CHRIST’S WORD OF COUNSEL
E. M. Walkinshaw
Revelation 3: 14–22; John 14: 21
Most of us, I suppose, at some time or another in our lives have appreciated a word of counsel. Possibly the occasions on which we appreciated it were fewer than the occasions on which we needed it. Nevertheless through God’s grace we have been retained. Each of us at one time or another has been glad of a word of counsel, a word of exhortation, all intended to keep us in touch with God and in the path of His will. The Lord said when He was here,
“because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold”, Matthew 24: 12.
That has come to pass in our day. It may be argued that it refers to a day yet to come, and that is equally true, but we need to understand, dear brethren, that it has happened in our day that because iniquity is abounding the love of the most has waxed cold.
Some persons look for improvement; men in the world of certain religious beliefs regard leaven as good, something that will spread its influence throughout the world until the kingdom of Jesus Christ is supreme. That is not true. The fact is, the Scripture makes it abundantly plain that things will wax worse and worse. Persons looking for improvement publicly do not believe their Bible. That does not mean that we should be without encouragement. Sometimes we are apt to think that in the days of the apostle Paul things went forward publicly in a blaze of glory—that is not the truth either.
There was a time when Paul stood alone. What a dark day that was; “All who are in Asia …
have turned away from me”, 2 Timothy 1: 15. Was there a darker day than that? I think there was one darker day than that, when Jesus was crucified. But He had everything under
control—everything! We have often been reminded of the gospel of John where He takes the initiative when He was crucified. There is no reference either to the Father or to the Spirit, although they were there, but Jesus is the One who was in supreme command. How wonderful that is!
I think, dear brethren, the Lord would encourage us in a day of public darkness and weakness to listen to a word of counsel. It may come through an older brother; it may come through father or mother—often not too well received from that source—that is what I used to find when I was young anyway. But the word of counsel comes. I think the Lord would counsel us in these days to enter into a personal transaction with Himself what Mr. Raven has called
‘Christ’s last word of counsel’ appears in this passage.
Now before I speak of that I would like to refer to the Lord’s opening word: “And to the angel of the assembly in Laodicea, write”. Who is going to speak? One who calls Himself
“the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”. Is everything lost? Do you think everything is lost? One man of God once said that all is lost to those that say, All is lost. Is all lost, dear brethren? Again the same beloved man said, If the worst had not happened you would never have known from experience that He was equal to the worst.
The worst serves to bring out the glory of the Person who can handle the worst situation that ever arose in the history of the testimony. So it says,
“These things says the Amen”. Is not Laodicea the amen? Is not that the finish? Is that not the last phase of the assembly finishing in its responsibility? He is the Amen, and everything for God is secured in Him. Oh, dear brethren, we have the greatest reason for encouragement to go on. Everything is in His hands. Again it is said, “In him is the yea, and in him the amen”, 2 Corinthians 1: 20. All the promises of God are centred in Him.
So He addresses this assembly in its assumed riches but actual poverty—the Amen—now that is an encouragement to persons who desire to go on, to know that He is the First and the Last. He had the first word and He will have the last. What a Person He is! And then He says, “the faithful and true witness”. Why does He say that? Because it is maintained in Him; He is the “faithful and true witness”, and He brings it forward to the church which should have been a faithful and true witness but failed to be. So we find everything centred in the Person of Jesus.
Then, having introduced Himself thus, and as “the beginning of the creation of God”, He says, as to other assemblies, “I know thy works”, and I think He would address that to us.
You think of the beloved man that laboured in this city for so long, he said he always read the Bible as if it was addressed to himself. Do you read it like that? Or do you read it to acquire the word for somebody else? Another man who served long in his life said this—and I feel I should always myself be reminded of it, as well as reminding my brethren—one of the greatest dangers to any minister of the truth is supposing that what he says does not apply to himself but only to those to whom he speaks, as if to say, I am all right; you are the people who need the word. What a danger that is. So we stand together as listening to what the Lord has to say to us in a word of counsel—“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot”. You say, Does that apply to me? I have to take it home to myself; I know what the flesh is and I prefer the easy way. Do you not? Do not tell me that you do not, because you do: You prefer the easy way, and it is only love for Christ and the power of His love upon you that will cause you to take the path of discipleship.
So we accept the word, dear brethren, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot”. How insipid christendom has become! He, says, ‘I wish you were one thing or the other’. Where are we, dear brethren, here tonight in this city? If you look around this city and throughout this country you see signs of affluence and material prosperity. Where do we stand as related to that? I am not saying that if God has prospered us we should not accept it in His government, because a rich man’s castle may be the wilderness to him and a poor man’s house or cottage may be his heaven. It is a question of your state of soul before God. So the question arises as the Lord speaks, How am I? He is going to make it a word of counsel to us, but first of all He discloses the awful state that exists. So He says, “Because thou art … neither cold nor hot, I am about to spue thee out of my mouth.” This is the church publicly. We say we understand the truth of it, that as looking at it in a simple prophetic way it is the final phase of the assembly’s history on earth, although the last four run concurrently. It is simple to say that and yet subtly to suppose that we are Philadelphia. Mr. Darby refers to that more subtle self.
