MANHOOD ACCORDING TO CHRIST

MANHOOD ACCORDING TO CHRIST

Numbers 12: 1 - 8; Genesis 26: 12 - 22; Esther 2: 19 - 23; Esther 3: 1, 2; Esther 8: 15; Esther 9: 4

I have in mind, dear brethren, to say a word as to true greatness in manhood according to God; for there is no doubt that what God is seeking to bring about is the development of manhood in the saints; manhood which takes its character, I need not say, from Christ. We need to have God’s own thoughts as to what is truly great, for our natural tendencies are to have our ideas formed - or at any rate influenced - by what is in the world around us, whereas God would always keep Christ before the minds and hearts of His people, showing us what is really great according to His estimation. Paul, towards the close of his course, and as being in prison and having plenty of opportunity to weigh things over, says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men.” Then, as though that were not enough, so to speak, he says, “having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross.” Then, following on that remarkable presentation of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, the Man of God’s purpose and pleasure, he says “Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal beings.” God intends to ensure that throughout the whole universe, even including infernal beings, there shall be a public recognition of the One whom He delights to honour. The world at present is marked by despisal as regards His name, but we, as God’s people, are in the secret of what God’s estimation of Christ is.

One has in mind, by the Lord’s help, to seek to indicate three lines on which I believe we may be developed in manhood according to Christ; not, however, that there are not other ways, for even the ministry which the Lord gives from His place of exaltation far above all heavens, is intended to that very end, as we were quoting in prayer, “Until we all arrive ... at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ.” I think these three passages of Scripture, from Numbers, from Genesis and from Esther, may serve to indicate three ways in which God would develop greatness in the saints. The first is in having to do with God, and the second is in sowing to the Spirit. The first produces moral greatness according to Christ; the second produces greatness in spiritual wealth and in spiritual substance; and the third is by means of exercises that arise as having to face evil, especially in the assembly, and as proving faithful in relation to those matters.

The Lord was here in the presence of evil, finding evil in His Father’s house, for they were making it a house of merchandise. Morally the position was such that He said it was a den of thieves. He rose up in true greatness, and made a scourge of cords and drove out those that sold, and overturned the tables of the money-changers. There was no resisting the power in which He acted. It was done spontaneously, His heart entering into it, because His Father’s name was so dishonoured by what was going on in His house. Christ’s greatness shone, as it was continually shining in different connections, but it shone there in faithfulness to God, and came into evidence as a result of finding itself in the presence of evil.

Now, first of all, in relation to Moses and what brought out his greatness, it says “But the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth.” You will notice that in each of these passages I have read it refers to “the man”; first “the man Moses”; then, referring to Isaac, “the man ... became continually greater”; and then too, “the man Mordecai,” and how great he became. So that the thought is manhood, and true greatness in manhood. In Numbers 12 we are told that “the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth.” That is the comment of the Spirit of God; “above all men,” as though God would show that meekness, as being a feature to be learned only from Christ, is an element that enters into true greatness. One marked by it is, in His estimation, exalted “above all men that were upon the face of the earth.” It was not the circumstances of rivalry in which Moses found himself that developed the meekness. The circumstances of rivalry brought it into expression, but no amount of rivalry or anything of that kind will, by itself, develop meekness. Indeed, by itself it would tend in the opposite direction, but what characterised Moses was that he was much in the presence of God. I know, of course, that he was a special servant, selected for a special mission, and specially privileged; indeed, in some respects he is suggestive of Christ Himself. But at the same time, I am referring to what he was as having become meek, for, after all, he was not born meek. We may rest assured that not one of us is born meek. It is not innate in man naturally. It is not a feature of the flesh. It is something that has to be learned from Christ, and God intends that we should learn it from Christ. If He allows anything in the nature of rivalry, or anything that is testing to arise, it maybe amongst the saints, He has in mind that it should serve to bring into expression what He would form in us that is well pleasing to Himself.

Moses, as I said, was much with God. On two occasions he was with God alone for forty days and forty nights, and not only so, but God Himself showed him the pattern of the tabernacle. Think of the wondrousness of it, God indicating to Moses not only the detail and the pattern of the dwelling-place which God’s people were to construct for Him, but no doubt letting him into the secret of what the different items stood for, what they represented. You can well understand God showing him the pattern, but Moses would not have had that instruction merely as carrying in his mind certain mechanical details, certain formal specifications, but his heart would be in it. You can understand with what pleasure God would speak to Moses of the tabernacle as typifying the whole universe in a coming day, in which He will find His pleasure, and in which He will be served, with all taking its character from the ark.

