AT A BURIAL -
THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF GOD
D.R.Freeman
One has an impression, beloved brethren and friends, in regard to two things in this section that we have read together. First, the personal and priestly service of the Lord Jesus on high for all His own, and secondly, the love of God of which Paul speaks. One is confident of this that our beloved brother, now with Christ, proved in a special way the gain of the Lord 's priestly grace and support, as it is said here, "who also intercedes for us". The love of Christ is no less now than it was when He gave Himself for us, for it is the precious portion of every blood-bought saint to know that he was and is loved. The love of Christ is a present matter and burns with the same intensity now as when He gave Himself for us as lost sinners. How affecting that is and what a comfort it is to realise that it is the portion of the saints as children of God here to know His priestly service and prove the gain of it! The Lord, I am sure, has acted at this time. We are thinking of His activity on high and can think of Him drawing near to us, too, to sustain us and support us here. His sympathy is a very real thing and reveals the depth of His affection for us. The Lord wept with Mary, as we know; His feelings entered into that occasion as they do into this, to lift our hearts above to Himself in whom all our blessing is centred for time or for eternity, the One who is the resurrection and the life, the One who is our hope, the One for whom we wait. For whilst we have to part here from one another in the Lord's ways, perfect as they are, yet the time is coming when we shall all be caught up together, as it says, "to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord", 1 Thess 4: 17. What a cheer that is to our hearts!
One was impressed recently with our departed brother saying to us at Kingston that it was his great desire to be with the Lord. He was referring to being with the Lord in the movements of the testimony and in the path of the will of God here. Surely that marked him, as was referred to in prayer. But more blessed still is his present portion, as it says, "absent from the body and present with the Lord", 2 Cor 5: 8. So nothing can separate us, beloved friends, from His love, and He would leave us with the impression at the present time of His personal service, the personal service of the Lord Jesus and the love of Christ. As it says here, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" There might be those active against us but this is our portion whatever the circumstances may be; it will be our sister's portion too, as that of all the beloved brethren, particularly those in sorrow at this time, to know the love of Jesus in the very circumstances of sorrow here in the world into which He entered on our account and where He proved that love beyond measure in giving Himself for us on Calvary's tree. So this lifts our hearts above the sorrow of the present moment. We know that these things are for a time but a brighter day is coming when we shall see Him, and be like Him, and be with Him eternally. But in the meantime we prove His service on high at the right hand of God, as it says, who also intercedes for us".
But then there is a further thing, and the apostle concludes with it in this section. This wonderful chapter brings in something of our blessings at the present time as children of God here in the world having the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. So there is what sustains us in a very real way though we are in the presence of sin and death; "but in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us". That refers to His love in the past; as Paul could say, "the Son of God who has loved me" Gal 2: 20. Each one of us should be able to say that the Lord's love was proved in what He did for us: "the Son of God, who has loved me", that is in the past, "and given himself for me". What a wonderful stay that is to the soul, lifting us above all the dreadful consequences of sin that have come in and giving us the victory through His precious blood! But then Paul refers further to the love of God, and lists a number of things, saying that he is persuaded that none of them can separate us from that love, not even death - he begins with death. So what is our persuasion? What a comfort it is to appropriate these concluding words of the beloved apostle. What assurance they bring into the hearts of us all, even of the youngest! So that we can say like Paul, who puts it in the first person, the personal pronoun being used, "I am persuaded that neither death" – the last of foes, the last enemy who will be annulled - can separate us from the love of God. Death has not separated our brother from it; indeed it has been the gateway, we might say, to his entering into that blessed portion of being with Christ where he enjoys that love in a way that he has never known before. But this is our portion too; life cannot separate us from that love, death cannot separate us from it; for the believer it is but to be with Christ which is very much better in the consciousness of love. We do not know how long any of us will be left, but whatever life involves, and the circumstances at the present time, we know that that, too, cannot separate us from the love of God - "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present". This bereavement is a present one, but things present cannot separate us from the love of God, "nor things to come". Whatever may be before us - God holds the key to that - we have this persuasion that things to come cannot separate us from His love. "Nor powers, nor height" - the Lord has gone to the highest height; "nor depth" - the Lord has been to the lowest depth; nor any creature power or element in the universe "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". That love is our portion. Our brother enjoyed it, we know; he walked in the consciousness of it and affected others by it too. He was one who often spoke about being lovable; our brother became lovable, and he enjoyed the blessed sunshine of divine love. That is open to us all, beloved brethren, as it says: "keep yourselves in the love of God", Jude 21. We might write these words over John's gospel. We have referred to the occasion at Bethany and we might think also of chapter 17 where the Lord intercedes for His own at the highest level; but over it all there is the love of God, the love that has prepared for us a place in the Father's house above and that will bring Him again to raise the dead, the sleeping saints, our brother being one of them. We shall be changed and caught up together - "together", notice that. How we should value our meetings in the light of that, "caught up together... to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord. So encourage" or comfort "one another with these words". That is what we seek to do, beloved brethren, at this time, for we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God. How wonderful the love of God is! It is not a creature love, it is divine love, a love that is immeasurable but a love that we can know through the service of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. May it be so for His Name's sake!
(At burial of E.T.Maynard) - BROOKLYN NY
24 September 1975
THE WAITING TIME
J.Renton
It is very desirable that exercises should be completed; but sometimes we have to wait, and I am thinking of the importance of the waiting time. The persons we have read about in Acts 1 were waiting. The Lord told them, according to Luke 24: 49, to "remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high". In verse 4 of the chapter from which we read, the Lord "commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which said he ye have heard of me". These persons therefore were waiting for something to be completed.
