HOW WE COME INTO THE TRUTH
E. J. Mair
2 Samuel 14: 25–30; 1 Chronicles 21: 1, 16, 17; 22: 1; Mark 1: 1; 1 John 1: 1–4
I have a simple impression as to how we come into the truth, how we come into the care of all that is for God. Firstly we see it in a negative sense in Absalom, one who came into things on a wrong principle, where there was no repentance. He is allowed to return and as a result he attacks the barley which no doubt alludes typically to the Person of Christ, to the manhood of Jesus. That is what can happen with us through the lack of exercise, the lack of self-judgment; the things of God, the things of Christ are damaged. David came into things through exercise, through self-judgment, through
discipline. John Mark was recovered and wrote a gospel; he came into things through repentance, and his heart was filled with the blessedness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Then lastly we have John writing his epistle which bears on our own time; his ministry bears on the close of the dispensation. He was the last of all the writers of the Scriptures and the anti-Christian spirit was all around. John was exercised to maintain the truth as to the Lord’s sonship, the truth as to His manhood, and in his gospel we see how he protects the glory of the Person.
I read of Absalom to touch briefly on the kind of man that Absalom was. We can contrast David with Absalom. David was a man after God’s own heart. He was taken from the sheepfolds, from following the suckling-ewes; God took him from that (see Psalm 78: 70, 71). He was a man who cared for the flock; he had an interest in the people, one who, like Timothy, had genuine care as to how the saints got on. We find that our hearts are drawn out to David; he won the hearts of the men of Israel. Absalom stole the hearts of the people, but David won the hearts of the men of Israel. As you think of David’s conquest over Goliath, what a victory it was! For years all Israel had been faced with the Philistine, with Goliath, and nobody was able to do anything about it, not even the official king, Saul.
No one could meet Goliath except David. He was taken from obscurity, and he was able through his dependence upon God to meet the Philistine, and overthrow him. It is typical of what we have in Hebrews 2, “that through death he might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2: 14). Satan uses death to hold men in bondage as Goliath held the people of Israel in bondage. The Lord Jesus was able to annul him “who has the might of death, that is, the devil”, that He might bring in liberty for His people. So David was able to win hearts for himself and he was able to win hearts for God. It says, “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David”, 1 Samuel 18: 1. Michal, the daughter of Saul, loved David. It says that all Israel and Judah loved David, he won their hearts. In contrast, Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. The Lord Jesus, as we see in the type in David, was able to win hearts by the way he annulled the power of death.
In the second book of Samuel we find a spiritual movement in David going up to Hebron and to Jerusalem. How it brought out the affections of the people! That is in contrast to Absalom here; there is no mention of any of these things with Absalom. He was a murderer in previous chapters; he came back and there was no repentance with him. Joab employed a wise woman of Tekoah to play on David’s mind and affections, so that he would bring back Absalom into the kingdom. Joab was successful, but all that he had in mind was a place for himself; he had his own interests at heart, not the interests of David. He brought Absalom back so that he could ingratiate himself with David.
We find that the Spirit of God gives us these few verses as to the kind of man that Absalom was, “But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty—from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him”. It speaks of what is anti-Christian in spirit, it may look good; it brings out the praise of men, but I do not think it brings out the praise of God at all. David was able to bring out the praises of God; he was able to bring out the praises of Judah and Israel. Absalom is a type of a man coming into things, but not through repentance or self-judgment. Romans teaches us that we must come into things on the ground of repentance towards God; the goodness of God leads man to repentance. Absalom is not touched at all by the goodness of God. Romans 5 says, “having been now justified in the power of his blood ... we shall be saved in the power of his life”, Romans 5: 9, 10. Repentance clears us morally, and justification in chapter 5 means we are cleared judicially through the work of Christ.
Absalom avoids all that, he comes back but for two years he did not see the king’s face. He sent for Joab, and he sent the second time, but he would not come, and then he begins to attack. It says, “Then he said to his servants, See, Joab’s allotment is near mine and he has barley there—go and set it on fire. And Absalom’s servants set the allotment on fire”. I think we see the sorrow here of someone coming into things without repentance, without self-judgment. The attack is typically on the manhood of Jesus, because the barley harvest speaks of Christ as the first-fruits; that is really what Absalom attacks.
In 1 Chronicles, David acknowledged that he had sinned in this matter of numbering the people. In 2 Samuel it says that Jehovah moved David to number the people; here it says that
“Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel”. David takes the guilt on himself, he says, “Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done?” What a beautiful spirit and feelings shine out in David. The point in this section is the numbering of the people, a thing that should never have taken place, because the people ought to be for God. In the history of the testimony pride has come into our hearts, it has come into the hearts of leaders, men pride themselves in numbers. Things were small with David in rejection, in reproach in the remote house, but David was content. The cave of Adullam was an area of contentment typical of where Christ is made much of, even in rejection.
There are times when the people may be rightly numbered for God Himself. When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, God put in His claim for the people, they were to be purely and distinctly for God Himself. He says, “Hallow unto me every firstborn”, Exodus 13: 2.
God wants us for Himself. He wants us on His own terms and conditions. I think we can say through mercy we have been brought into such an area where persons are desirous of being for God. In Exodus 13 God says, “Hallow unto me”, and the same voice says, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you”, Exodus 12: 13. God puts in His claim upon us as a people redeemed. The people were delivered from the power and bondage of Egypt and He wanted them for Himself. The people complained of coming out into the wilderness, they complained of lack of bread, they complained about the lack of water, but God in His wonderful grace met it all. Then in chapter 19 there came a point when God says, “Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19: 4). It would speak of how God wants us for Himself. He is looking for something in His people of the character of manhood that was seen in the Lord Jesus Himself.