The first item that God gave instructions to Moses about was the ark. When it came to constructing the tabernacle, the ark did not come first, but when God gave instructions as to the system in which He could take pleasure and dwell in complacently, the first thing He speaks of to Moses is the ark. Moses would be impressed as he began to take account of who it was that the ark typified, as God said to him “They shall make an ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.” Think of the wondrousness of it, that a divine Person was to become Man, and to enter into such wonderful limitations as are there typified. They are not great measurements, but well within the compass of man. He, who was the Creator of heaven and earth, the God who upholds all things by the word of His power, He was to come in in such conditions, and in entering into manhood was to give character to, and impress His own precious features on, the whole system in which God would find His dwelling-place. Any thoughts of self-importance that Moses might tend to have in his own mind would be rebuked. How often do thoughts of self-importance arise in our minds; but how quickly they are rebuked, dear brethren, if we are in the presence of God, and see Christ there, Christ according to divine thoughts, One great enough personally and morally to bring in the moral universe, and secure it as marked by features that God could delight in and dwell in complacently. And yet our knowledge of Jesus is connected with His having come in in such a way that He could move amongst men. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt (or tabernacled) among us.” Anyone dwelling in Capernaum would have been able to see Him moving about in the likeness of men, and yet, as their eyes were opened they would say to themselves, ‘This is the Creator.’ You can understand their hearts being held as they would watch Him, as they would take account of the features that marked Him.

Was there anything in the nature of self-assertion or self-display? No, dear brethren, He had entered into manhood for the pleasure of God, and He would fill out the position into which He had entered in a way which would magnify it morally and make it glorious, with no element of independence, no thought of seeking a place for Himself. His Father’s will, His Father’s glory, His Father’s name, were always precious to His heart. I do not think it is in any way fanciful to think of God speaking to Moses about the ark, and Him whom it typified, and then the whole system that would be built up around it. All the principal parts of it were to be of acacia-wood, the same kind of wood of which the ark itself was to be made. The ark itself was to be overlaid within and without with pure gold, and the boards also were overlaid with gold. How Moses’ spirit would be subdued, how it would be affected as God spoke to him of the whole system which He intended to bring in, which was typified in the tabernacle, but which was all to take its character from a divine Person entering into manhood, and becoming such a Man as He was. We find Him saying in the prophet Isaiah, “I was not rebellious; I turned not away back. I gave my back to smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting,” Isaiah 50: 5, 6. Think of the grace of it, dear brethren. Those that plucked off the hair, and so on, would call forth in any of us, save as we are formed by the Spirit of Christ, the very opposite of meekness. But the Lord Jesus could say, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.”

Well, beloved brethren, I believe we shall only really appreciate the meekness and gentleness of Christ, the moral excellence and greatness of it according to God’s estimation, as we are with God. I do not believe any amount of reading about it will impress us with it, but if we are in the presence of God, and get God’s view of Christ and the system which takes character from Him, we shall begin to get an impression of the moral excellence of the spirit of meekness which has shone out in Jesus. In this scripture Aaron and Miriam were speaking against Moses, or rather Miriam and Aaron, for she was the elder, and she apparently stepped out of a sister’s place and took the lead, a very solemn matter. No-one knows what may happen if things begin to develop like that. Here Jehovah Himself takes it up, taking the matter in hand, calling to these three, and saying to them “Come out, ye three.” Think of the solemnity of Jehovah calling on three saints, a sister and two brothers, and saying ‘Ye three, come out to meet God.’ I am not suggesting that there anything of that sort present amongst us here. I am only speaking of the solemnity and the seriousness of it. If a sister steps out of her place, and begins to lead in rivalry, God may act suddenly in regard of her. “Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three.” Moses did not need to do a thing, or speak a single word. The Lord came down, and then He called Aaron and Miriam. It was Miriam and Aaron who spoke against Moses. The Lord called Aaron and Miriam. He would have things in their right order, and He said, “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I, Jehovah, will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak unto him in a dream. Not so my servant Moses.”

You can understand Miriam and Aaron for the moment despising Moses; he was so meek, but Jehovah says, “my servant Moses.” What greater commendation could there be? “Not so my servant Moses: he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah doth he behold. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” So that Moses was one who had to do with God, being in the presence of God continually. In the end of Numbers 7 we read that Moses went into the holiest to speak to God, and God spoke to him. God anticipated him. He would be impressed as God continually spoke to him.

When we come to the book of Genesis it is also a question of greatness, but not so much the moral greatness of being formed according to Christ, but the greatness that consists in spiritual substance, for it says that “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold; and Jehovah blessed him. And the man became great, and he became continually greater, until he was very great. And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great number of servants.” That is what the Spirit of God is stressing in Isaac, not so much greatness in moral conformation to Christ, but rather great wealth of spiritual substance; and in that connection what is stressed is first of all where he sowed, and then secondly that he was active in digging wells. Those are two important principles, dear brethren, for us to recognise in connection with the acquisition of spiritual wealth.

