REPRESENTATIVE TESTIMONY
[p. 165] REPRESENTATIVE TESTIMONY
Acts 1: 1 - 4; Acts 3: 4; Philemon 8 - 17
I have in mind to speak simply, and briefly too, of what the mind of God is as to what is to be presented on His behalf in the way of representative testimony. His thought is that whatever is presented should be commensurate with the need or the circumstances in which the testimony is presented; this includes all the saints, whether it be a father in his house, or a mother in her house, or a child in the same house, or a master in his business, or a servant of that master, or a neighbour, and above all, a minister, one who would take the place of serving in the gospel or in the truth in any sense; so you can see that what I have in mind includes the oldest here, whether brother or sister, and the youngest, too. For testimony is to begin immediately on the confession of Christ. Confession itself is a testimony. Numerous examples can be furnished of very young people employed and used of God and effective in that use. Indeed the Lord Himself furnishes us with an example, as in all instances, for the young in the seemliness in which He was found in the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve. His mother and father had travelled some time without discovering that He was not with them, a very extraordinary thing and a voice to every mother and father as to their children.
In spite of the announcement made to Mary about the holy Child she could afford, as having visited Jerusalem, and religiously too, to return for some time on the way back and be unaware that her Child, of whom so much is spoken and upon whom so much hung as regards God and His testimony, was not with them; it is extraordinary that she and her husband Joseph could afford to travel even for a moment without being assured that He was in the [p. 166] company. But they travelled a long way before they were aware that He was not with them; then returning to Jerusalem they found him in the midst of the doctors in the temple. Not in a curious way, but sitting deliberately there as if He understood what that conclave meant. He was hearing what they were saying and asking them questions. All that was a testimony. Whatever the doctors may have discerned, the day will come when heaven will say to them, ‘You knew all this, that Child was there, never did you see such a Child, never did you hear such a Child of His years speak as He spoke, never did you see such demeanour’. He was a testimony to them, and so it is with a child today; the child of christian parents goes forth to his school and is a testimony there. It is his opportunity, and so in a multitude of ways one could cite how representation of God is to proceed in this world at the present time.
That is what I have in mind, and to open it out in this book entitled the Acts of the Apostles. It is not an inspired title. In truth it is what was done and taught, first by Christ and then by His apostles and others, of course; the Lord Himself takes the lead in these early verses. Luke, in his inimitable way, inspired by the Spirit of God, opens his second letter to this distinguished believer called Theophilus, linking on what he is about to say with what he had written to him in the first letter. All things, he says, which Jesus began not which He finished, but began — both to do and teach. It was only the beginning, the beginning of what has continued on, mediately, i.e., through others, till now. The book ends with the Lord’s greatest vessel, that is Paul, who, after extraordinary vicissitudes and sufferings, sufferings beyond the power of any pen to describe, is found in Rome in his own hired lodging. He attempts to outline those sufferings himself, but only what befell him early in [p. 167] his life, only a part of his sufferings. He is seen at the end of this book in his own hired house in the metropolis of the world. He is carried there a prisoner from Caesarea; he is the great representative of Christ in Rome, and it says that he received all that came to him. The emperor, no doubt, would have his levees and receptions, he would receive at stated times the magnates of the empire, generals and so forth, but here was a man transcending by far any dignity and office and power under Caesar and he is receiving all who come to him. I suppose the poorest christian in Rome could knock at Paul’s door and it would be opened to him, for he received all that came to him. And his occupation, according to what is recorded, was preaching and teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God. That is continued for two years, in his own hired house, but still as a prisoner. It is possible that he was released but it would appear from the divine record that he was never free in Rome. And yet what is to be noticed is the wonderful providential way in which his imprisonment is modified, how he has a hired house of his own and how he is free to receive anyone that comes to him, no one forbidding him. These are very significant facts as ending up this remarkable treatise called the Acts.
