CHRIST KNOWN BY THE SPIRITUAL
[p. 305] CHRIST KNOWN BY THE SPIRITUAL
Luke 2: 25 - 32; 1 Samuel 6: 7 - 16
I read these two scriptures so as to make some remarks as to spirituality. Two great features mark the dispensation; one is faith, and the other that the Holy Spirit is here on earth; so that it is not only a dispensation of faith, but of spirituality. I selected Simeon as representing the thought of spirituality, especially in the gospel of Luke. This gospel stresses this thought; it is not so much the question of energy on our part, but the fact of the Spirit’s presence, and how He acts upon us; that finding us in a condition suitable, He acts upon us. Matthew contemplates the energy that is needed on our side, and records the Lord’s remarks after He arose that they should go to Galilee and see Him, forbidding thus the idea of indolence, and stressing energy — journeying. They have to go to Galilee to see Him: “there they shall see me” (Matthew 28: 10). Whereas Luke quotes the Lord as saying, “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24: 49). That is not by any means inertness or laziness, but a state of restful faith. It is one thing, dear brethren, to believe on a certain day, in a certain year, and receive blessing, but it is another to be named by the Spirit as a believing person, such as Timothy’s mother; it is not simply that she believed, but she was a “believing woman” (Acts 16: 1). So that as a believing person I am restful and the power comes: “until ye be endued”, the Lord says, “with power from on high” Luke 24: 49; but before one undertakes to serve he goes to Galilee as it were, or he will get nothing. It is a matter of soul exercise and travail; he goes to where the Lord is to be seen: “there they shall see me”. But then according to Luke, the Spirit comes, that is to say, the two evangelists run together; both are necessary. As the service is undertaken the power comes; but prior [p. 306] to this, there is the exercise, as indicated in Matthew. Simeon represents Luke’s side of the truth. He was a man “in Jerusalem” Luke 2: 25, that is, he was not a travelling man. The preposition does not even imply that he had come to Jerusalem, but he was there; he was in Jerusalem. “There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon”. Luke 2: 25. He is ready for the smallest presentation of Christ; he discerns it, and is able to enlarge upon it; he is able to take account of it in the largest possible way. That is what I have in mind, that we may get the thought of “a man in Jerusalem” and what marks him in a spiritual sense.
I will come back to this, but I wish to show first, the relations in which spirituality is developed in the people of God. It begins with instinct, and when I use the word ‘instinct’ I have in mind that which marks a subject of the work of God from the very outset, as illustrated in a babe; one of the things that marks a babe is instinct. You cannot speak of a babe as marked by acquired knowledge, or even intuitive knowledge, it has instinct. Thus if the importance of what I am saying is considered, it will be seen that spirituality is not something that comes in at the end of one’s life on earth. I do not think God cares very much for the end only, although He values everything that is the evidence of His work, however tiny; that is a feature of John’s gospel. But then God has a way of showing that He values what is normal. Gold is gold wherever we see it, but God has great respect for what is normal; that is to say, for the appearance of spirituality from the outset of the believer’s history. Luke, indeed, gives us this feature in the Lord Himself, in whom, of course, perfection is always seen. Luke does not present the Lord in His infancy as Matthew does; he speaks of Mary and Joseph before he mentions the Babe; the shepherds, arriving at Bethlehem, “found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe” (Luke 2: 16); the Babe was in His normal place; the idea is not to present the Babe first [p. 307] as in Matthew. And so as He is presented in the temple He is just a Babe to outward appearance; whereas Matthew says that when the wise men arrived at the house, they found “the little child with Mary his mother” (Matthew 2: 11 New Translation); not a “babe”, but a “little child”, and the little child is mentioned first. That is the spiritual side; but Luke gives you normality, and God has great regard for it with us.