I think there is a tendency sometimes amongst us, if any brother or sister is seen to be possessed of a certain amount of spiritual wealth, to think that it is all a matter of sovereign gift. I am not denying the sovereignty of gift. We always recognise that, but at the same time, spiritual wealth is not acquired only on those lines. The great principle is “he that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life”; that is, spiritual wealth is not so much a matter of gift in sovereignty, it is a matter of having followed right lines. This is a farming country, and I need not say anything to the brethren about sowing and reaping. They know all about it. They understand perfectly that they will not get a crop if they do not sow; that goes without saying, but then the same thing applies in spiritual things, that if we would acquire spiritual wealth we must see that we sow, and sow in the right land. It says “Isaac sowed in that land”; that is, in the land of God’s purpose. Sowing to the Spirit is very largely a matter of what we give our minds to. If we will allow our minds to be controlled as the Spirit of God would control them, the Spirit will not occupy them with worldly things, with fleshly things, with things that are of only transient importance. He will occupy them with the things that are eternal,

with things that are pure, and just, and lovely, and of good report.

Caleb, in Old Testament history, said of that good land which he had in his heart, “The land ... is a very, very good land,” emphasising the goodness of it, and saying, “If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us in.” There is no difficulty about that. “He that sows to the Spirit from the Spirit shall reap eternal life.” The mind is the inlet to the affections. The great attraction of things above is that Christ is there. “Have your mind on things that are above”; “seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God,” that is to say, having His place there deliberately; as though to remind us that His interests are not bound up with the earth, save in respect of the fact that the assembly is here, but with heavenly things.

It says that “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold; and Jehovah blessed him”; but then there is not only the idea of sowing, but of digging, and that is evidently the exercise of getting rid of everything that would obstruct the free movement of the Spirit. He removed what would stand in the way of the water springing up. The Philistines were always stopping up the wells, that is what the natural mind working in the things of God nearly always does. It stops up the wells, so that there is no freshness. The natural mind attempting to compass divine things always robs them of their freshness, and we have to beware of the Philistines. Any tendency to hold the truth of God merely in the natural mind will fail. There may be a tendency to take on the truth in terms, and the tendency perhaps to place things in pigeon-holes, so to speak, and all that kind of thing. The truth of God cannot be held in that way. It must be held in the Spirit,

and then it will be in constant freshness, just like a fountain of water springing up. It says, “Isaac dug again the wells of water that they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and that the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.” The truth remains the same, but it is taken up afresh in fresh energy in the Spirit, so that it is held in freshness, in living power and enjoyment. The names are the same; the truth does not change, but taken up in fresh exercise it is held in a fresh and living way.

As Isaac dug these wells, the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, and said; “The water is ours ... And they dug another well, and they strove for that also.” The Philistine element in ourselves always has to be reckoned with. Whatever is brought forward in freshness, there is the effort, so to speak, to claim it in the power of the natural mind, and say, ‘That is ours,’ but then a spiritual person will go on. Isaac went on. We must have the truth in freshness. There is nothing satisfying for the saints or for God if the truth is not held in freshness, so the more the Philistines strove, the more Isaac went on digging further wells, until he comes to a point when there is no more strife. He reaches the truth in such a way that the Philistines cannot rob him of it, they cannot claim it. The Lord had made room for them.

I just referred to that as a matter which we must carry with us all the time we are here, the importance of seeking to acquire spiritual substance so that we are not poverty-stricken. Jehovah said, “None shall appear before me empty.” It is a shame to us if we are barren. God would not have barrenness in His land, or lack of substance in His house. The scripture speaks of the fatness of His house, but the enjoyment of that depends on us recognising, of course, that we are entirely dependent on the Spirit of God. It is largely dependent on us as to whether we will sow and dig, and maintain the exercise of digging, so that the wealth God gives us in the way of the truth known substantially may be held by us in freshness.

Then finally we come to the history of Mordecai, and he, I believe, represents one who became great because of the way he faced the working of evil. While we are here, we must expect to have to face the working of evil; not that one is setting a premium on evil in the assembly, far from it, but we have to remember that so long as we are here we are in the presence of hades’ gates. There will be the constant plotting of evil to seek in a skilful and systematic way to nullify what is of God. We are in the presence of it. The Lord has said in regard to the assembly that “Hades’ gates shall not prevail against it,” but hades’ gates are there and we must recognise that, hence the need for continual watchfulness.