It begins with the Lord Jesus presented, as I have said, by Luke according to what He did and taught, and ends with His greatest servant carrying on the same sort of work in the capital of the world, with the significant evidence that he was free to receive and that no one forbade him. The devil did not have all the say in the matter. Had he had his way, Paul would have been beheaded, or at least bound fast, and no one would have been allowed to see him. The way was kept open as it is at this very moment, even in a more extended way, so that we are here today, free to meet in this hall without a licence from [p. 168] the Crown or the religious dignitaries of the country, at liberty to speak freely to one another about Christ and God and divine things. It is a wonderful thing although we perhaps scarcely stop to think of it.
But what has led up to it is well worth our consideration and the more we consider it the more we should avail ourselves of opportunities to speak often to one another. I do not believe the door will be closed to the church. “I have set before thee an opened door”, Revelation 3: 8. No man can shut it, but God can shut it and if we neglect or disregard our privileges, it may be shut. That is the solemn side of the matter. He acts judicially as His people disregard their privileges. But here no man forbade Paul.
The first thing I wish to point out is what the Lord Himself did, not what He did and taught before His death but what He did after He suffered. That is how it stands. He presented Himself living to the apostles, after He suffered, with many proofs. It is not simply that He was there to be seen, but He presented Himself. That is to say, the Lord was concerned that these great servants whom He had been fitting to be His apostles should just see Him as He intended them to see Him. There are many ways in which Christ is presented to His people. One has often pointed out that men would present Christ in a garb with which they clothe Him. I might cite the different denominations as we call them, each has its own garb in which to clothe Christ so as to present Him. If I were to take Rome, the Vatican has a way of presenting Christ but not as the Lord would present Himself. We shall never get a true view of Christ in testimony save as we allow Him to present Himself to us. So that you may say, ‘Take away your own clothes, take away these habiliments you have spun and made for Christ. They do not fit Him, nor do I see Him properly in them’. Pilate brought the Lord [p. 169] forth clothed in a gorgeous robe, a purple one, but it was put on in derision. We have to watch for that and say, ‘Let me see Him as He would present Himself to me’.
Here it says He presented Himself alive. Not only that He is a living Man, but He is presenting Himself; He intends to impress these men with Himself. He has His own conception as to how He is to be apprehended in your mind and He presents Himself in the particular way in which He wishes you to apprehend Him. The bride in the Canticles perhaps comes nearest to this; she describes her beloved from the head downward, and I do not believe there is the least discrepancy in her description.
And so as seeking to present the Lord, one would do so as He would be presented. Here it is “living” after He had suffered. And then it is said “with many proofs”, so that there is no doubt left in the mind. That is another thing we should be concerned about — that what is said about Christ does not leave a doubt, that it is clear to the spiritual mind and not lowered to the level of man’s mind, and then, so as to complete the position He assembles with them; He is to be apprehended in that way, for the idea of the assembly is to enter into this book. The assembly is in prospect and in presenting Christ we have this in mind, that He stands in relation to the assembly, not in relation to any human organisation at all. He repudiates every human organisation, however friendly they may assume to be, or however they may appear to honour Him. He has His own organisation. He has His own clothes, His own organisation, the assembly, and He says in effect here, ‘I want the servants to see Me in assembly’, for that is to go forth in the testimony. We are not to forget it.
Now He says in Luke, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high’. He is so concerned that the testimony shall be such as [p. 170] to rightly represent Him, hence we are not to move out of the city. That is where we are until the clothing comes, it is clothing from on high. Here it is the promise, “Wait for the promise of the Father which, saith he, ye have heard of me”. That is another thing, that it is the promise of the Father; in the earlier treatise they were to wait for the clothing. We were already speaking today of the dispensation in which we are, it is a dispensation characterised by the Father, an economy which the Father dominates, and the promise of the Father is to come. So that man’s education and equipment for the testimony of God are seen to be unnecessary; it is what the Father provides that alone suffices for this wonderful period. It is a period in which the Father is known, that is to say, God in grace. The Father signifies in this sense that it is God known in grace, not in judgment, for the Lord says expressly that the Father judges no one. It is not that there is not judgment in this dispensation but I am speaking of what characterises it, that it is the Father’s dispensation and the Son is set on the Father’s throne. The testimony is to go out on that understanding and in order that it should be a testimony suited, we must make room for the promise of the Father.
