FOUR FEATURES OF RECOVERY
[p. 240] FOUR FEATURES OF RECOVERY
Genesis 4: 26; Genesis 5:1-3; Genesis 5:21; Genesis 8: 20 - 22; Genesis 35:6,7; Genesis 35:9-15; Genesis 45: 1 - 5
My exercise is to call attention to the results for God in the recovery of His people. He has His own end in view, and He never relinquishes that end, however far we may wander. Whether viewed in a collective or an individual way God never relinquishes His thought in taking us up. In the language of the New Testament He Himself knows under all circumstances what He will do, and He will not in any way be thwarted, for He has got the means by Him of reaching His end. So I would seek to link up these scriptures as presenting four great features which God has reached in recovering His people from Babylon. He has reached, I do not merely say that He intended to reach these features, He has reached them. He began with the thought of having man as a companion on earth. He came into the garden of Eden with the thought of communing with Adam. There might have been a holy walk on that day for Adam. He walked there, we are told, in the cool of the day, for we shall always find that God considers for us; but Adam was not available to God. But God had His thought, and that was reached in the first great recovery after sin came in, for Enoch came in on the line of Seth, and Enoch walked with God.
Then the next great recovery brought out another feature, showing how God could be on terms with the creation notwithstanding the presence of sin. Evil was in man’s heart after the flood as before it, but God could be on favourable terms with the creation. In the recovery after the flood God is known as favourable toward all while the earth remaineth. Whatever man may do, God’s attitude remains unchanged.
[p. 241] Then, thirdly, inasmuch as the great truth of the house of God had come out, and Jacob, to whom the light of it was vouchsafed, had departed from the land of Canaan, in the recovery, not only is the great truth of the house reasserted, but new features are added.
Then, fourthly, in the next great recovery we have brethren beloved. These four features of the truth have been reached by God in the great recovery in which it is our privilege as His people to have part at the present time, but, whilst they have been reached, our exercise should be as to their maintenance, that what we have come into as a heritage may not slip away from us or, we from it.
To begin with the first feature I mentioned: Genesis 3 and 4 record the incoming of sin and its ravages, but Genesis 4:25,26 suggests that the light of a new day had begun to dawn. Now whether we speak of the assembly as having departed from divine principles and got into the world, or whether we speak of a believer as having departed through sin from the path of faith and righteousness, the principle remains that there has to be the admission of sin, the acknowledgment of what the flesh is. Seth begat a son, and he called his name Enos, for he had come to recognise that man after the flesh, born under whatever circumstances he may be, is flesh; “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” John 3:6; no one can gainsay it, and there is no possibility of recovery unless it is fully, unreservedly, unqualifiedly admitted, and Seth had come to that. This son of mine, he says, is born to die; weak, frail, mortal man, what can he do? And then it says, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” Genesis 4: 26.
If man can do nothing, God can do much; room is made for God, and a new day has dawned. Hence the Spirit of God begins the history over again in the light of this new day, for God always links on recovery with the beginning. God’s work is one whole, one piece from start to finish. Whatever we may do God holds on to His work, hence, when recovery is effected, He begins over again. He links on with the beginning. “This is the book of the generations [or histories] of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him”. Genesis 5:1. Not now in the image of God, but the “likeness”; Adam had come into the new light that was shining. Man was irretrievably ruined as after the flesh, but God remained in His eternal lustre, the eternal God, and men began to call on His name. “From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” Psalm 90:2 that is the refuge for faith, there is no change with God. So what He began at Pentecost continues, in spite of all man’s failure in responsibility; the work of God is one piece, and we shall see it presently coming out of heaven as the holy city. The foundations of the city have in them the names of the twelve apostles (Revelation 21: 14) and the city contains in it every item of the work of God from their day to our day, and until the assembly finally is caught up to be with Christ. Each recovery enables God to begin over again with the record, He links it on with the beginning. What we enjoy today began at Pentecost. So in Genesis 5:1,2 God reverts to the generations of Adam, “In the day that God created man ... male and female created he them and blessed them, and called their name Adam”. Not a word about the curse here, nor of Adam earning his bread in the sweat of his brow; he is blessed.
Then it goes on to say, “Adam ... begat a son in his own likeness” Genesis 5:3; but not the likeness of a man who slunk away behind the trees afraid to look into the face of God, but of Adam set up again in a new life. Men had begun to call on the name of the Lord; God had regained His place in their hearts and in their minds; there was faith. Seth comes in on the line [p. 243] of likeness first, and then of image; in other words the principle is, that whilst God began with the idea of image before likeness, now that sin has come in, you must have likeness before you can have representation. So Seth is born in the likeness of Adam first, for representation must be dependent on likeness. God’s intention is that we should be here for Him on the principle of representation, but for that we must be like Him — like God. God will never again anoint the flesh. He anointed Saul, but He will never anoint a man of the flesh again: He anoints a Man after His own heart, and that Man is like Him. Seth as begotten in the likeness of Adam is after his image, and he is appointed, his name means that — he is a type of Christ. God always works on the principle of what came out in Christ, and what came out in Christ was likeness. He was like God, and as like God He is anointed, hence “He is the image of the invisible God”.
