WHAT CAN BE RELIED ON
ATTACHMENT BY GOD
James Renton
These are the words of Moses, his own impression of what God's people meant to Him. He said in verse 6, "For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth". It indicates how Jehovah valued His people. He said Himself in Exodus 19, "If ye will hearken to my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be my own possession out of all the peoples - for all the earth is mine - and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (vv 5,6). It is what His people are to be to Him as something special, not only as the earth is His - of course it is His, He made it - but there is something on the earth that is a special possession .
We read, "Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you". It is very affecting that Moses speaks about Jehovah being attached to them, not because they were more in number, not because of anything that men could take account of, but because Jehovah loved them. He was attached to them because He loved them. We are accustomed to speak about love as following attachment. We love the Lord Jesus by first of all becoming attached to Him, but here it is the reverse order, Jehovah was attached to them because He loved them. I suppose that love for us would involve His purpose. Moses said, He has chosen you. We are loved because in purpose we were chosen. His love is His attitude, it is the disposition of His heart; but then it says He has been "attached to you". That is a very fine thing. Attachment involves something very personal, persons in whom God is interested. We sometimes speak about the disciples being attached to the Lord Jesus, and so they were, but think of the Lord Jesus attached to His disciples! Think of how He was attached to them, think of how He went in and out amongst them during the three and a half years of His service here! It says, "having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end", John 13: 1. The Lord Jesus became attached to the disciples, and He would become attached to every one of us because of His love. His love is His general disposition, but "being attached to" is something personal. We would all do well to consider the Lord Jesus being attached to us; He certainly was attached to His disciples. He went in and out amongst them, He taught them, He cared for them, He acted as a father towards them. Three times over the Lord addresses them as His children, He cared for them as a father. He became attached to them. According to John's gospel the Lord felt leaving them, He was so attached to them. They felt the Lord leaving them, but He felt leaving them. Think of the forty days in which He went in and out amongst them - not only His lifetime here, but in the forty days, was He not attached to them? He said to Mary, "I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren", John 20: 17. He was so attached to His brethren that He did not immediately ascend to the Father; He was forty days among them and He felt leaving them, but He made ample provision for them. He speaks in John 14, 15 and 16 about the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. In effect the Lord says to the disciples, the Comforter will be just as much attached to you as I have been.
And so it is; think of the Holy Spirit attached to us, dear brethren. The Lord says about Him, "he abides with you, and shall be in you", John 14: 17. Think of how near the Holy Spirit has come in His attachment to each one of us! We sang about being sealed, being sealed with the Spirit, owned as God's property. Think of how the Spirit is attached to us! Once we receive the Spirit He remains with us. We have ignored Him, grieved Him, quenched Him, and yet He has become attached to us; He remains with us. The Lord Jesus was with the disciples a certain time, three and a half years, but He says about the Comforter, "that he may be with you for ever" (John 14: 16). He will not be like Me He will not leave you, He will be with you for ever. As long as we need Him in the testimony down here, the Spirit will be here. Just consider, dear brethren, how the Holy Spirit has become attached to us because He loves us. We read in Romans 15 of "the love of the Spirit" (v 30); He loves us and has become attached to us, dwells in our bodies. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor 6: 19). How immediate is the Spirit's presence with each believer. He has become attached to us.
Think of the Father being attached to us. The Lord said, "the Father himself has affection for you, because ye have had affection for me", John 16: 27. That expression "has affection for" is the same as "attached to" it is the word phileo, the word that Peter used in John 21 when he said, "I am attached to thee", and the Lord challenged him the third time, "Art thou attached to me?". It is the same expression as having affection for; it might be translated, The Father Himself is attached to you, because ye have become attached to Me. Think of the Father's love for His family, His committal to each one of us as belonging to His family, His children, His sons. It says here, "Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples": they were not of much account in men's estimation - "but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers". That is God's faithfulness, God's faithful love.
Consider, dear brethren, for our encouragement that the Lord Jesus is committed to us and has become attached to us. The Holy Spirit is committed to us, sealed us, is attached to us. The Father in His love, His interest in us, has become attached to us. What a comfort this is! There is much to face, maybe for young people especially, much to confront them, difficulties, temptations, but oh, just to be conscious of divine attachment to each one of us!
May the Lord encourage us!