The first thing that marks Mordecai is this constant watchfulness. He sat in the king’s gate; even after he had been led in triumph through the city as the man whom the king delighted to honour, it says “Mordecai came again to the king’s gate.” Nothing succeeded in diverting Mordecai from sitting in the king’s gate. I understand that the king’s gate is simply the principle of judging every matter as to how it affects God. The gate was always the place of judgment, and Mordecai sitting in the king’s gate would be that he was one who had habituated himself to looking at everything as it arose, as to how it affected God. He would have a spiritual judgment of it from that standpoint; not how it affected himself, but how it affected God; and therefore when these two chamberlains were plotting and seeking to lay hands on king Ahasuerus, Mordecai is aware of it. There is no working of evil among the saints that God will not expose and make clear to those who are watchful and considering for Him. It is a very important element to be found in the assembly, that there are those characterised by watchfulness and considering in all things for God, because then the true character of anything that is working secretly will become manifest to such. “The thing became known to Mordecai, and he related it to Esther the queen, and Esther told it to the king in Mordecai’s name.” The assembly is brought into it, and the matter is taken up before God in purity of motive as considering for God only, for this is what Mordecai represents. These are important elements; and then inquiry was made, too; care was taken to investigate the matter, so that with these elements there the whole thing is exposed and dealt with in a right way. But all hangs first of all on Mordecai, who was sitting in the king’s gate.

Another thing that marked Mordecai and which constituted an element in his greatness, is what comes out in chapter 3, and that is, that he would not under any circumstances yield to the flesh. This is very elementary, but it is very essential, and something that has to be maintained by us right through to the end. One has often referred to the apostle Paul, and one marvels at him. After he had been caught up to the third heaven and into Paradise; even after that, with all the light he had, and even with the thorn for the flesh to buffet him, he says to the Corinthians “I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest after having preached to others I should be myself rejected.” That shows what the flesh is even in an apostle, even in a man who has been into Paradise, and there is no other way of meeting it, but by having war with it. The element of self-seeking was having a damaging effect. The whole of the princes were giving way to it. You may say the king had commanded it. We have to take the history as it stands. God was in that, in order to bring out what was in Mordecai, and to bring about a great deliverance for His people. Any element of falsity or untruth that comes in amongst the saints, if it is allowed to go on, will rob God of His pleasure in His people. What Haman had in mind was to destroy the whole of the Jews. Haman was not intent simply on his own glory. All the princes bowed to him, but just one man, Mordecai, stood his ground, and whatever it cost he would not yield to this working of the flesh as set forth in Haman.

These are two elements of greatness in the presence of evil; that is, maintaining the principle of sitting in the king’s gate, judging of every matter as to how it affects God, and along with that the purpose of heart that will not yield to the flesh. We know how successful it was eventually in this history of the book of Esther. We find that Mordecai is the one who is prominent, and also Esther comes in. She is the counterpart, so to speak, of Mordecai. Mordecai stands out as the responsible element; and Esther is the subjective answer to what is seen in Mordecai, for she was brought up by him, and even after she became queen she did as he told her. She sets forth the results of subjection, and of abiding under the influence of one Man. That is what characterised Esther, and so, I believe, there are two things of particular importance in her. She was subjected to a process with a view to being pleasing to the king; “six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices.” One would say this to all the brethren, young and old, brothers and sisters, that one great thing to be pursued is to consider and cultivate what is pleasing to God. There is nothing spectacular about that. It may involve a considerable process of training. “Six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices” may have seemed a long while to Esther, but it had in view her becoming pleasing to the king. We can only cultivate that under the influence of one Man, and Esther secretly was under the influence of Mordecai. Actually she was in the charge of Hegai, the one who was placed over the virgins, possibly typical of the Spirit, and then as being pleasing to the king she acquired power with the king. The more pleasing we are to God, the more power we shall have with Him.

So another thing comes into view. When a crisis arises she is prepared to lay down her life for the brethren.’ She must go into the king whatever it costs, and she says “If I perish, I perish”; and then she puts on her queenly robes and goes in to the king, and the king holds out to her the golden sceptre, and Esther touches it. I believe God, so to speak, would set before us a golden standard, the standard of the divine nature. Do we love the brethren? If we love them we ought to lay down our lives for them. “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives.” Am I up to this standard? If I am, I shall have power with God. If you love the brethren you will have power with God in relation to them.

Esther drew near and touched the golden sceptre, and the king gave her her request. Esther’s power with the king was largely the effect of Mordecai’s influence, so in the verses read in chapters 8 and 9 the Spirit of God enlarges on the glory and greatness of Mordecai. In chapter 8 it says that “Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white.” That is very suggestive. It is the day of his vindication. It is not at present the day of our vindication, save in a moral sense perhaps, at times; but there is this royal apparel of blue and white, the heavenly colour and what is pure, and “with a mantle of byssus and purple.”

All this is very suggestive of the greatness of Mordecai as developed in the presence of evil, and then in chapter 9 it says, “Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went forth throughout the provinces; for this man Mordecai became continually greater.”

That is all one had to say, dear brethren. One trusts it may be serviceable, and may stimulate with us the desire for that true greatness which is of God, and according to Christ, and in which God Himself is glorified.