FEATURES PROPER TO THE ASSEMBLY
FEATURES PROPER TO THE ASSEMBLY
1 Samuel 25:1-13; 1 Samuel 25:18-20; 1 Samuel 25:39-42; Genesis 24:13-16; Genesis 24:23,24; Genesis 24:58-67
Each of these passages, beloved brethren, presents to us a woman who was attracted to one who is a type of Christ, and as to whom it is said, “she became his wife.” Hence each of them presents, in some distinctive way, features that are proper to the assembly. We have been speaking together of the assembly and of God’s own thoughts regarding it; and it is a very affecting consideration for each of us who have been reached by the gospel and who have received the Holy Spirit, that God in taking us up has had nothing less in mind for us than that we should form part of the assembly. It is well, therefore, to get a definite impression in our minds as to what the assembly is, what it is intended to be, what it is in the mind of God and what it is to the heart of Christ. It is good for us to get such definite impressions in our minds, because if we do, we shall have intelligence as to the end to which God is working in all His ways with us; for God, having picked us up for a definite purpose, is consistently working to reach that end.
And I would also say this, that while the assembly is a corporate idea, for it is the body of Christ, composed of many members, yet if the assembly is to possess the features which God intends it should possess, we who form it must in effect take on those features individually. There is no miraculous way, so to speak, in which the assembly comes into being as possessed of certain features, if those who compose it are not marked by those features; and hence as understanding from Scripture what features are proper to the assembly in relation to Christ, it should induce exercise with us each one, that something of those features might have place with us individually.
Now, while the assembly is viewed at first as the result of divine workmanship, according to Genesis 2: 22, God does not work, if I may use the expression, mechanically. He works in the intelligence and affections of those whom He has in hand, and the great lever by means of which He operates with us is the attractiveness of Christ. I have no doubt as to that, that one great means by which God operates in the souls of His people, is the attractiveness of Christ, and that is what comes to light in these two scriptures we have read, and, of course, in many other scriptures as well. David, on the one hand, was attractive to Abigail, resulting in her repudiating Nabal and repudiating Saul and moving out to David; and moving out to him as already having taken on certain features that were in keeping with David and pleasing to him, and it says of her that she became his wife. Similarly, also with Rebecca. There is no question that the result of the ministry of Abraham’s servant, who is typical of the Holy Spirit, was to make Isaac supremely attractive to Rebecca, so that although she had never seen him, she was prepared to move out to him. That indeed, beloved brethren, is characteristic of the present moment, for we can all take up the language of the apostle Peter in his epistle in regard of Christ, when he said, “Whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom though not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory.” It is a remarkable testimony to the attractiveness of Christ that He is wielding an influence over tens of thousands, and has wielded an influence over millions, of people who have never seen Him; it is a remarkable thing, but an undeniable fact. It is one of the elements in what is called the mystery, for we have to acquaint ourselves with the idea of mystery. Satan has his mystery in the world, the mystery of iniquity is operating, and we have to beware of that and to be intelligent as to it, for we are not ignorant of his devices; but on the other hand God works on the principle of mystery. Those who are the subjects of His purposes are wrought upon by Him in a way of which the world can have no conception, and we move through this world as having in our souls the light of things of which the world has no knowledge whatever.
The feature that comes to light in Abigail is that she has the appreciation of God’s anointed, the man of God’s choice. The man after God’s own heart becomes Abigail’s choice, and in the power of that she repudiates both Nabal and Saul, and indeed repudiates herself, for she says, “Upon me ... let this iniquity be.” In the case of Rebecca; the characteristic feature is that she is prepared to commit herself to what is spiritual and to renounce what is natural. These are two great lines upon which the Spirit of God would move us at the present time. He would use, on the one hand, the existence in this world of what is opposed to Christ to develop in us that appreciation of Christ and affection for Him which would break away from all that denies Him His rights, in order to our being wholly for one Man - Christ. On the other hand, He would operate in our souls in the power of the attractiveness of Christ to lead us to prefer what is spiritual to what is natural.
