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THE MAN OF THE FATHER’S CHOICE

R. S. Renton

Our brother has given out hymn 33 at the commencement of our meeting and we have all joined in singing heartily of Christ as the ‘Man of the Father’s choice, Faithful and tried’, and God would see to it, beloved brethren, that the place He has as Man of the Father’s choice cannot, and will not ever, be usurped. And our blessing, of course, incidentally, is that He has the chief place in our affections. That would be salvation and satisfaction for us in that the Father’s choice of Christ becomes our choice; that is what the Spirit would undertake with us so that we should be related in every way to the Man of God’s choice. He is the “firstborn from among the dead”, that is His rank, “that he might have the first place in all things”, as Colossians 1: 18 teaches us. He has the first place in God’s affections and the divine intent is He should have the first place in ours.

Now from these passages I want to show, first of all in the type, how God ensures that the place He has given to Christ as chosen can never be encroached upon. So I have read this well-known passage in 1 Samuel where Samuel is mourning for Saul and God says, “How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?” Well, dear brethren, we do not want to linger mourning for the man whom God has rejected. He says, “Fill thy horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons ... And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will tell thee what thou shalt do” (1 Samuel 16: 1, 3), as if God would say, ‘Now there is no room for speculation; it must be the man of My choice’. Even Samuel, spiritual man as he was, the most spiritual in his day (we were reminded recently that none of his words fell to the ground), could not be trusted in selecting the man of God’s choice; “Thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee”.

And then, as we have read, Eliab comes forward and Samuel said, “Surely Jehovah’s anointed is before him”. Then there is a rebuke; mild it may be, but there is a rebuke to Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him … for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart”—that is a word for us, “Jehovah looketh upon the heart”. He values our affections, and if the heart is set on Christ we may be assured of the Father’s approbation. Every other man, beloved brethren, is rejected and the sooner we see that, the quicker we will arrive at God’s choice. It may have been the man’s intelligence; I do not know; or the height of his stature—we may be deluded by persons of stature (shall I say we have been in the past?), but God insists that Eliab is rejected. Now that is a very strong word, he is rejected.

“Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has Jehovah chosen this one”. You see, Samuel cannot dictate; it is God who selects; it is God who indicates who is the man of His choice. Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah may have been worthy men, but they are not God’s choice. “And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, Jehovah has not chosen these”. That is, every other man has been eliminated and there is a vacancy. “And Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all the young

men? And he said, There is yet the youngest remaining, and behold, he is feeding the sheep”.

What an occupation! Not just tending the sheep, but feeding the sheep; something deliberate, something positive. “Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit at table till he come hither”. It appears that Samuel now apprehended that these persons have been rejected; God has not chosen them, so they are set aside from the choice, and then he says, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit at table till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance”.

These are the moral qualities of the ‘faithful and tried’. David was faithful, and how he was tried; how he dealt with the lion and with the bear. It is as if Jehovah was affected by his appearance for He says, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. What a day in our history, beloved brethren, when we arrive at God’s choice, the Man of His choice, the faithful and the tried, as we have sung—

‘“Come!” ‘tis the Spirit’s cry,

“Come!” saith the bride.’

Are we not longing to see Him, beloved brethren, are we not longing just to see His face, to hear His voice, to be with Him, to be like Him in courts above? We do not have long to wait, you know; I am assured of that; we do not have long to wait till we actually, literally, physically see the Man of God’s choice, and He will hold our affections throughout the whole of eternity. How great He is! He fills the Father’s heart and He is sufficient to fill the heart of every believer, every redeemed person, now, and such will be filled with satisfaction eternally. But we do not need to wait until that day; we can have the Father’s choice as our choice. C. A. Bernstein, who wrote hymn 174 three hundred years ago, understood by

experience the sufficiency of Christ as his satisfying portion.

‘Jesus! Thou art enough

The mind and heart to fill;

Thy patient life—to calm the soul;

Thy love—its fear dispel’.

Every other man is eliminated and Christ alone exalted. How we long for His appearing and love His appearing! I often say this, but it always strikes a chord in my affections to think of the appearing, to think of the time when He will be publicly acclaimed—acknowledged now in the hearts and lives of a separated people, but to be publicly acknowledged. What a day that will be “When he shall have come to be glorified in his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed (for our testimony to you has been believed, ) in that day”, 2 Thessalonians 1: 10. “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”, as if God would say, ‘This is the man of My choice; this is the faithful and the tried; no other could fill this place’. No other could undertake the work which Christ has accomplished for God’s glory and millions will form the host of the redeemed who will adoringly acknowledge that Christ is the Man of the Father’s choice.

“And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah”.

Now in Luke 9, on what we call the mount of transfiguration, the Father signalises that Christ is the Man of His choice. You see, Peter would have Moses and Elias, honourable as they were, and representing certain features, men who were faithful in their day, on a par with the Lord Jesus, and the Father’s voice resented this. “Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”. He put the Lord

first, and yet he put Moses and Elias alongside of the Lord Jesus. Beloved brethren, may we be preserved in our affections; Christ stands alone, unique and supreme as the Father’s choice. It would be a healthy exercise for us to pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may be given to know what there is in Christ that so commands the Father’s affections. No other can come alongside of Him; He stands alone in His own moral glory, His perfection, beauty and excellence. May it ever be so with us; this will be preservation for us in a day of infidelity, in a day when men seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ. Again I say, the Man of the Father’s choice is to be the Man of our choice. Younger brethren can understand this, older brethren can understand it, for it is an anchorage for us that that Man, and that Man alone, can fill our vision.

Luke makes this comment as to Peter, “not knowing what he said”. “But as he was saying these things”—now note that, “as he was saying these things”, that is, as Peter was saying, “It is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias ... there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud: and there was a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son—hear him”. Could anything be more definite; could anything be more deliberate? It must be the Father’s voice interjecting, as over against what Peter had thought and given expression to, that the Lord Jesus and Moses and Elias should each have a tabernacle. “This is my beloved Son—hear him”. How definite the Father is. Why? Because Christ is the Man of the Father’s choice and there is no equal to Him; no one can be put alongside of Him. He stands alone in His own distinction and His own distinctiveness. “And as the voice was heard Jesus was found alone”. You see, there it is, beloved brethren, He is found alone; no one could be alongside of Him.” The Father’s voice interposed, “This is my beloved Son”, as if to say, ‘Do not dare to put anyone alongside of My beloved Son’.

May we be helped then to understand the Man of the Father’s choice, glorious Man that He is, faithful and tried. How faithful! ‘Faithful amidst unfaithfulness, ‘Mid darkness only light’ (Hymn 230), and tried—who was more tried? Who was more tested? But the trials and tests to which He was subjected only served to bring into glorious relief the infinite perfection of His manhood and the ability, seen in type in the acacia-wood, to endure. We often quote,

“Who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not”, 1 Peter 2: 23. What moral excellence, beloved brethren, and in the measure in which we see and understand it, and as we appreciate the glory of Christ, we will arrive at it that no one could be put alongside of Him, and this expression, “This is my beloved Son—hear him” will have its own profound effect upon us, enabling us to be constant, and delighting to hear what He has to say. May it be so with us all, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry
Edinburgh, 15 June 1982

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