WHAT CAN BE RELIED ON
William Grosse
John 13: 1; 14: 15-19; 1 Corinthians 2: 9-12
This first scripture has already been referred to, but it was on my mind as well, following a touch we had on Lord's day as to the love that could be relied on. I felt that this passage brought out something which would encourage us as to what can be relied on. "Jesus knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end": think of the greatness of the love of Christ - it is something that can be relied on. There may be the side of our responsibility, but it is presented here that "having loved his own who were in the world" He "loved them to the end". 'To the end' involves through everything, every difficulty, every problem, every circumstance. What a wonderful lover the Lord Jesus is! It is love that can be relied on. In the world there is so much we cannot rely on, but we can rely on the love of Jesus. I know there is the side on which we would give Him a basis for loving us, but as we are seeking to go on in the pathway and be in the testimony we can prove and experience the love that can be relied on. It is wonderful to think that we can touch something that is firm, that never will move, never will change. A hymn says
'The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know' (No 279)
Think of the love of Jesus, the love that can be experienced. We get a touch of it at the Supper, and it would affect us to think of the love that can be relied on. "Having loved his own who were in the world": think of those who are in the world, think of the fact t hat we belong to Him "His own"; what a word that is! We are not of the world, we have to go through it but we belong to Jesus. John's gospel brings out the greatness of His Person as Son of God, the sun and centre of another world, but I love the word 'Jesus' because it brings to our hearts the One who has loved us and would give us the sense of what can be relied on. As our brother was saying, we can experience this love; there is nothing greater that can hold us. We are here because we have affection for the Lord Jesus, that glorious One who is in heaven, the One whom we know, the One whom we love, and we would desire to be here in fidelity to Him. I noticed in some notes of meetings that Mr Deck said, Unless we are looking for the Lord's coming every day we are not really as we should be. Well, that is a test, but the thought of looking for His coming - the rapture and the appearing - should be in our hearts more than it is. Our brother suggests that we should have that daily in our hearts. Some of us perhaps need help in this, but that would be the right idea, that you are waiting for the Lord to come.
But while we are here, chapter 14 brings out that His love for us involves that He is going away, and He says, "I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you". What a wonderful thing that is! It is related to the Spirit coming. "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever". Think of this, the divine provision for the time the Lord is away; when He is away the Comforter is here. What a wonderful lover the Lord is! Now, you might say, when does that happen? Well, as I understand, it would involve particularly the time of the Supper when we would prove the Lord coming to us. What a wonderful thing - "I will not leave you orphans". Think of an orphan, without father or mother, think of what an orphan's feelings are, but the Lord realised what that would be, His disciples having been so attached to Him. Our brother has spoken of attachment; think of the attachment of the disciples to Him, and how the Lord was attached to them, and then all that changing. But the Lord says "I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you". What a wonderful privilege the Supper is, when we get a sense of His coming and the reliability of His love. We would not say that the Lord comes automatically, but if there is love in our hearts for Him He will come; we have proved it. "I will" - something that can be relied on - "I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you".
In Corinthians I thought of the great area of things that we are brought into, which we can rely on, the area of the Spirit. We have seen in John 14 that the Lord says "I will not leave you orphans", but He also speaks about "another Comforter ... the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive". What a wonderful Person the Holy Spirit is! We think about His glory and greatness, and what I am thinking of is that there is something that can be relied on. The Spirit would bring us into an area of things that we can enjoy and enter into which will not change. Think of this: "Things which eye has not seen" - things beyond the faculty of the human eye. It is remarkable to think of what is beyond the natural order of things, which some of us who are not very spiritual do not know much about but we would long to know more about, "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard" - the human ear, as it were, has not heard, it is beyond it - "and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him". What a wonderful God He is! Think of the greatness of His love, and the love would be so great that He would give us this as something that we can rely on. We can rely on the fact that we can enter into some of these wonderful experiences, undoubtedly at the Supper, and other meetings too, but particularly at the Supper, "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God". This is a wonderful passage; as dependent on the Holy Spirit He would reveal these things to us, "Things ... which God has prepared". Think of them. We experience them maybe in our reading meetings or in other occasions, something related to the depths of God, the depths, we might say, in God's love. The depths of God is a very positive thought, what God has for the saints to enjoy. We come to the meetings and would desire to get the benefit of the meetings, where we would touch something of the depths of God, the treasures that come out. Think of the wonder of these treasures: "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him". I think it would link on with what Paul says, that he "heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter" (2 Cor 12: 4), and some of these depths we find in Paul's ministry. I was just thinking of the reliability of these things. As dependent on the Spirit, God would see that we enter into some of them. For the Lord's Name's sake.
