DEVOTEDNESS TO CHRIST

1 Samuel 18: 1-5; 2 Samuel 1: 25-27

I desire to bring before you, as the Lord shall help me, the subject of devotedness to Christ, as set forth in the history of Jonathan. I shall briefly refer to some of the salient points from chapter 17 and onwards.

It is a very important subject. Devotedness is what the Lord is looking for, and has ever looked for, from His people. He cares for their affections. He is very jealous over the state of their hearts. May He give us to realise it!

Turn first to Revelation 2. The Lord in this scripture is presented, as you well know, as one walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He is viewed here in a judicial aspect, and it is very necessary for us to understand it. While we are quite sure of His love, it is important that we take in the way He is looked at here: “His eyes were as a flame of fire”. Nothing can escape His scrutiny. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do”, Heb 4:13. He has eyes as a flame of fire, and His voice is as a trumpet. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”, Luke 8: 8.

We have here what suits Him and what does not suit Him. We need not be afraid of His scrutiny; for, although it is a very solemn thing, whatever He may discover does not alter His love. In the first church He addresses, there was much that He could approve of; but one thing was lacking: “Nevertheless, I have [not ‘somewhat’] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love”.

They had left their first love. The Lord could look through all their works, and see that there was something lacking. You will remember that this was the church to which the Apostle Paul unfolded such wondrous truth. The Lord seems to be saying to them here, You have forgotten that you had a letter sent to you, and you have forgotten the prayer in that letter: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith … and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge”, Eph 3: 14-19. The Lord is saying, as it were, You have neglected that prayer; you have left your first love; I am not dwelling in your hearts. We may be going on in a routine and the heart cold towards Christ. The Ephesians were getting away from the Lord; the centre was wrong, and therefore the circumference must be wrong too. Their works were not connected with love to Christ.

This is not merely a history; it is a picture. God puts His word together with moral intention, and gives us pictures. Just as in speaking to a child a picture of an animal would give it a better idea of the creature than a full description, so God stoops to present His truth to us in pictures.

We shall look at Jonathan in two ways: first he shall be to us as an example, and, secondly, he shall be a warning. I want to say this especially to you young Christians. I take it that you all wish to be devoted to Christ. The measure of your devotedness will be according to the measure in which you apprehend His devotedness to you. You cannot be devoted by effort. The moment you try to love Him you are off Christian ground. It is all summed up in one verse in John's first epistle: “We love him, because he first loved us”, chap 4: 19. The law says, “Thou shalt love”, Matt 22: 34. It demands love, but it never produces love. Grace brings love to me and produces love in me. The measure of your love to Christ is according to the measure in which you apprehend His love to you.

You remember John 11, when sickness and sorrow had entered that house at Bethany, how the Lord went to them and brought back to those sisters the brother they mourned for. In that chapter He makes Martha and Mary His object. He does something for them. That bereavement and sorrow is the way the Son of God displays what He is. Mary, the one who sat at His feet in Luke 10, has revealed to her that He, the Son of God, is superior to death. Then in chapter 12 they make Him their object. They make Him a feast because they have learnt how He has made them His object.

In 1 Samuel 17 Jonathan is David's object. It answers to John 11. It is a picture of Jesus in His devoted love going down into the dark valley of death, and there meeting that terrible foe - Satan. “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”, Heb 2: 14. There are two hosts in this chapter, the host of Israel and the host of the Philistines; and out of the latter comes a man who, for forty days, defies the people of Israel. He sets forth Satan. There is not one in the host of Israel that can meet him. Their hearts are filled with fear. What is to be done?

We are then taken to Bethlehem, and see David and his father Jesse. Jesse says, “Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren”, v 17. It is a picture of God sending His Son into this world. David comes to the camp to see how his brethren fare. He is rejected by his brethren, even as Jesus was; but he goes on. It is a picture of Jesus in His devoted love to you. You must look at this first. David goes forth to meet Goliath. He has been winning secret victories with God in the desert before this. Now he comes out to win his public victory. You cannot win public victories if you do not win private victories alone with God. He had delivered his sheep out of the paw of the lion and the bear. It was through dependence on the Lord alone that he had done it. He was a man of faith.

He refuses Saul's armour - natural resource. He goes down to the brook, and takes five smooth stones. Then he goes forth to meet Goliath. He takes one stone and slings it. Goliath lies stretched upon the ground. Then David ran and stood upon the Philistine and drew his own sword and cut off the giant's head with it. That is - “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death”. He won a great victory. There is not a thing the Lord Jesus has not met down in that dark valley. He has spoiled principalities and powers.