The next thing is how do these apostles stand after the Lord has ascended, for after He leaves they are tested? Chapter 3 brings out particularly the persons, not their office, but what they were themselves. Hence you find Peter saying to the lame man, “Look on us”. He expected to get money, for the world is bankrupt; there can be no doubt that he represented that state of things in the religious world at that time. He was at the Beautiful gate of the temple, carried there in order to receive alms; he was representative of a bankrupt religion. That was the world religiously then and it is the state of the world religiously now, too, and God knows it and [p. 171] He would remind us that if we are to be a testimony in it we are not to be bankrupt. Literal bankruptcies have been very prevalent during the last seven or eight years, causing much sorrow to the people of God, and it is possible they signify spiritual bankruptcies. Peter and John were not bankrupt; they had nothing of this world’s goods but they were rich men. “Silver and gold have I none”; “Look on us”, Peter said. If they had been bankrupt they would not have asked a poor beggar to look at them. They were consciously at the source of all divine riches. The Holy Spirit was there in power. In the previous chapter the Spirit of God Himself presents us with the state of things that existed at Jerusalem consequent upon the coming down of the Spirit of God. There never had been such a state of things. It represents the wealth over against the wretched bankruptcy that existed at Jerusalem spiritually; it is the unlimited wealth of heaven come down — rivers of water flowing freely, everything fresh in Jerusalem. And now here are the two leading apostles, as you would say — heaven’s best in this sense. Jesus was up there, the Holy Spirit had come down and here are these two men going together at the hour of prayer to the temple, and they say, “Look on us”. Dear brethren, I am speaking not to interest you in historic matters, but to impress upon you and myself that the state of things today is bankrupt spiritually in every town in christendom. And the question is, what am I, and what am I doing and what am I saying?
First, what am I? What kind of person am I? “Look on us” does not simply mean look on two officials, but two persons in the bonds of affection, full of the Holy Spirit. It is not drawing the picture too large to say that their faces were radiant; these men were attractive. Had you seen them walk up to the temple and heard them say, “Look on us”,
[p. 172] you would have been affected were you possessed of spiritual instincts.
The testimony today requires not only what we are able to say, and what we are able to do, but what we are, what is to be seen. That, of course, raises the question in every setting in which I may be, what is to be seen? Can heaven point to me? Heaven will surely call attention to any person or persons who are in any sense capable of representing it in some way or other. Even if it were by calamity, attention will be called to us. “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” God said. Heaven has its own way of calling attention to us. If a calamity happens, what am I in it?
The next point is in Philemon, referring to the child. Paul calls Onesimus a child. My child, he says. We do not get much of Peter’s children, although he does speak of one, but Paul speaks of several children of his, and in each case the child is a representative of the father. So that the question arises as to what is to be continued after us. One generation passes away, we are told, and another comes. But then normally the generation that comes is from the generation that is passing away. So that the question arises as to children. What are they? What is the current generation that is coming What is the generation that is passing away? Paul says, “being such an one as Paul the aged”. Not simply such an one as Paul, but Paul the aged, that is, he is passing away. The epistle to Timothy expressly states that he is passing away. There are a few of us here that certainly can be called aged, but then what about the name of the aged person? Age, of course, in itself, means nothing; years mean nothing in themselves. Methuselah’s age, for instance, nine hundred and sixty-nine years, meant nothing as regards actual value. “Being such an one as Paul the aged”, it is a word to every aged person. Paul [p. 173] would not be more than seventy, perhaps not seventy, so that he is not a very old person in years, but it is such an one as Paul; and in his old age he had a son. While he is in Rome this happened. You will understand that what I am seeking to press is the importance of experience with God in the generation that is passing away, in order that the generation that is coming should take on something of that, for responsibility attaches to the generation passing away in regard to the generation that is coming. What are we leaving? I believe that this letter is to convey what should be left by the aged. Here is an apparently young man that had fled from his master; he was a slave and he came within the range of Paul. Doubtless Paul preached Christ to him but that is not simply the idea of begetting a son. He says “my child”; stress is laid on the “my”. I am sending him to you, he writes. What would Philemon think about this? He may have been a man of years, and possibly had a family. What does Paul mean in writing to him like this about a child? Surely Philemon has to remember that children are to take the place of their fathers and their mothers. Onesimus is to take the place of a father and who is that father? It is Paul. Timotheus is to take the place of Paul, and Titus also, they are all Paul’s children. What a variety he had!