So I have taken up this passage in Samuel because it gives that side of the truth of spirituality — instinct, I need not enquire in the language of scripture, “Does God take care for oxen?” 1 Corinthians 9: 9. He is not thinking of the sagacity of cows in this passage: it is written “for our sakes” not to regard us as kine, but as typified in our beginnings, as having spiritual instinct; and there is nothing surer, nothing more reliable in its place. Persons that rely entirely upon acquired knowledge in the things of God are not to be trusted. We may be in the mind of God today and miss it tomorrow; but spiritual instinct is to be relied upon, and hence the great importance of it. The young people should begin in cultivating it. I refer to this passage because spiritual instinct appears so obviously; milch kine with calves, what will they do under these circumstances? I am converted to God as a member of a family, with affectionate parents, affectionate brothers and sisters, and one day I am tested as to Christ (here He is in Philistine hands where He is not respected) — I am tested as to what I think of Him: whether I can identify myself with Him however small the way in which He is presented, or whether I prefer to be governed by what is natural, by natural affections. If I am governed by the latter, I shall have no part in the service. I may come to the meeting on Lord’s day morning, and have part with the brethren, but I miss the spiritual part of it.
It is a question, dear brethren, of what is going on in the soul. But on the other hand, I am responsible and [p. 308] the presentation of Christ to me should command my attention; I must identify myself with that. These kine are tied to the cart. What is on the cart? The most precious thing on an unsuitable carrier. And what will these creatures do? The calves are held behind. The kine have no one to guide them. Someone here complains of the brethren: they give a poor lead. Well, perhaps they do, but these kine have no one outwardly to lead at all. They went along without a leader; there was no one to look after them. What will they do? That is the test. What will you do? Really the whole public position of the ark enters into this issue: Will they go by the one highway, or will they turn back? What will they do? “They went by the one high way” we are told (1 Samuel 6: 12, New Translation). They felt it; they were not indifferent to the calves. No one should be indifferent to the claims of nature in their place, for to be without natural affection is to be in the apostasy (2 Timothy 3: 3); but the point is to subordinate natural claims to the claims of Christ. They went by the one highway, lowing as they went, but they went. How delightful to heaven was that journey! Where did it lead? You say, The one highway of God leads to glory; it does. That is where it will end, but for Jesus it led by the cross. That was the way it led — that one “way” which the gospel of Mark brings before us. Jesus was in it, and there were others who followed Him in it. He made perfectly clear to them what it meant (Mark 10: 32 - 34); it was the way to glory, truly, but by way of the judgment-hall, and the praetorium and the cross; it meant that way! The Lord deceived no one as to what was in that way. He even taught His disciples as to it (Mark 8: 31). These kine were on the highway, and they went all the way to Beth-shemesh, which I may say was the terminus of that way. It is typically spiritual instinct. You can understand it; the ark was on the cart; the influence of Christ was there, even though the circumstances were wholly unfitting, but [p. 309] He was there. Christ is Christ; He is the power of God and the glory of God, and wherever He is He occasions a current. The physical creation abounds with illustrations of currents flowing in a certain direction. Under certain circumstances certain materials are unaffected by what affects other materials; so if I am a subject the work of God, normally I am affected by what is of God in this sense; it flows in one direction; and is what comes out here. “The kine went straight forward on the way to Beth-shemesh; they went by the one highway ... they turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (1 Samuel 6: 12). They were in the current of the ark, as I may say, and they went in the way of it, and they went the whole way of it; that is the point. They were not like that young man that ran into the way and knelt down to the Lord Jesus and called Him “Good Master” — merely a religious attitudinarian. He knelt down, but kneeling down counts for nothing, unless the person who does it feels exposed and judges himself as before God. He left the way; he never came into the current of that way; he did not have the corresponding element which would lead him into it. These kine were typically in the current of that way, and they went on and on, until they came to the stone in the field of Joshua. That was the terminus, and they were slain, offered up there, showing, that what is required for the moment is the element of going forward even to death, with no idea of glory in this world.
Now as one takes on that attitude instinctively he must go that way; he thinks not of his own glory. The claims of the testimony must be above those of nature. This is imperative. It is like laying down one’s life for the brethren. There is no manifestation in this way of personal consideration or ambition. Death lies at the end. I do not now stop to speak about the glory beyond; as the apostle Paul says, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the [p. 310] things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4: 17 - 18). It is the “eternal weight”. Think of that! One often stops to think of the idea of weight and measure with God. The physical creation suggests it in a marked way. The “eternal weight”! How substantial the glory is.