Now David comes up with the head of Goliath in his hand and the people shout a great shout. Their fear is gone. Is there an unsettled soul here? I pray you look down into the valley of death and see how the Lord has met every question. You must be established in that before you can know anything of devotedness to Christ. You must know what relief from the pressure of death is.

Next we come to the question, Who is the person who has won the victory? Saul says to Abner, “Whose son is this youth?”, v 55 “Enquire thou whose son the stripling is”. “Whose son art thou?” Mark how chapter 18 begins, “when he had made an end of speaking … the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David”. Not when he had made an end of Goliath, but when he had made an end of speaking. It is a great thing to know the One who has won the victory and to know Him where He is, not merely to know that the victory has been won.

We are now in the life of the One who settled all in that dark valley. “In that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye yourselves ... alive unto God through Jesus Christ”, Rom 6: 10, 11. There is only one life for God and only one object. What happened to Jonathan? He lost himself and got a better self. “Jonathan … loved him as his own soul”.

Next you have the effect of this. Jonathan strips himself for this object. He who by natural right is heir to the throne strips himself, makes a fool of himself as people would say, strips himself of all, “even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle”; all that would give him importance in the eyes of men, all comes off for David.

It is the same sort of stripping, in principle, that you get in Philippians 3. It is not the bad things, but the things that would give distinction. Paul is our New Testament Jonathan, only he did not break down as Jonathan did. He is our example to the end of the chapter. In Philippians 3 he is set forth as one devoted to his object.

May I say that king Saul was physically what Saul of Tarsus was morally - head and shoulders above the rest? “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more”, Phil 3: 4. It is first the natural then the spiritual; king Saul was just the man men would choose, and so was Saul of Tarsus in his unconverted days. Paul enumerates his privileges and acquirements, “circumcised the eighth day; ... touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless”. He says: I was all that, and the things that were gain to me, “those I counted loss for Christ”. Would you not like to have your heart won like that? Our New Testament Jonathan says: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Gal 2: 20. Christ in him for life, and the Son of God before him as his object. “Who loved me, and gave himself for me”. That was the secret of all that outward life of his, of all that he went through. He “loved him as his own soul”; the Son of God had captured his heart. Has He captured yours? Can you say, The Son of God is the One I love, and I yield myself without reserve to Him?

We will now look at some of the other points in the history. Turn to chapter 19: 1: “And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David”. How Saul's heart must have been filled with hatred to David! Saul was a religionist, remember. The mere religionist always hates Christ. The Saul party is a large one in the present day. You see them in the Gospels. It was the Saul party who would not go into the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled, but they did not mind hating and crucifying their Messiah. The Saul party hate Christ. They are the bulls of Bashan (Psalm 22). If you speak to a cold religionist about Christ, he will treat you with scorn.

The more David is hated by Saul, the more he is loved by Jonathan. “But Jonathan ... delighted much in David”. It reminds me of the woman in Matthew 26. The Saul party are banded together to kill Jesus; in contrast to this the Holy Ghost gives us the account of this woman. In the house of Simon sat Jesus. In the high priest's palace they are taking counsel to kill Him; and Mary says, The more they hate Him, the more I love Him. She has saved her pence; she might have spent them on herself, but no, she will spend them on Him. She gets that box of precious ointment and pours it upon Him. He is hated in the hall, but He is loved in this house. She is a true Jonathan. The disciples called it “waste”, but the Lord valued it. Do we find our delight in Him? “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”, SofS 2: 3. How much do you know of this? How much have you delighted in Him to-day? I do not ask if you have read your Bible, if you have said your prayers, but have you been in His company to-day? How much happier we should be if we spent our spare moments in His company!

The next thing is, “Jonathan spake good of David”. This follows, because he delighted in him. When the heart is full of Christ, how easy it is to speak of Him! How hard it is to do so when we get away from the Lord! Even if we do, how cold and dry the words are! Jonathan spake well of David. If we confess the Lord here, He will confess us there. A young girl, living near the seaside, was converted, and after a while had to leave home and take a situation. She went to London as scullery-maid in the family of a nobleman. It was a humble place she had to fill, but she loved the Lord and desired to please Him. The nobleman went away with his family for a time on the Continent, leaving orders with his servants as to what he wished done in his absence. When he returned, he was so pleased with the way they had carried out his wishes, that he said he would give them each a ticket for the opera. They were called up one by one to receive the tickets, and at last it came to little Mary's turn. But when offered her ticket, she quietly said, ‘No, thank you, sir; I do not wish to go’. ‘Not wish to go, Mary! What do you mean?’ he exclaimed. She answered, ‘I do not wish to go, sir, because the One I love will not be there’. The nobleman at first misunderstood her, but she explained: ‘I mean, sir, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me, and gave Himself for me, will not be there, and I do not wish to be there either’. In that great day that is coming little Mary will be singled out and confessed by the Lord Jesus as one who confessed Him before men. Why was she able thus to confess Him? Because she delighted much in Him.

