THE CONTINUATION OF THE TESTIMONY
[p. 316] THE CONTINUATION OF THE TESTIMONY
2 Timothy 1:6; 2 Kings 13:14 - 21
What I desire to speak about tonight is the continuation of the testimony of God. We find with men of faith, that they not only served their “own generation” (Acts 13:36), as it is said of David, but considered for the coming ones. Hezekiah is not amongst these in this particular, for, when it was announced to him that the judgment of God would fall upon his house (having disclosed his treasures to the Babylonians), he said, “Good is the word of Jehovah ... if only there shall be peace and truth in my days”, 2 Kings 20:19. He was not concerned rightly for coming days; whereas in men like Jacob and Paul, for example, we have anxious consideration, as passing away from the scene of testimony, for those who should succeed them in it. Jacob says to Joseph: “I die; and God will be with you”, and ere passing off, he summons his sons, and says to them, “Gather yourselves together ... and listen to Israel your father”. Genesis 48:21. He says, “I will tell you what will befall you at the end of the days”, Genesis 49:1,2. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. So the apostle Paul, in the epistle from which I have read, communicates to Timothy what should come in; he says — “Difficult times shall be there”; 2 Timothy 3:1 and in view of these times, he would forearm his beloved child, Timothy, so that he should meet those conditions according to God, for there is to be no deterioration in the line of testimony. God intends it to be maintained inviolate. The apostle addresses Timothy in view of his immediate departure. He says: “I am already being poured out”, 2 Tim 4:6 i.e., as a libation in his service. He was passing off, but in fragrance, as he said earlier to the Corinthians, “We are a sweet odour of Christ to God”, referring to his service; 2 Corinthians 2:15. It was a sweet odour to God throughout, and was culminating in the most remarkable way, he was being “poured out”. As one would pour out liquid gradually, so Paul in entire resignation to the will of God, as a drink offering to God, coming to the close of his life, says, “The time of my release is come”. “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. 2 Tim 4:6,7. He would, in view of this, have the testimony continued in this remarkable child, whom he had nurtured and cultured, so that he was his own child truly. So much did Timothy resemble his father, that years before this date, he could send him to the Corinthians, so that, as amongst them, they could see in him the traits of the apostle himself; and now Paul is about to depart, and the responsibility of things is handed over to his beloved child.
This is not a new principle, for we see in Jacob’s case that he had his Joseph, as Moses had his Joshua, and David his Solomon. Jacob first commits the whole responsibility to Joseph, and then to all the tribes, that is to say, Jacob has true patriarchal instincts. At the end of his life you have the brightest phase of faith, he worships. We have what he was Godward, as he worships on the bed’s head, then what he was manward, as he blesses Joseph’s two sons, and, as we saw last night, represents God in so doing. Then he says to Joseph: “I have given to thee one tract of land above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow”, Genesis 48:22. You see how he passes on, according to the word, an inheritance. It is one of the patriarchal features to do this. “House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers”, we are told; Proverbs 19:14. The fathers are to lay up for the children, not the children for the fathers; so Jacob enriches Joseph by the fruit of his own military prowess; and it was for Joseph to carry on in the [p. 318] same patriarchal spirit, which he does; having learned from, and having been loved by, such a father. At the end of Genesis we find the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. What a striking patriarchal trait! You see how far-reaching the patriarchal instincts and affections were. Abraham had passed on that spirit to Isaac and Jacob in dwelling with them in tents, and Jacob passes it on to Joseph, and Joseph passes it on to the third generation; so that we come down to this principle in the history of the tribes of Israel in their sojourn in Egypt. The Spirit of God, in Jacob’s burial, occupies us not with Joseph’s greatness, as ruler in Egypt, but with his patriarchal greatness. One of the most important features of the testimony is this patriarchal feature, which is a primary thought with God; for God is a Father from one generation to another; so that the testimony is to be preserved in true family affections.
