothing at all. What they photograph is not what is going on at that moment, the radiation of affection and respect from the older to the younger. What a beautiful scene that was, and Jehovah comes down. How delightful it was to Him to see that old brother and that young brother stand side by side before Him. Jehovah is going to give a charge to Joshua, but He respects His old servant, He puts him there and says,
‘Now you write a song’. He says, “Write ye this song”, as if Joshua is brought into it; and I have no doubt Moses would readily share honours with his young brother in the song. The more we are with God, the more we know Christ, the more liberal we are in sharing honours with our younger brethren. We have got enough and to spare, beloved brethren, if we are with God. Moses had enough and to spare of honour; think of the honour that God had put upon him. But it was Moses who wrote the song, and what an example we have there in this old servant, ready, as he is about to die, to write a song to order. It is God that requires it; Moses is ready for it, he does it at once, that very day, it says, he did it. We could hardly understand, but that is the minister, advanced in years, yet we are told “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated”. He is going to die, and he writes this song and he rehearses it in the ears of Israel as if he did it himself. How lovely it would be to listen, with the light we have now of that great servant, to that rehearsal, what he had just composed, what had come fresh through him, as we may say, by the Spirit of God, and to hear him rehearse it in the ears of Israel, and how fresh he was, ‘My speech’, he says, ‘is like the small rain, like the dew’. Think of the beautiful tones as he rehearsed in the ears of the people he loved, the thoughts of God, what God was, first of all, and then, alas, what they were. How faithful is that song, just as faithful as were Jacob’s words to his sons.
Now, dear brethren, another thought that comes in in regard to Moses is the dying at the will of God. I have no doubt these facts are written down so that those of us who are advanced in years and who are looking into the face of eventualities might be helped. These things are to steady and fortify us and to enable us to go forward unflinchingly and to maintain vigour and freshness and youthfulness to the end by the will of God. That man’s death was on the divine calendar — he dies according to that. How precious that is, dear brethren, that the life and the death of the saint is according to the will of God. And then how careful God is as to him after he dies, that he is buried by Him. I do not think there is much difference between Jehovah’s burial of Moses and the burial of an honoured servant of God today. I know full well what our thoughts are. What a thing it was for Jehovah to bury him! We do not know what the instrumentalities used were, but could any instrumentality be greater than honoured saints, spiritual persons, laying carefully and reverently aside, as in the field of Ephron the Hittite, an honoured servant? Has God no hand in that? He certainly has a hand in that; that field is sown with wonderful seed which presently is to be manifested, “The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15: 23). Is not that equal to the burial of Moses? I am not detracting from the honour of that. No one ever had such a burial. But it says of Stephen that “devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him”. Was not that a spiritual matter? It was. Was heaven not pleased with that? It was. And where Stephen lies is perfectly known to heaven, and he will come forth, with the rest of us, to stand with Christ at His coming for us.
Now I go on to David, to finish these great features as regards the old brethren. David represents many things, of course, and, as I said, he died young, as we speak; he was just seventy — we have his exact age. Chronicles gives us the David of God’s mind, all else, as it were, eliminated for the moment. God is entitled to do that. We get the other side in 1 Kings; but God is entitled to give us the bright side of His children as they are about to die, the side that is in His mind, the side that fits into His counsels [p. 321] about them. Let all else go, for it will go. And what you find about David in these wonderful chapters in the first book of Chronicles (from 22 to the end) is that he is thinking about the house of God. I believe David should be taken properly as representing headship, in that spiritual brethren as they grow older become more and more characterised by wisdom, by guidance for the saints, and the thought of God is that the whole trend of things for a man who understands headship is what the saints are to be in the service of God. So he sets up his son, young and tender, on the throne before he dies. Beautiful tribute to his unjealousness, and his wisdom too! His son was always an object of affection to himself and his mother and to Jehovah. What a young man he was, and how it enhanced and glorified the throne of David that Solomon was set up by himself! Now we have the doorkeepers, the porters, the singers, the priests, the Levites, and so on, all in order. David makes the most of everybody. He increases the Levites by reducing their age, and that is what the Lord is doing today, I believe, increasing the number of worshippers by appealing to the young and presenting to them the great truth of sonship as presented in the Lord Jesus. God is aiming at attracting the young, at increasing the worshippers by attracting them into this great thought of sonship. It is a question of consideration, of care, and that is what comes out in David, so that we have the number twenty-four, meaning that he is carrying everything forward; he is not omitting the services of earlier days, he is bringing everything forward. Every dedicated thing too must be brought in; the young people are to understand that it is not simply what is being ministered today, but all the ministry from Pentecost onwards is to be understood amongst us. We are to understand all the ways of God in the assembly by the presence of the Spirit amongst us.
[p. 322] So David was an old man about to die. The Spirit of God dwells on him in this chapter, the times that went over him, but here is Solomon on the throne and everyone goes to Solomon, but now David says to the people, “Bless now Jehovah your God”. Is it not an appeal to us that our whole concern now is worship? Worship is the thought in the verse I read. “David said to all the congregation, Bless now Jehovah your God. And all the congregation blessed Jehovah the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and did homage to Jehovah and the king”. They did it.
I will close with this remark. I believe that the presentation of Christ in sonship as it is being enlarged amongst us through one and another by the power of the Spirit is intended to create a worshipful spirit amongst us, and that the attitude and bearing and language of the older brethren who love God and who love Christ, the bearing of all, is worship, “Bless now Jehovah”, “Praise God”. Do it in the assembly. Understand the assembly; every whit in it says, ‘Glory’. God has that down here even now in which His service is to be carried on in this way, and He is appealing to the young, and the elder ones amongst us are to appeal to the young, by example especially, and to say, “Bless the Lord;” and they “bowed down their heads”, we are told, “and worshipped”. May God lead us more and more, dear brethren, into this great thought of His service in view of the end, the service of God carried on in leadership and headship in spiritual power by old and young.