The idea of waiting is interesting, because the whole dispensation of Christianity is, in a certain sense, a waiting time. It comes between the Lord leaving His own and His return. What saints have waited for right down through more than nineteen centuries has been the Lord's return; therefore, in a broad sense, we are in a waiting time. The waiting time is the time of testimony, the time of learning, the time of growth. When the waiting time is over we will have no more part in testimony as we have now, and there will be no more growth. Therefore the waiting time is a very important time. Our period of active testimony is a very short one. Some who have gone before us in the great testimony of God had their part for a much longer time in the testimony. Enoch, for instance, walked with God for three hundred years. Others in that line of testimony in Genesis chapter 5 lived many years and had their part in the testimony for centuries. Our time is quite brief, but it is very important.
Now besides the general idea of being in a waiting time there are certain exercises in which we have to wait for completion. Certain of our brethren have exercises they carry in prayer every day before God, and there are household exercises. There are local exercises, matters which have been outstanding for months; there seems to be as yet no solution and therefore we are in a waiting time; but the Lord intends that the waiting time should be profitable, that spiritual gain should come during the waiting time. The Lord Himself waits. When He was here He could say prophetically "I waited patiently for Jehovah; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry", Ps 40: 1. Think of the Lord Jesus as a dependant Man waiting on God! Even in His present position He is waiting. Paul writes to the Thessalonians of "the patience of the Christ", 2 Thess 3: 5. He is waiting the moment of which we sometimes sing: 'the Father's perfect time', when the Spirit's work will be completed and the assembly will be raptured to be with Him for ever.
What is specially in mind is the waiting time in relation to certain exercises. The persons here "gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer". It does not say what they were praying about. Later in this chapter, when they were to appoint one to replace Judas, there was specific prayer; but "these gave themselves... to continual prayer" is not a specific request being made; it is an attitude. How comely for us in the waiting time to have the attitude of prayer! "Pray unceasingly", Paul exhorts (1 Thess 5: 17); that would be an attitude of implicit confidence in and dependence on God. "These gave themselves... to continual prayer"; the waiting time was a profitable time, it was a time when persons were ready and became suited vessels to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
In chapter 9 of this book Saul of Tarsus "was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank" (v 9); he was waiting. Ananias had to be adjusted. He was a pious man, he was a disciple, no doubt one who carried some responsibility in Damascus, but he had to be adjusted, and Saul of Tarsus had to wait while Ananias was being adjusted. The Lord said to him "Seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying". Saul of Tarsus spent the waiting time in prayer. It does not say what he was praying for; he was in that attitude of prayer. The waiting time until Ananias arrived (by his visit Saul received the Spirit and came into fellowship) was not lost, something was gained; the waiting time was profitable: "Behold, he is praying". When Ananias was adjusted he was able to go and lay his hands upon him; he laid his hands upon a praying man. Not only was he a converted man, not only was he affected by the objective view he had of the lord Jesus personally, but there is a certain attitude in him: he was praying. The waiting time, dear brethren, is meant to sober us. It is meant to modify our outlook, to soften our outlook; that whereas there might have been extremes of view, the waiting time, as used of the Lord, would bring us together, especially if we are in the attitude of prayer, and seeking the Lord' s mind. It is not a question of everyone coming round to my view but of all gradually, as utilising the waiting time, coming round to the Lord's view; and so we shall be directed towards unity. Certain exercises exist at the present time; there is waiting, but the waiting time is meant to be profitable. I am certain the Lord intends this.
In chapter 10 the Spirit has in view a certain movement of the testimony, and Peter has an extreme view which is opposed to the view the Lord has. The Lord as in mind that the testimony should go out to the nations; Peter had other thoughts, and he is quite entrenched in his thoughts, and no doubt he could quote scripture to support them. He could refer to the Old Testament and how God confined His dealings to the nation of Israel. No doubt he could prove from scripture that his view was right. But Peter has to be adjusted, and he puts himself in the way of adjustment by prayer. It says, "Peter went up on the house to pray, about the sixth hour" (v 9). In that attitude of prayer Peter put himself in the way of receiving adjustment. We can be quite adamant and others may think the way we think, and so it builds us up in our own adamant attitude. Peter put himself in the way of being adjusted by going up on the house to pray, and the Spirit took advantage of Peter's attitude to adjust him. He was not easily adjusted; it would seem that the vision had to take place three times before he got the point of it, but he did get the point of it, and he was adjusted. He put himself in the way of adjustment by being in the attitude of prayer. He did not go to pray, as far as we read, for any specific thing; it is the attitude of prayer. Oh! what value it would be for everyone of us, indeed for those who walk in the truth universally, if in the waiting time we were concerned to be in the attitude of prayer and getting the Lord's mind about a particular matter, or about any matter. Thus would the unity of the Spirit be kept in the uniting bond of peace. While we look for completed exercises, sometimes we have to wait for exercises being completed, and the waiting time is no doubt allowed of the Lord that we might come round and be directed towards unity.
In chapter 13, in Antioch we find there were persons who were ministering to the Lord and fasting. It does not seem clear to me whether it was the whole assembly who were ministering and fasting, but certainly these five prophets and teachers were ministering to the Lord and fasting. The Holy Spirit was looking for vessels to use in the great outgoing work of the testimony and He found available, without requiring to be adjusted, just available to hand, two vessels who were in this attitude of ministering to the Lord and fasting.
May the Lord help us to get into this attitude that we all may be preserved together, not only in this city but universally, for the Lord's own Name's sake.
EDINBURGH
9th September 1975