Seth, then, is the appointed one, and in him is secured in faith, not the death line, but the life line. You may say, They all died, But no, Enoch did not die. He comes in as the great result of the recovery God had secured; He had set His heart upon men to walk with Him, and He secures it in Enoch. What a precious privilege to walk with God as perfectly revealed in Jesus! “The radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God ... has shone in our hearts” 2 Corinthians 4: 4, 6, and it is our privilege to walk with that God. That is what God has reached, He has secured men in the recovery to walk with Him. So it says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death”, Hebrews 11:5. In the gospel of John the Lord brings to light that there were those who should not taste death nor see it. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death ... for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God” Hebrews 11:5; the most precious testimony to have in your soul,
[p. 244] that you please God, and God walks with those that please Him.
The next great recovery, as I remarked, gives the basis for the gospel. God would have us to pay attention to that. We have here a foreshadowing of the reconciliation of the world. The rejection of the Jew, according to Romans, involves the reconciliation of the world. Notwithstanding the untold guilt that exists in it, it is in reconciliation. Though man’s heart is evil, God says, “While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease”. Genesis 8:22. Noah, in the recovery, thought for God; he knew what it was to walk with God, no doubt, but he built an altar. We are not told that Enoch built an altar, but Noah set up definitely the public worship of God. That is the next great feature. If I walk with God and God is before me, the next thing is to have my altar both privately and publicly. My house is for God, my business is for God, and I am for God in regard of His public worship. God is before me. I have a universal outlook, and I understand that on the ground of the sweet savour offering He rests and can be complacent towards all men through Christ. It was a provisional situation, for it is “while the earth remaineth”, Genesis 8:22, just as today the position is provisional, but nevertheless it is there. God would arouse us as to the magnitude of the position that God is favourable to all men. It is in the light of the favourableness of God you continue to announce the glad tidings. There is no change with God; “while the earth remaineth” things go on according to His primary thought. Whatever happens, while Jesus is on the Father’s throne that throne is favourable, God is favourable. You can announce the glad tidings with the fullest confidence to all on the principle of those marvellous words of Christ, “As they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them”, Luke 7: 42.
[p. 245] Now the next great feature is the house, and that also has been reached. The truth of the house of God is seen first in Genesis 28, and the recovery is in Genesis 35. The house was brought in in the ministry of the apostle Paul. Many have departed from the truth, much has come in, but we are living, blessed be God! in a day of recovery, but recovery on God’s terms. In Isaiah God speaks of gathering “the outcasts of Israel”, but He adds, “Yet will I gather others ... beside these that are gathered”, Isaiah 56: 8. That is a word for faith. God’s hand is not slack; He will gather others, not only our children, but the many who are scattered abroad God is gathering now. So in the history of Jacob we see the principles on which souls are brought back. Jacob had prospered in Padan-aram, you will remember, but as Joseph was born, he began to think of moving out and moving back. As the light of Christ comes into the soul, the thought comes with it, the world is no place for me. There is the land of my fathers, that house where God made Himself known to me at the first. Then God comes in in a vision and says, “Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred”. Genesis 31:3. The thought of kindred is most precious; we have a spiritual kindred. “I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar ... return unto the land of thy kindred”. Genesis 31:13. God has His house in view, and as Jacob moves out the angels of God met him. As soon as you begin to move back in this way you find that divine agencies are present to help you. Mahanaim means two camps from God, indicating the interest God has in every returning soul. His thought is that you might have part in the great recovery, part in the blessedness of the house of God; that you might have within the walls of God’s house a name and place better than any in the world — better than of sons and daughters, that you might be made joyful in His house of prayer, that your sacrifices might be acceptable there.
So Jacob came to Bethel, “he and all the people that were with him” Genesis 35: 6; you do not wish to leave any one out. One fears sometimes that believers are altogether too individual. “Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you”. Genesis 35:2. If I am moving back to have part in this great result, my affections include all that are linked up with me, particularly my household, and hence the strange gods have to be dealt with. If we bring up our children for the world, we can never expect them to come with us to the house of God, but if we bring them up to judge idols, they will come with us. God is with us in moving back, and a firm stand in our houses brings about the cleansing process; the idols are buried under the oak, the requirements of the world, the ear-rings, are surrendered. That oak would ever stand as a witness of Jacob’s shame and the shame of his family, but on the other hand it would ever stand as a witness as to his recovery, and the fact that he had come to judge the evil that had crept into his house.