THE HOUSE OF GOD
Willie Dickson
I have been thinking a little about the house of God which has been before us in our Lord's day afternoon readings. Much enters into a dwelling place for God, and when we converse together on these matters our minds always go back to the initial reference to God's house, linked with Jacob earlier on in this book. We now find a further reference here. The exhortation to Timothy is that we might know how to behave ourselves in God's house, which is the pillar and base of the truth (see 1 Tim 3: 15). It has come to me that it would greatly regulate our conduct if we were more cognisant of the fact that we are in God's house. There is the side of it that we are God's house, and there is the side in which we are in God's house, and I think that being in God's house would be a great regulating factor. Perhaps I do not need to say this, but this material building in which we are is not God's house. A believer who has the Spirit is always in God's house; that is the teaching of 1 Timothy. While you work, or wherever you move, in your household or in your assembly relations, you are in God's house, God's dwelling-place, and the onus is on you to know how to behave yourself there.
Now that light affected Jacob when God said "Arise, go up to Bethel". I suppose most of our Christian life - well, I speak for myself - is made up of stops and starts. Jacob here makes a fine start when, after his years of wandering, his ups and downs in Laban's house and his trouble with his brother Esau, he responds to the divine injunction to go up to Bethel. I think it would change our conduct remarkably if we came to that point, that we are going up to Bethel, we are going up to God's house. God said to him, "Arise, go up to Bethel ... And Jacob said to his household ... Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments, and we will arise, and go up to Bethel". What prompted Jacob to say that? What was the underlying state of his soul? He must have had some sense of what was rightly due to and connected with God's house. He must have had some spiritual sensibilities that there are certain conditions attached to God's dwelling-place. That was why he told his household to cleanse themselves, put away strange gods and change their garments. He said "I will make there an altar to the God that answered me in the day of my distress". Is that not fine? Far better to have an altar in Bethel than to have a strange god in the house, far better to have the liberty of divine approach and a place in the divine presence than to have a strange god in the house. That is what Jacob came to. "And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears" - no demur, no argument, immediate submission to the head of the house. They did it. And then it says, "and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem". That would be an allusion, I believe to baptism. The word 'hid' could be translated 'buried', and in Christianity it is an obvious reference to baptism. In other words, he judged that these things that were unsuitable had to go in the light of the death of Christ. It is interesting that the place in which he hid them was at Shechem. Shechem is the place of no compromise. I think, in all our lives, in our experiences, our histories, there have been matters where the Lord has said to us, You must deal with this uncompromisingly. It has arisen in our employment, in our homes, in other matters; the Lord has said to us, If you are going to enjoy the privileges of the house of God you must be uncompromising in your judgment of that which is out of keeping with the divine dwelling and is defiling. I seek to bring this home to all our hearts. We have had to face things, in our families sometimes, in our work, and the only escape route was to deal with the issue without compromise. May we be encouraged. These are milestones in Christian history. They give you backbone, give you some understanding of the Lord's love. We have been speaking of the love that can be relied on and the love with which God is attached to us. Could the Lord rely on us? That is the great test in 2 Timothy days.
Now I want to say something about verse 16: "And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath, when Rachel travailed in childbirth; and it went hard with her in her childbearing". And, verse 19, "And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem". I think that is something we know about practically. Oft-times, when you take an uncompromising stand with regard to a matter, you think it will now be sunshine all the way. Read your own heart, you know what I am saying is true. You take a stand and you say to yourself, The Lord will honour me for this and everything will be fine. Jacob suffered the biggest sorrow of his life when he lost Rachel. Beloved brethren, the ways of God are not our ways, not our ways at all. He is working with us to give us understanding that He is attached to us in love but He has to discipline us sometimes, even when we think we are right and going on the right path. The Lord comes in in all these things.
May the Lord help us, beloved brethren. The house of God is the divine dwelling-place. To know it livingly, young and old alike, will help us. May the Lord grant it for His Name's sake. Amen.
EDINBURGH
8 May 1990