The Lord would exercise us by this word. He says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich”. All this pretence that we are in the presence of, dear brethren! I am not suggesting that it is in the brethren here; we thank God for any that have escaped and whose bond is the truth. But a word of counsel is still needed. I recall the other word in Scripture also well known, “Buy the truth, and sell it not”, Proverbs 23: 23. The truth in our day has been shamefully sold for material advantage. Are you going to have a part in that? “I counsel thee to buy of me”. “Thee”—who is the thee? You say, The Lord is addressing the angel of the assembly in Laodicea. And who is that? Oh, we say, The responsible element. And who is that? Sometimes we speak of the responsible brothers in the locality. We like to sit back and put all the blame on them. It is a habit, you know. Those who do the least quite often have the most to say in criticism. Do not let us be like that, dear brethren.
So when the Lord says, “I counsel thee” I would like to ask you, Have you any responsibility in New York? Have I any responsibility in Gillingham? Every believer in this city has a responsibility. Remember this, the assembly has not lost its responsibility to Christ because it has failed. So, “I counsel thee”, the last word of counsel to the church is “to buy of me”. You can take that up. Persons say, We do not know. Whose fault is that? I may say, I do not know.
Whose fault is that? Are you prepared, beloved brother or sister, younger man or older man, to enter into a personal trading transaction with Jesus, with the One who is presenting Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness? Or will you go along saying, I do not know? It casts a reflection on Him if you say that, because the resource is just as much available to you as it is to those who faithfully pursue the truth. I may fail in my responsibility, but that does not change or alter the resource. Our resource is in Him.
Here His word of counsel would meet us in dark and difficult days when things appear to be going from bad to worse. He counsels us to buy of Him gold tried by fire. How do we regard that? Well, you might say, we have had plenty of what appears to be fire in New York, plenty of troubles, trials, discipline. It may be needed! Peter says, “For a little while at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials”, 1 Peter 1: 6—if needed! They do not come if they are not needed. And the same thing would apply to us in our city, plenty of fire, or so we thought.
How many are prepared to purchase from Jesus? “Buy of me gold purified by fire”; and through your transaction with Him, whatever the discipline or sorrow through which you may pass, the glory of His work is to shine. “And white garments, that thou mayest be clothed”.
He wants us to be clothed, “that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest”. The word is intended to come home to us. Christendom at large, alas, has no interest. I think the Lord would keep us alive by a word of prophecy.
Then He says, “and eye-salve … that thou mayest see”. There is a saying on our side of the water, and I expect you have it here, that there are none so blind as those who will not see. It may be true that certain persons cannot see, but He is available. He is available to the youngest person here, brother or sister, and you can enter into this trading transaction with Him personally. It will mean sacrifice. After all, if you walk into one of the shops in New York you do not get anything for nothing. In christianity in a certain sense you get everything for nothing, in another sense you get nothing for nothing, and I think we need to understand that. Who therefore is prepared to sacrifice in order to buy from the Lord Himself and be governed by the truth? The truth is really our bond. How we have failed in that! The truth is always the issue and the truth is our bond.
Then the Lord goes on to say, “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking; if any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”.
What a privilege that is! Do you think that is possible? I ask you, do you think we are dealing with philosophies or with realities? John Bunyan said, ‘I notice this, that these things are only for those persons who are in downright earnest’. Now, you young men and young women, are we dealing with philosophies or realities? Is christianity a revelation from God or is it a comparative philosophy? We are dealing with realities; we are having to do with God. This is a great privilege, and although to some persons it might be frightening, it is never intended to be.
The Lord says, “If any one … open the door”. Are you prepared to open the door? How do you open the door? It just occurred to me perhaps the Lord might be indicating something of the way we can open the door in John 14: 21, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”. Do you believe that? If you believe it, have you ever experienced it? Have you ever experienced Jesus manifesting Himself to you?
He does not say, I will give him a manifestation, as though it were of something, but, I will manifest Myself to him. We may think that in days such as those in which we live that is not a possibility. What the Lord says is, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me”. Do you love Him? He is very attractive; despite the world’s rejection of Him there is no Person so attractive as our glorious, adorable Lord. And it is as the power of His Person and His love grips your soul that you are prepared for the path of discipleship. Think of the compensation, “I will … manifest myself to him.”
In our passage He says, “I will … sup with him”. I wonder if I have experienced that, or if you have experienced that, “I will … sup with him”? He comes into our circumstances.
Would you be happy to invite Jesus to supper? And mark well that, despite what people may say, Jesus is particular who He eats with. Are you? The passage makes it clear. Oh, but you say, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them”, Luke 15: 2. Yes, but mark, He receives them first and eats with them. In the immediate context from which we are drawing He makes a condition—“If any one” or any man, that would include a woman too, a responsible person, “hear my voice”. Have you heard His voice? Have you heard His voice in the ministry? It is not only what He says, it is His voice. Can you detect His voice?