I come now to another point - chapter 20: 4: “Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee”. That is obedience. If you take that as a motto, you will have to be much in His company to learn what His soul desires. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”, John 14: 21. Love is proved by obedience. And love is proved by having His commandments. I know very well that many of you young Christians rejoice in that word “Whosoever”. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins”, Acts 10: 43. You know the grace and comfort of that verse. Now put the two together, “whosoever” and “whatsoever”. Thank God for the whosoever! If you rejoice in the grace of the “whosoever”, will you not take up the responsibility of the “whatsoever”. It would make you read your Bibles more. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word. Martha was busy serving. There is plenty of that now. People are made Marthas directly they are converted. If I have a friend who is devoted to me, how can he please me if he does not know my mind, and how can we please the Lord if we do not know His mind? Martha chides the Lord, but He says, “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part”, Luke 10: 42. What is the good part? To sit at His feet and hear His word. It is a great thing to know how and when to serve the Lord. It is a great thing for you to be able to say, “Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee”.

We will pass on to chapter 20: 32, 33. I want to say a word about the javelin. What is it? The javelin is the cross. You will remember that Saul threw the javelin at David (chapter 18: 11), and it went into the wall, for David avoided it. With the Lord Jesus, they threw the javelin at Him, and He did not avoid it. The javelin is the cross; and it means for you, that if you are going to obey, you must be prepared to suffer. You will have to suffer, but it will be for Christ’s sake. When the Lord was here He talked to His disciples of that javelin, but they understood not, and feared to ask Him. When He went up into glory He sent the Holy Ghost down, and then they had power to suffer for Him here. It is a Saviour in glory that gives power to suffer here. When the sons of Zebedee came and said, “Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory”, He answers, “Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of? and be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?”, Mark 10, 37, 38. The baptism is what you get outside, the cup is what you taste inside. This shall be your privilege, to suffer with Him now, and by-and-by you shall reign with Him. If we suffer, we shall reign.

We come now to the turning-point in this history, the point where Jonathan becomes a warning, chapter 23: 16-19. He says, “thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee”. “And David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house”. That is where he fell; he put his own interests first, and when David was hunted like a partridge on the mountains, he was not with him. The men of faith came out and linked themselves with him, recognising him as the future king! But Jonathan was not among them, though he knew this well and proposed a good place for himself: “I shall be next unto thee”. What do we read next of him? That he has fallen on Mount Gilboa, and his body is nailed to the walls of Bethshan. “O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women”, 2 Sam 1: 26.

I am not speaking now of getting to heaven, but of the wreck and ruin of discipleship. Our place in the kingdom will be according to our faithfulness to Christ here. Who will be next to Jesus there? The one who has been next to Him here in suffering and loss. I ask you solemnly to consider this. Are you in some high place? Are you in some association where you cannot have the company of Christ? “Jonathan went to his house”. “Thou wast slain in thine high places”. Many a man has been ruined there; his own house has come first. Not so David; he says, “I will not come into the tabernacle of my house ... I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord”, Ps 132: 3. Jonathan went to his own house instead of going with David to the stronghold, and thus he fell. There is the circle of Christ's interests, and if we give that a secondary place, and our own circle, our own house, our family, the first place, we shall fall there. Not that I should neglect my family. We have to move in the circle God has placed us in, but we have to serve Christ in it. The interests of Christ should be dearer to me than my own interests. Do I make my family circle the first thing? Then I shall fall there.

In 2 Chronicles 12 you get God's side of things, and there you find those poor people who went to David to the cave of Adullam, who had nothing in this world, distressed, in debt, and discontented, but recognising in that hunted man the future king. Of them God says, Your names shall be on the glory roll. You read down that roll until you come to Jonathan, but it is not the Jonathan of whom I have been speaking. He who said to David, “I shall be next unto thee”, is out of it; he was slain in his high places. Again I ask you, earnestly and solemnly, Are you in any high place? If so, I pray you to come down, that you may not fall as Jonathan did.

Let this man be an example to you in his devotedness on the one hand, and on the other a warning to you in his fall. “How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!”, 2 Sam 1: 27. The moment your eye is off Christ no amount of intelligence will preserve you. God grant that you may be exercised about this.

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