Take Timothy. He is sent to Corinth expressly to represent Paul, who says he is “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. I have sent him that you might know by looking at him what my ways are in Christ, and the apostle had such confidence in that child that he commits to him certain things which he is to pass on to others, faithful men, and they are to teach others also.
Then we have Titus; he also is Paul’s child. He says in writing to the Galatians, I took Titus up to Jerusalem with me, and they did not compel him to [p. 174] be circumcised. They might have compelled others, but he was so like Paul, so manifestly a child of his father that they would not dare to insist on circumcising him, he was already spiritual. Circumcision is simply a type, it is the negation of the flesh. If it has already taken place, why apply the type, when the antitype is effectively there? They could not match this young man in Jerusalem.
And now we have this remarkable child who was a runaway slave, brought up as a slave, I suppose. Slavery has a most detrimental effect on humanity. The marks of slavery still remain in the republic of America, especially in the South. Governmentally the effect of slavery is most degrading to the human race, and this young man was a slave. But now he is to be Paul’s child. What exercises will this great father have, to make a child of his out of that material! He says to the Galatians, “I travail in birth again”. He had to do it twice for them, they were going back into slavery. The apostle must have been in throes of anguish about this young man as God put it upon him that he was to be a child of Paul’s; this means formation, it does not mean simply that Paul preached the gospel to him. Every spiritual father and mother understands that, if we are to have children for God, there must be the most profound exercises. We are passing away, and is the ground to be held in any less dignity than we held it? Paul is much concerned that this young man should be a true child of his; my child, he calls Onesimus. Think on me, he would say to Philemon, that I have a child, and that that slave of yours is now a child of mine. “Receive him, that is, my bowels”. He is to be inwardly formed with feelings and affections like Paul, and would reflect him in anything that would arise among the brethren at Colosse; I have no doubt he lived at Colosse; the apostle in writing to these believers says, I am combating for you. He never saw [p. 175] them. What an advantage it would be to have that young man sent there to be on their doorstep, so to speak, a brother beloved, no longer bearing the degrading traces of slavery but a liberated christian among the saints of God, with the stamp of Paul. As if the apostle would say, ‘He has the same kind of affections as I have. If there is anyone in trouble he will yearn over them’. In some places the old brothers say, ‘We do not want the young men in the care meeting’. Think of Philemon saying, ‘Onesimus is too young to be in the care meeting’. What folly! These young men are capable of vision. We cannot do without them. Solomon was not more than twenty years of age, as far as I can reckon, when he was put on the throne of Israel. He says, “I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother”, Proverbs 4: 3. That is how he was formed. And so Paul sent this one, once a slave, now a liberated son; but the stamp of Paul is upon him. ‘The yearnings’, Paul would say, ‘that you see in me you can see in him’. Young people should learn how to officiate, how to take up troubles in the assembly and carry them before God in their youthful hearts. What a privilege! Young people can carry these things in prayer before God.
That is the contribution from this house in which Paul lived two years in Rome, that is the contribution that he made, among other things, to that assembly. How enriched they were to have a young man like that! Is it not apropos of our present circumstances? That in relation to fathers and mothers, whether we are viewed literally or spiritually, there should be the formation in the children so that they are not simply children of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So, but children of spiritual parents, spiritual persons who are yearning that their offspring should carry on the testimony; as we are taken away, they should occupy the ground as was intended by the Lord during this whole dispensation.