Now as to this numbering, David took the guilt upon himself. He says, “It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done?” What a shepherd’s heart David had! He was always out to protect the sheep. Before he met Goliath he protected them when they were attacked by the lion and the bear. David was always out for the good and blessing of the flock. In this matter he takes the guilt on himself. In chapter 22, I think we see that through this exercise of repentance and self-judgment, David comes to the house of God. He comes to the assembly in type. It is fine when we come to the blessedness of God’s house through repentance and self-judgment. It is God’s desire that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2: 4). David’s history shows how we come to the knowledge of the truth, how we come into the gain of God’s house which is the assembly.
In 1 Timothy 3, it says, “the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth” (verse 15). God wants to bring us into it. These scriptures show that we come into things through repentance, through self-judgment, and through exercise. David comes into it on moral grounds, he says, “This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel”. It is a fine result reached through exercise. It is good if we can come through experiences and name things in this way, as David does, “This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt-offering”.
No doubt, in the burnt-offering, he is thinking of all that is for the blessed God Himself.
Later in this chapter he says, “And behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; and timber and stone have I prepared” (1 Chronicles 21: 14, 15). He says to Solomon his son, Thou shalt add to it. David contributed to the house out of his affliction. This is the way the testimony has prospered and continued, there has been exercise and affliction. In chapter 29 he says what he had ministered to the house out of his affection, “moreover, in my affection for the house of my God I have given of my own property of gold and silver, for the house of my God” (1
Chronicles 29: 3). You see what happens, beloved brethren, when we come into things through exercise and self-judgment, the house of God is appreciated, this area where God dwells by His Spirit, and we contribute from our own experience whether it be through discipline or self-judgment, or out of our affection; everything results in a yield for the blessed God.
Now we know Mark was recovered. I think the testimony was too much for Mark and he was deflected at one time. Then it says in Acts, “Paul thought it not well to take with them him who had abandoned them ... and had not gone with them to the work”, Acts 15: 38. We are tested as to our continuance, and John Mark was deflected, but, thank God, through grace he was recovered. In his recovery you can see how full his heart was, he obviously was one who was recovered on the lines of self-judgment, one who was recovered by the Lord Jesus. His heart was full of the Saviour, his heart was full of the Son of God. It has often been noticed in Mark how things are done straightway or immediately. Luke in his gospel and in the Acts, records how things are done suddenly, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host”, Luke 2: 13. Again at the conversion of Saul, “suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven”, Acts 9: 3.
In Mark things are done immediately, as much as to say, There is no time to be lost. Peter says, “no longer to live the rest of his time in the flesh to men’s lusts, but to God’s will. For the time past is sufficient for us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles”, 1 Peter 4: 2, 3.
That is really what Mark comes through to; he had wasted his time, but in recovery he says there is no time to be lost.
Mark begins with the Lord at thirty years of age; he passes over the incarnation and begins with the Lord’s baptism at the age of thirty. I think there is maturity in that, for those who were called to the work of levitical service in Numbers were thirty years old. In the book of Numbers, first of all there was the numbering for military service, on the first of the second month in the second year after the people came out of the land of Egypt, for every male from twenty years and upward. Then after that there was the numbering for levitical work when the three families of the Levites were called. The Levites were called to the work of the tabernacle from thirty years old to fifty. I think that is what Mark represents, he was recovered fully to levitical work, really Kohathite work, for he had to do with the most holy things. The Kohathites had to carry the ark, the table, the candlestick and the golden altar.
The Kohathites had to do with the most precious and holy things. In his recovery you can see that Mark is having to do with the ark, his heart is full when he says, “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God”. He goes right through with the glad tidings, through death, burial and resurrection, and at the end of the gospel he says, “he said to them, Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”, Mark 16: 15. What strength there was in this recovered man! Paul at the end could say, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry”, 2 Timothy 4: 11. That is to encourage and strengthen us. Recovery in Mark is to maturity, it is to fulness, in the way he presents the glad tidings of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
I think, what we see in John at the close is that he is maintained in exercise. He is exercised as to these precious things that are typified in the ark, and the table, and the candlestick and the golden altar. He is concerned that the truth as to these things might be maintained in all its blessedness to the close of the dispensation. What love John had for the Lord, and he was the disciple whom Jesus loved! He did not rely on his own love for the Lord; no, John relied on the Lord’s love for him. That is the secret at the close, I think, to rely on the Lord’s love for us. His love for His own; it says that He loved them to the end. That is a love that has been tried and tested. It is, beloved brethren, a love that every one of us can rely on. Peter was different, he boasted in his love for the Lord; he said, “Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death” (Luke 22: 33); when he was tested he failed. So let us learn from these things in Scripture; let us learn from Peter’s failure, and rely on the Lord’s love for us. I think Philadelphia shows that the Lord’s love for the assembly is faithful to the very end; it can be known right through to the end of the dispensation.
I cannot say much as to the scripture in John’s epistle, but it refers to the manhood of Jesus, “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled concerning the word of life”. John and others were eye-witnesses of this blessed One. They had been called by the Lord, they had been drawn to Him and moved about with Him, and John held the Lord very dear, very precious in his affections. He was concerned at the close about what was coming in, the spirit of what was anti-Christian; he says, “even now there have come many antichrists”, 1 John 2: 18. It was in the presence of that that John was seeking to maintain the glory of the manhood of Jesus. In his gospel he protects the glory of the Person; that His existence was eternal, His personality was distinct, and His nature divine. John wanted to preserve the glory of this blessed Person right to the close.
That is all I have to say, beloved brethren. He says, “And these things write we to you that your joy may be full”. I think it is as the blessedness of Christ and all these precious things are maintained amongst us, that the joy of the saints will be maintained. May God bless the word.
Address at Denton
7 January 1995