But I was speaking of the instincts that mark those who are normally subjects of the work of God; and then when you come to the end, that is to say, when the kine reached this field where they were offered up, you find the Levites. Levitical service comes into view at that point, indicating that at the outset we have to wait; the principle of death has to be accepted before we can enter into service. We have to understand these statements spiritually, as accepting the principle of death — the principle of sacrifice. The Levites come in here. At the beginning of the journey we had the Philistine diviners, and we are not to despise them in this respect, because they told the Philistine lords what to do. We begin with them. I have no doubt they suggest how awkward we are, how unintelligent; though in the main the Philistine diviners had some understanding of the reverence due to the ark of God. It was they who directed that the cart should be made and the milch kine, on which no yoke had come, attached to it, so that “the ark of Jehovah” with a trespass offering should be sent back. But with reference to Levitical service we are told that the Levites went in at twenty-five, which implies that they served as apprentices until thirty. It is well for young people to understand that they have to go through a process, and it runs concurrently with what I am speaking about; you are proving the reliability of spiritual instinct. You prove it by the fact that you can see Christ when He is presented to you, and you do not turn against Him. If Christ is presented to me in the smallest way, and I do not see Him, I am wanting in spiritual instinct; I have been cultivating something else. Even if He is [p. 311] presented to me, as He is here, on a cart, in an unsuitable position, and I do not discern Him, I am wanting in spiritual instinct. Very often you get Christ presented in a most awkward way, but if it be Christ and I do not discern Him, there is something wrong. You say, Well look at that cart! But look at that ark! That is the thing to look at; dismiss the thought of the cart for the moment. Look at the ark. That is the thing, dear brethren: ability to discern Christ and to identify myself with Him to the point of death, laying down one’s life for the brethren. As soon as I reach that point I come to the Levites. You say, Somebody else will do that work. Not at all; the spiritual idea is, that that is what I am; I am under these circumstances qualified. The Levites took down the ark. As to the cart, it is your business to provide something better. How is that done? I become a Levite through the experience I have spoken of. I serve my time till I arrive at the age of thirty, and as soon as I arrive at that point I desire to do something else with the ark. I say, I want to carry that precious ark on my shoulder. That is the way. If somebody provides the cart, it is my business to provide a shoulder, and it must be a Kohathite shoulder, not a Merarite shoulder, nor a Gershonite shoulder. The Gershonites had wagons themselves — not a cart, which is an open vehicle — the Levitical wagon is covered, “covered wagons” (Numbers 7: 3). But the ark was not even to be carried in a covered wagon; the ark was to be carried on Kohathite shoulders; that is to say, on the shoulders of believers who are spiritual. There are grades of spirituality in the service of God, because God puts up with much in us; in fact He provides for the Merarites and Gershonites in this respect, or rather the princes provide for them in giving wagons, but they are covered ones. But that will not do for Christ as typified in the ark. When it is a question of the ark, it is a Kohathite shoulder that is called for, and I want everyone here to question his [p. 312] own heart as to whether he has that shoulder. It is very much akin to the shoulder of Christ. The shoulders of Christ according to the type bore all the names of the tribes, six here, and six there, and the Kohathite shoulder corresponds with that. It is by learning the love of Christ, the way that He has supported me, that I want to carry Him in testimony in this world.