Samuel died, and there was this man in Maon, whose name was Nabal. David, we need not say, was in rejection. He was being hunted as a partridge on the mountains; but yet he was God’s anointed, and he had gathered to himself a certain number who were prepared to share the reproach in which his name was held, and the discomforts and testings of the position of rejection in which he was; persons who were prepared to endure all for David’s sake. David has in mind that others should be reached, and so he sends ten young men to Nabal. Notice that, dear brethren, he does not come personally, and he does not send one young man, but ten young men who are told to greet Nabal in David’s name. It is, I believe, the testimony which the Lord has been rendering and is still rendering in Christendom by means of those who are committed to the fellowship of His name. These ten men moving together and greeting Nabal in David’s name are very suggestive of a fellowship presented to Nabal, the bond of which was David and his name. That, dear brethren, is something we are well aware of. I suppose nearly all in this room, through grace, are having part in that fellowship, the bond of which is the Lord Jesus and His rights; all that is connected with His name in a world where those rights are denied Him, and a world, too, not viewed here from its political aspect, but viewed particularly in a religious aspect. Nabal was committed to Saul, and Saul represents, I believe, very much the clerical system: man at his best, man educated and instructed, bringing in all the best that man can bring in, in a system that professes to acknowledge God, and in which a large proportion of God’s people are held, but which in its character is opposed to the Christ of God. Saul represents that, and Nabal was attached to him. Nabal was not prepared in any way to change his ground, and yet this testimony is presented to him; a testimony of those moving together in fellowship, as I have said, the bond of it being David and his name; and what marked them was that they were of real benefit to Nabal’s men.
That is another thing that should mark us as we are in this world; that however much we may feel the reproach that is done in the religious world to the name of Christ, and the deterioration that is going on in the world in all its aspects, we must maintain the character of the dispensation, the spirit of grace amongst men, and use our position in nearness to God in intercession and supplication and thanksgiving for all men. We shall be for their benefit, whether they recognise it or not. One young man recognised it, he said they were a wall to them by night and day. The presence of those who are true to Christ and in the enjoyment of liberty with God, and who have power with God because they love Christ, is a positive benefit and protection to those in the world whether they recognise it or not, and we should see to it that we maintain that position. It is of God that we should do so, and maintain the attitude of grace too, however evil the world may become. Nothing is more galling, in a sense, to those who love Christ, than sheer indifference to Christ, yet what is characteristic of this moment in the ways of God, is that it is a day of grace, and therefore the testimony that David’s young men were to render to Nabal was, “Peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou hast.” They came in that spirit and they only asked that Nabal would show certain regard for David in the position he was in, and give whatever he was prepared to give. Nabal answers, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.” He is speaking slightingly of Christ and slightingly of the position of separation to the name of the Lord Jesus. “There are many servants nowadays who break away every man from his master.” He is speaking slightingly of those who have broken away from what had at one time had authority over them, in order to be true to the name of Christ. Scripture authorises, and the Spirit of God supports, this position.
The servants go back to David and bring this message and David said to his servants, “Gird ye on every man his sword,” and David also girded on his sword. I know that, as we can see from the history that follows, David was premature in this and that Abigail’s movements preserved him from shedding blood, and in this respect, therefore, he is not a type of Christ, but at the same time David’s word is very significant, and very solemn, that this spirit of refusal of the claims of the Lord Jesus and despising the characteristic work of the Spirit of God is in essence apostasy which must sooner or later come under judgment. Nabal had had good antecedents, for he was a Calebite, but this was what marked him. We are to have a judgment about things that are shortly coming under judgment, but to be exercised to maintain the spirit of grace so long as God maintains it. You can see how needful it is that we should be subject to the Spirit of God, for only the Spirit of God can produce right feelings and sensibilities in a balanced way in us. We need to be maintained in a spirit of grace so long as Jesus Christ the righteous is there in the presence of God, the propitiation for our sin’s and also for the whole world. We must maintain the spirit of grace consistent with that, but it is intended we should develop in spiritual sensibilities, so that when the moment comes for judging what is apostate, we ourselves shall be thoroughly with God and with Christ in it.
Now in that setting, Abigail comes to light. Three times in the chapter she is said to move in haste. The same remark is made more than once in regard to Rebecca. In each case the haste is drawn attention to by the Spirit of God. The Lord looks for purpose of heart and diligence on our part in response to the truth. He abhors dilatoriness and half-heartedness. Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, etc. She had substance of her own. She had, as a result of her own exercises, certain wealth in the way of spiritual food, which she had available to bring with her.