Beloved brethren, this awful departure from the light of God is very serious. Persons are rejecting the light of God that shone in the ministry of beloved James Taylor—it was the light of God. Was it from heaven, or was it of men? It was from heaven, and the light of God shone in it. It is being rejected by those who have been in the light of it—a solemn consideration. I would not be among them, I would like to hear His voice, His present speaking. You say, These men have gone. Yes, they have gone, but the Spirit of God has not gone. I make so bold as to repeat, more than Mr. Darby is here, and more than Mr. Raven is here, and more than Mr. Taylor is here; the Spirit of God is here in the assembly. The Lord is still interested and He still holds everything in His hand. He is still the Amen, He is still the faithful and true Witness, and He is prepared to come in and sup with you, subject to certain conditions.
He then says, “and he with me”. Would you not like to sup with the Lord in His circumstances and in His world? I would. I am quite sure of this, moreover, that when I got there I should not find myself the only guest at the table. But they would be selected guests.
Do you think the scripture justifies it? I am sure it does, because He makes the condition. So you do not find yourself alone there, although you have your own personal link with Him; you find others there also, supping with Him in His circumstances. No doubt there is a simple allusion to what may be available, without formally mentioning it, in the Lord’s supper. He comes to us where we are in our circumstances and takes us to where He is in His circumstances. That is present compensation in the testimony, not by-and-by. So He would encourage us, dear brethren, to go on. What are you going to do? Are you going on? Are you going to be among those that will be guests at His table, supping with Him? He maintains the service of God.
That brings me to the last part of His word, “He that overcomes, to him will I give to sit with me in my throne; as I also have overcome, and have sat down with my Father in his throne”.
Christ is there on His Father’s throne. He will soon take up His own, there is no doubt about it. A servant of the Lord once said, ‘Are you getting anxious about things? There will be time enough for me to get anxious when the Man on the throne gets anxious!’ He is not anxious; He is sustaining everything there for His Father; He is sustaining the testimony, and He is sustaining the service of God. It is not breaking down. What then is our simple part? In devotion and allegiance to Him to relate ourselves to Him as He moves forward in the testimony—not our testimony. It is not our testimony of the Lord, it is the testimony of our Lord. He is sustaining it all, dear brethren.
There is great room for encouragement, not depression, when we think of a word of counsel like this from Jesus, and the promises of Jesus. They are available in the darkest day, even in the day when because iniquity abounds the love of the most shall wax cold. What is proper to the assembly can be enjoyed by the faithful individual, but I believe the Lord always has the assembly in mind, and we do not find ourselves entirely alone. But we may in testimony find the circumstances very testing. Of course, they were for Him. Did you expect something different? If the Scripture tells me things will get worse, should I expect them to get better?
Hardly. It says, “Juggling impostors … leading and being led astray”, 2 Timothy 3: 13. If the Bible tells me that, let me believe it. But if the Lord promises something to the faithful individual, let me take courage and be faithful and prove His promise.
So will you accept a word of counsel from the Lord? It is His last word of counsel to the church and He would have us to lay hold of it. Dear brethren, when the truth is being shamelessly sold for material advantage, let us buy it and not sell it. Let us buy personally from Christ gold purified by fire; let us buy this white clothing, this clothing whereby we can have our part in the service of God and be rightly in His testimony; let us buy the eye-salve so that we may see and not be among those who either cannot, or do not want to see. Let us be among those who through personal devotion and deep exercise with Christ know what it is to receive things from Himself. The more we do that, the more we shall find ourselves together in the bond of the truth. That is the only bond. There is no other. You say, Does it not say that love is the bond of perfectness, Colossians 3: 14? That is perfectly true, but the truth is our bond here in a scene of contrariety.
May the Lord help us, dear brethren, may He give us courage to go on in the face of adversity until the day when He comes. He is coming, and things are not going to finish down here in poverty and decrepitude; that is not going to be the case. And the teaching that the church will be transferred to heaven because she has failed on earth is not the truth. The church will be transferred to heaven because she belongs there. And before the Lord comes, I believe, God will have something which in its nature and character is of the assembly. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come”, Revelation 22: 17. Are you in the spirit of that? You young people have your life before you, I know. We have all been like that. I know what you think and say, It is all very well for you older people, with one foot in the grave, to talk like this about christianity.
Christianity, you know, is not just something to train the feet of toddlers, and comfort the ageing and the dying. Christianity and the testimony of God call for manhood, so that God’s testimony should be carried through in men and women who are of the order of Jesus Christ.
And you will find, young brothers and sisters, if you commit yourselves, however testing the circumstances, that Jesus is as good as His word: “I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”. Set yourself for spiritual experiences with Him and He will not let you down. May the Lord bless every one of us, for His name’s sake.
Brooklyn, N.Y.
22 May 1973