Well, he came to Bethel, he and all that were with him, and “He built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother”. Genesis 35:7. Now he is restored, he has come back to the house of God, he has built an altar, his family is cleansed, and God goes over the history. As in Genesis 5, God links all up in one piece. The Spirit of God goes on to say, “And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him” Genesis 35:9; the twenty years of departure are wiped out. God has taken the whole history up over again, and Jacob is set up in the house of God and blessed in it.
We have come to that spiritually today in the wonderful recovery that God has effected in having brought His people back into the recognition of His [p. 247] It is the same house as was set up at Ephesus, there is no other — “where thou anointedst the pillar”. Now Jacob definitely names it, and he rears up an altar there, and sets up a pillar and pours a drink offering on it, meaning that not only is the pillar anointed, but there is now refreshment for God. God finds pleasure in His house in those who are there in the light of it responsive to Him, knowing His name, for that, too, is disclosed to Jacob at Peniel. All the disclosures of that name are in the house, as the Lord says, “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”, John 17: 26. There you get the drink offering. The saints are in the house according to God and responsive to Him, blessed in it.
The fourth thought is that of the brethren. It suggests what God has got in His family. The house is a wider thought, involving order and government and public worship, for God is the God of order. But there is the family, there is the circle of the brethren. We see that in what comes out in Joseph in the next great recovery. They had the title of brethren — they claimed to be brethren, but where is the character of brethren? They could say, “We are twelve brethren”, Genesis 42:13 but they had even attempted the murder of one of themselves. Of what value is the name if the character be absent? Hence when they come to Egypt Joseph spoke roughly to them; there was nothing yet to indicate his brotherly relations to them. He was acting in divine wisdom; he had in view the time when he should kiss them and talk with them. It is necessary often to “speak roughly” when we are acting for the Lord, where the character of brethren is not present. The goats’ hair suggests this. We have to tell people the truth. Paul says, “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed”, Galatians 2: 11. Even an elder [p. 248] brother like Peter was withstood to the face by a younger brother like Paul, for he was to be blamed. If a brother is to be blamed speak to him to his face in plain language, nevertheless in the language of grace.
Joseph said they were spies, and he put them in prison for three days. There was a prison gate in the days of Nehemiah. I do not know how we should get on without the prison; you could not have a kingdom without a prison. What a time of recrimination they would have during those three days, but finally each comes to blame himself. On the second visit they are brought into Joseph’s house, they come now within the warmth of his affection, not yet fully revealed, but within the four walls of Joseph’s house. Then when finally convicted they come back to his house, for “he was yet there”. Genesis 44:14. So the true Joseph is still in His house, for He would disclose Himself to His brethren. What wonderful disclosures we have had in the ministry the Lord has given us. He has made us to know that we are His brethren.
Joseph says, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves”. Genesis 45:5. He did not say that to them when he put them in prison but now they have arrived at a judgment of themselves before God, and I verily believe that that is what the Lord is doing in a peculiar way at the present time. He is adjusting the relationships between the brethren that we should be able to go on together. So “he kissed them” Genesis 45:15 — he kissed all his brethren. I believe that is what the Lord is doing. The Lord would enable us to attach true value to every brother and sister. You may say, He is not of much account, but he is of some account. In the last chapter of Leviticus you will find that every devoted person has some value; even if he be poorer than Moses’ estimation the priest is to apprise it. If you inquire into a case you will find there is something there of value, something of Christ, and thus we are enabled, as valuing the [p. 249] brethren, to go on together. It saves us from special friendships, for we are all of value, every one has his place and estimate. So that you can kiss them. The Lord gives every one to know that He loves them. He would delight to lead you on so that you may be worth more. It is a poor thing to be worth ten or fifteen shekels when you might be worth fifty, but if you are only worth ten, you are worth that, and the Lord would embrace you. I think that is what He is doing — making us to know that He loves us every one — and then He talks with us. As we learn in Acts 20, when Eutychus was restored, when recovery had come in by the embrace of Paul, they broke bread and ate, and then conversed; so the Lord talked with His brethren. We are not told what He said to them when He came to them, but just the simple, blessed fact that He actually speaks to them.
The bride in Canticles could speak about His mouth, it was “most sweet”. Song of Songs 5:16. What precious experiences we may have of the Lord communing with us — speaking with us. Like Elijah and Elisha as they crossed the Jordan, they walked and talked, they had holy communion together. We have the brethren; we come back to what God found at Thessalonica, “brethren beloved of God” 1 Thessalonians 1:4. That is what God has as the saints are set in relation to one another according to God in brotherly affection. God has got us. The Lord Jesus has brethren, and brethren beloved of God, that is to say, brethren of that kind, “beloved of God”.