You remember as she comes to David she says first of all, “Upon me, my lord, upon me let the iniquity be” - a very fitting attitude of mind, especially on the part of any who find themselves still not clear of that which challenges the rights of Christ. I do not know if there is anyone here in that position today, but if there is anyone linked up with anything that denies the rights of the Lord Jesus and sets aside the rights of the Spirit of God, as indicated in the Scriptures, then the Lord intends that you should separate from it. “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord, withdraw from iniquity” - not remain in it with the hope of bettering it, but withdraw from it. The support of the Lord is realised as this is acted upon, but no support from the Lord is realised if there is the refusal to act upon it. But, dear brethren, every one of us who is already standing apart from what is iniquitous is to recognise that we must ourselves accept responsibility for the evil. We may never have been actually in it, but we form part of the church publicly. We cannot in that way dissociate ourselves from the terribly unfaithful and corrupt position into which the church publicly has come. We must accept our share of the shame of it, in order to be acceptable to the Lord. We must separate from it as having a judgment of it. Abigail was united to Nabal as his wife, but she speaks scathingly of him. She speaks scathingly of Saul too, typical of what marks Christendom characteristically. She says of Saul, “If a man is risen up ... to seek thy life.” It is a question of the first man in opposition to Christ. Every religious system in Christendom, whatever its name, is characterised by the first man, whom God has set aside in the cross. The Lord spoke of the woman who took leaven and hid it in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. The mass has been leavened by the first man whom God has rejected, and there is no room for Christ.
Abigail has a judgment of all that, and David approves of her. He hearkens to her voice and accepts her person. God comes in governmentally and removes Nabal. God has acted governmentally in Christendom. Looked at broadly it has already become dead. It has rejected the light of the last century, it has refused it, and governmentally become dead. David sends for Abigail to become his wife. She is evidently fit for it, for typically she has an appreciation of Christ and has come to a definite judgment of all that denies Him His rights. “She arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth and said, Behold, let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” That is what marks Abigail. She is going to serve the servants of her lord. Some people, dear brethren, profess to love Christ and yet do not show their love to His people; but the evidence of our love for Christ is seen in the way we treat His people, and Abigail’s one desire was to be a bondservant to wash the feet of the servants of her lord. From whom did she learn that? If any of us have that desire, we have learnt it from Christ. We read in John 13 that when He was about to depart from this world to the Father, He took account of His own who were in the world. David was in the wilderness and his servants were with him there. The Lord knew that the scene in His absence would become a wilderness for those who loved Him, and so He rose from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself; then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel. The Spirit of God records every movement, as if John was greatly affected by it, that One so great as Jesus should lay aside His garments and take a towel and gird Himself voluntarily, deliberately assuming a bondman’s service and serving every one in turn. “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.” There will be no occasion to lay down our lives in heaven. It is here in wilderness conditions that the brethren are to be served after the pattern of the love of Christ; and in this spirit we are to go down beneath them, not claiming a place, not demanding anything. Abigail was marked by that spirit, the spirit seen in one who has really appreciated the Man of God’s choice, so different from the first man. The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and as we are attracted to the Man of God’s choice, and learn to repudiate every other man, having our feet washed by Him, we shall take on His features. Abigail was coming into fellowship in a most attractive and becoming way. She was not going to be a burden to the brethren, but just to wash their feet, not making demands on them. You can rest assured that one committed thus to the fellowship of God’s Son is not going to be a burden to those in it.
Now I pass on to Rebecca. This scripture has been spoken of frequently in recent years, but in a sense we can never tire of Genesis 24; for the more we look at it, the more the wealth in it becomes clear. What I would urge in regard of this chapter is that the test presented to Rebecca, to which she so wonderfully answered, was not a test as to whether she was going to be detained by anything unlawful; it was not the world or the flesh that was the test to Rebecca. The test to which she answered so beautifully was the test as to whether she was going to be held by what was legitimate in the natural sphere, or whether she would let the spiritual have precedence over the natural. Nothing evil or worldly was proposed to detain her, but that she should remain with her mother and her brother, and that only for ten days. That was the suggestion. It would be a pity to lose the ten days, that is, the whole period of our responsibility here, for we are to fill it out in days, and ten would represent the whole period. It would be an immense loss to lose the whole of our time here through being detained by natural things, and not to move now into what is spiritual. We have received the Spirit of God that we might do so.
In 1 Corinthians 15 we read, “That which is spiritual was not first; but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.” That is intended to affect us, that God has all along had what is spiritual in mind. He is Himself a Spirit and the Lord Himself as the glorified Man is a quickening Spirit - “the last Adam a quickening Spirit” - and we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15 it also says, “the first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, out of heaven.” God brought in the first, that is, the natural order of things and an earthly order of things, merely as a testimony to what He was going to bring in; but His final thought is a spiritual order of things, and a heavenly order of manhood. I would ask the brethren to let that sink in. The natural and earthly are only brought in in the ways of God as a testimony to His final thought. Now Christ having come and accomplished redemption and gone to the right hand of God, and the Spirit being given, God has brought in what is spiritual; and all of us who have received the Spirit are of a spiritual and heavenly order of manhood, for we partake by the Spirit in the life of the ascended Christ. The Spirit we have received is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and that constitutes us heavenly and of His own order.
