"OUR LITTLE ONES"
B.W.Ward
2 Chronicles 22: 10-12; 23: 1,2; 24: 1,2; Mark 5: 40-43; 2 Timothy 3: 14-17
There are references in these passages to a child, and I draw attention to them because of the great value which what is youthful has to the Lord and accordingly the great value which it should have to us. I suppose ten years ago we had many more young people and little ones than we have now in this city, but we rejoice in relation to those whom we have and our desires are for their blessing and protection and building up, so that if the testimony is to continue a while there may be those who are available to take up their part in it pleasingly to the Lord .
In this passage in Chronicles the situation was very grievous. This wicked woman Athaliah "exterminated all the royal seed of the house of Judah". This child Joash was not much more than a babe when he was rescued by Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, wife of a priest. Such a person would have a valuation according to God of what was royal and which needed at this juncture particular care and preservation. It was a time when something needed to be done and this woman, this sister as we can rightly call her, was prepared to do something and did it. She hid this babe. It says she took him and his nurse and hid him. And there he was protected in the house of God for six years. During that time Athaliah reigned over the land but this little one was preserved in that environment. What a precious environment, protective indeed, is found in the households of the saints where our little ones can be cared for and instructed and protected. Not exclusively in the households, of course; they come here or elsewhere, where they have opportunity for learning, for appreciating, as our brother has already said, something of the great privilege which is ours, and may learn to love the brethren, to value the company in which they are brought up, where they themselves are conscious of being loved and cared for.
So for this time this little one was protected in the house of God, a remarkable place for him to be, but it was a most suitable place, and those who cared for him cared for him well and faithfully. In the seventh year there was this covenant and the little boy at the age of seven was made king. He had a peculiar place to fill. Our little ones have each his and her own peculiar place to fill. What a privilege! and they should realise it, each of them. No one can fill the place of another; we have each been given his and her own place. Our brother has reminded us of the differences that there are and yet the way we are set together - challenging, but God's way. These little ones should grow up in the appreciation of the place in which in God's very great goodness they have been set, for it is very great mercy to have been set where there is love and protection, care and interest, on the part of their parents in a particular way and on the part of the saints in a more general way. It is significant that it says in verse 2 of chapter 24 that "Joash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest". He did what was right while there was the influence of this man Jehoiada the priest - a good influence. That would be a challenge therefore to those of us who may be older. What is our influence on the younger ones? It says "Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died" (v 15). How God saw fit to extend the life of that man who had such a part in the protection of what was royal! of what was to be for the service of God and the pleasure of God. Some of us were reminded recently how Joash made a chest with a hole in it for the giving of the people.
The story of Jairus is well-known to us. The interruption in the Lord's journey to his house must have been a great test, but it is very interesting that the Lord says in verse 36 "Fear not; only believe". What an encouraging word that is to us! In Luke it adds "and she shall be made well", Luke 8: 50. But Mark is brief in his wording here. Then there are these five whom the Lord takes into the room where the child was lying dead and He speaks to her and Mark gives us the original language. I suppose those parents would have carried those words for the rest of their lives: "Talitha koumi, which is interpreted, Damsel, I say to thee, Arise". What an impression those parents would have received as to the grace and power of Jesus! We have sung together of the touches of His love (hymn 97) which the Spirit would afford to us. These two would have carried a sense of His love and His power in those mighty words that brought that child back to them. She "arose and walked, for she was twelve years old". Then "he charged them much that no one should know this; and he desired that something should be given her to eat". There were just these five persons there and Jesus and the child, seven in all. What a company! What an environment in which to be brought out of death into life! What a child she would be! How those parents would have cared for her (how those of us who are parents would care), would see the growth, would provide according to the Lord's word that something be given to her to eat. As parents they would consider what was appropriate, whether at home or in the meeting "for she was twelve years old". She arose and walked. There was movement. We delight to see and hear of movement in our young people. God is working to this end; the Lord is working, He has His relations with each of us personally, and so He would have with these little ones whom He has given to be among us.
Timothy at the time at which this letter was written was no longer a child but a man of God, so that he was viewed, especially in this second letter, as one who was to carry on. We often speak of what, at the beginning of chapter 2, he was enjoined to do, and here he is to "abide in those things which thou hast learned, and of which thou hast been fully persuaded, knowing of whom thou hast learned them". I suppose that would be Paul particularly, maybe others. Then this reference back "that from a child thou hast known the sacred letters". It is in this second epistle that reference is made to his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and in which the allusion to his childhood comes. So there is this anticipation of what those who are left among us as children, if we are together left here, are to grow up to be. "Thou, abide in those things". And then "Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work".
Well, beloved, how we thank the Lord for every one of our dear children. Some are still very young, others are growing up, and we can thank Him for every one. May those in most immediate touch with them be helped in their bringing them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and in the sense too of the privilege which is theirs to have been born into the households in which they have been. They might have come into many other environments, environments of outward material wealth, but of no comparison at all with the environment of a Christian household where the truth is appreciated, and from which they may be brought where, in the light of the assembly, they can be built up and strengthened. So may there be blessing amongst our young people and encouragement for us all and may those of us who are older seek help to fill out whatever may be our part in relation to them as well as our part generally, for the pleasure of the Lord Jesus.
LONDON
29 June 1976