I am speaking now of the shoulder as a symbol of strength, the power for carrying what is of Christ. That is what appears here, and I want to show you, as I said at the beginning, how it works out in Simeon. He was “in Jerusalem”, that is to say, he has advanced beyond the mere thought of spiritual instinct. He is “in Jerusalem” that is where all spiritual thoughts converge; I am speaking of Jerusalem in its divine setting. That is where he is. If I may make a present application, it is the church; it is that in which the divine interests are centred — the church, not merely as a vessel on the earth in testimony, but viewed abstractly, as heavenly; it is “Jerusalem above” Galatians 4: 26. Simeon was in Jerusalem. He had intelligence. It was a question of the Holy Spirit. The divine nature is marked by spiritual instinct, but then we have to distinguish between that and the Holy Spirit in the believer as “the unction”. Simeon was in Jerusalem, and looking for “the consolation of Israel” Luke 2: 25, and the Holy Spirit was upon him; he was suitable to be so distinguished. The Holy Spirit comes upon us according to what we are as the subjects of the work of God. Think of how He came down on Christ! He is so unerring; He came down as a dove to denote the delight that Christ was to heaven; there was nothing in that holy Man to grieve in the least degree the Holy Spirit, for the dove is most sensitive; it is symbolic of the sensitiveness of the Holy Spirit. He came down in that way on Jesus; but He was upon this man as if He could commit Himself to him. “The Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit” Luke 2: 25,26; he [p. 313] was a man to whom the Spirit of God could reveal his mind. How many of us understand the Holy Spirit, a divine Person down here, as One with whom we are to be conversant and He with us? It was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. What a man he was! And he came into the temple, by the Spirit. How, dear brethren, do we regard the Holy Spirit as down here? Do we move by Him, walk by Him, serve by Him, come to the meetings by Him? Simeon went into the temple by the Spirit — or really “in the Spirit”, it is that he came into it, in that holy state, “in the Spirit”. The parents brought in the Child Jesus. There is no attempt to make Jesus more than He might appear outwardly, as I was saying; in Luke, He is just presented as He was normally. He had been circumcised at eight days old, and was brought by His parents to be presented to Jehovah according to the law. Now, that is the test. Can I discern Christ presented to me, brought to me, in this way? Of course the parents brought Him, and as parents they did not detract from Him, but Simeon’s attention is not called to Jesus specially by outward circumstances. It is just what was there: can I discern Him? You say, I only heard so-and-so speak, and you revert back to the honoured servants who have gone, but then Christ was presented to you by the brother you consider so insignificant — did you discern Him? It is the same Christ. But when I speak of Jesus as seen in such outward smallness in the temple, I am not referring to His Person. What underlay this was the fact that one was there who is “God over all” Romans 9: 5. Let no one assume for a moment that He ceased to be that; He is ever divine; but I am speaking of the way Luke presents the truth; He is just a Babe as in the temple. Someone brings Christ to you and perhaps you do not see Him because of the person who brings Him. There may be some feeling against that person, and you do not see Jesus because of that. But He is [p. 314] there. If I do not see Him I am not a Simeon, I am not “in Jerusalem”, not in the temple “in the Spirit”. Simeon was; so he received the Child in his arms. Never mind for the moment the person who brought Him: he received “the child”. As you receive Christ, so to speak, the person who brought Him will be enhanced in your eyes. Having blessed God, Simeon also blessed Joseph and Mary. There is no evidence that she said a word to Simeon to enhance the Babe. It is a question of discernment; it is a question of the Babe. Is Jesus there? If I am a priest, if I am spiritual, I shall know. “The spiritual discerns all things” (1 Corinthians 2: 15), especially if it is a question of Jesus. The Holy Spirit enables you to see Him, and makes you know He is there. Simeon took the Child in his arms. How he enlarged on Him! He blesses God and says, “now, thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation” Luke 2: 29 (New Trans.). He was looking at that — not at outward appearance. He saw in the Babe the salvation of God. That is spirituality. “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the Gentiles”. Luke 2: 30,31. How great his thoughts were! Do we not need those thoughts, dear brethren? I visit a good many prayer meetings and I but seldom hear the whole field of God’s operations brought to the golden altar. Simeon thought of the Babe in His greatness as a light for the “unveiling” of the gentiles. The gentiles, as yet in heathen darkness, were to be brought into the light and favour of God by this Babe. How glorious! And then he says, “The glory of thy people Israel” Luke 2: 32.
That is what I had to say, dear brethren; I am sure you have all followed. Our spirituality is the outcome of the work of God in our souls. It begins with instinct and goes on to intelligence; that is how it proceeds. So I become practically a priest; I reside “in Jerusalem”, I take account of the Lord’s interests, not only locally but universally. Being “in Jerusalem” is more than being in a local gathering; it means that I apprehend the church in its greatness, in its heavenly position; I take account of it abstractly, according to what it will be — not only what it is, but according to what it will be when it comes down from God out of heaven. So the Spirit of God enlarges us as we are spiritual, and leads us forward in the great thoughts of God.