Now as regards Rebecca, Abraham had insisted that the wife for his son Isaac must be of his own kindred, and the servant made this request on going forth on his mission. “I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. And let it come to pass, that the maiden to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and who will say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, be she whom thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and hereby I shall know that thou hast dealt kindly with my master.” He was going to discover her, the young woman who was of Abraham’s kindred, by certain features. He was not going to start inquiring from house to house for Abraham’s kindred, but discover her by her being marked by certain features. That raises exercise with us as to whether we individually are marked by the features proper to what we are. If we have received the Spirit from the ascended Christ, we are of Christ’s own order of manhood, we are heavenly. It is well to take account of it, not simply that our names are written in heaven, but that we are going to bear the image of the heavenly because we are heavenly, we are of Christ’s own order. Now, dear brethren, what marks us? The servant says, “I stand by the well of water.” The servant is a type of the Spirit, the well is a type of the Spirit, the camels are a type of the Spirit. It is a question of those who sow to the Spirit, who habituate themselves to recognising the Spirit as the power for life and walk. Are we characteristically spiritual? or are we going on with what is natural, or worse still, fleshly or worldly. If Rebecca had not come to the well, she would have been out of this matter entirely. No one but those who came to the well would have any part in this matter. It was a daily matter, a habitual matter, their life depended on it. It is a question of whether we have learnt in a habitual way to give place to the Spirit of God. If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit. The Spirit of God is the only power for life according to God and the servant took his stand by the well. “Before he had ended speaking, ... Rebecca came out ... and she had her pitcher upon her shoulder.” It was an empty vessel, it was, so to speak, what she herself was characteristically, prepared at all times for the filling of the Spirit. Everything that would hinder was excluded. There was power with her to yield herself to the Spirit of God so that she herself might be characteristically a vessel of the Spirit. Such an one is prepared for the leading of the Spirit. How shall we know anything of the leading of the Spirit in the assembly, if we are not characteristically vessels of the Spirit? Each of us has to face that question. It is a question of learning to disallow the flesh and renounce the natural, that we might be vessels of the Spirit and take on spiritual thoughts and have part in spiritual feelings and affections. Only thus shall we really reach what is proper to the assembly in its relation to Christ and then to God.
Now in verse 23 we are told that she was asked, “Whose daughter art thou?” The servant is not now speaking to God, he is speaking to Rebecca, and she is to be able to give an account of herself. If the Spirit of God were to ask us what our genealogy is, what would we answer? She is to be able to say of what kindred she is. Are we able to do that from a spiritual standpoint? Are we able in our own souls to take up that ground, that we are of Christ? “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” There was no doubt about it. She was of the right seed and she knew it. The test is propounded and she says, “I will go.” And Rebecca arose, and her maids, and they rode upon the camels and followed the man.” The camels are the power for movement and they follow the servant. So these persons are following the man, riding upon the camels, and “Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi; for he was dwelling in the south country.” Where Christ dwells is indeed a south country. He is the Son of His Father’s love. It is a remarkable expression that John uses in writing to the elect lady. “Grace shall be with you, mercy, peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.” A wonderful view that John had, God the Father, and then the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. He has a view of the Lord Jesus Christ as the beloved Son of the Father, One who dwells in the south country.
“Behold, camels were coming.” That word behold is most touching. It is intended to convey the way the affections of Christ are stirred as He sees the assembly moving in the Holy Spirit, moving together in the power of one Spirit towards Christ. There was no other object before Isaac at that moment, he was meditating, free of all other business. And Rebecca lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac and sprang off the camel; there are reciprocal and reciprocated affections in this lifting up of the eyes, first on Isaac’s part and then on Rebecca’s part. She had said unto the servant, “Who is the man?” and the servant said, “That is my master.” Thus the Spirit of God would at a certain time make everything of Christ, other things being held in the background for the moment. Abraham was in the background, for it was he who had initiated this move, the originator of all that was now coming to pass, but the servant was making everything of Isaac, saying, “That is my master”; and that comes to pass in the assembly as the saints move collectively in the power of the Spirit of God in affection for Christ. Christ becomes everything for the heart of the assembly. He took Rebecca and she became his wife, like Abigail, she became his wife, and he loved her. She entered into union and in that position she is loved. This is what may be reached in assembly experience as we learn to allow what is natural to be superseded by the spiritual, for although the natural has to be recognised in its place it is to be subordinated to what is spiritual, the spiritual having come in, and it is only as we are prepared to yield ourselves to what is spiritual that we shall know anything of what is proper to the assembly in relation to Christ.