So with Moses, you see in the closing year of his life, he writes the book of Deuteronomy. He had nursed, as it were, and carried the people through the wilderness, as supported by God. Now he says in principle, I am not able to go over with you, but I wish you to go over suitably. You are the sons of Jehovah, he says; and must be in the land suitable to Jehovah. You see there the great patriarchal instincts of Moses, as he sits down, in the one hundred and twentieth year of his life, and writes the book of Deuteronomy. “These are the words which Moses spoke”, Deuteronomy 1:1. The book teems with Moses’ interests in, and his affection for, the people; so that they might continue in the full height of the testimony, as they had seen it in him. For in the book of Deuteronomy it is not ‘Thus saith the Lord’, or ‘The Lord spake unto Moses’, but what Moses himself said. He was not only an apostle; he was a man with affections. God called attention to him earlier,
saying, he “Was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth”, Numbers 12:3. He was also great for the saints, for he loved them with patriarchal affections; and so he writes the book of Deuteronomy, giving full vent to his affections in it, to the end that the people should go over suitably to the great position they would occupy in relation to God in Canaan. He was also concerned for their welfare in desiring a leader for them. “Set a man”, said he, “over the assembly, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them”. A man with a shepherd heart. He did not delegate Joshua; it was not for him, but for Jehovah to do that, and Jehovah says to him, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit”, Numbers 27:16 - 18. Moses, doubtless, had it in mind that Joshua should be his successor, but in suitable humility he submits to God’s right to nominate his successor, and God graciously informs Moses that Joshua is the man. But who is this Joshua? He had been, as Moses’ attendant, on the mount with Moses as a young man; and later departed not from within the tent of meeting even as a young man. As learning Jehovah’s mind, under Moses, he was qualified to continue the great service that Moses was laying down, so that at the close of his life, Moses put it to Jehovah to choose a successor, and God says, “Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and thou shalt lay thy hand upon him”. There was a transmission of power, in measure, from Moses to his successor, so that the testimony should be maintained at its proper level; and that is the responsibility God would lay upon us, not on]y to serve our own generation, but to see to it that there is in us a right model, so that those who are coming after may have the right conception of their service. Paul says, “Thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching and conduct”, 2 Timothy 3:10. Hence Timothy would be [p. 320] able, as knowing Paul, and brought up under him, to pass on to future generations (faithful men, first, and then to others also), the spirit and doctrine of the great apostle.
In David’s case also, he served his own generation, by the will of God; but when you come to 1 Chronicles 29 you have the true features of a patriarch. It is very remarkable, that the first preacher in the Acts, speaking by the Spirit of God, refers to David as a patriarch; Acts 2:29. My conviction is that God would impress us with the patriarchal idea, in the bringing up of our children, so that eventually they might rightly represent God. I apprehend that the patriarch David had rightly brought up Solomon; for Peter is about to speak of the true Solomon, the builder of the house. He had gone into heaven, and Peter says, “God has made him, this Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. David had brought up Solomon, but had to say at the end of his life: “Although my house be not so before God” (2 Samuel 23:5); yet God had made a covenant with David, which had reference to Solomon. God had established the “sure house” in Solomon, and it is in him that we see the reflection of David the patriarch. David shines in Solomon. In Psalm 72 Solomon is seen on the throne, and David’s prayers are ended. But Solomon is the product first of this great patriarch; he says, “I was a son unto my father”, Proverbs 4:3. There was not only the patriarchal side in David, but the son in Solomon. I would say to the young people here, that Solomon was the most remarkable child spoken of in the Old Testament. When he was born, it says, “Jehovah loved him”, 2 Samuel 12:24. Both David and Bathsheba brought him up in the tenderest affection. He says, “I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother”, Proverbs 4:3. In 1 Chronicles 29 [p. 321] you will find David full of Solomon; and in his remarkable prayers, he refers to Solomon, that God would give him wisdom. Ah! he had done all in his power, as a patriarch, to bring up that child, and had succeeded. Solomon was a wise son; and “A wise son maketh a glad father”, Proverbs 10:1. He had foolish sons, but he had at least one wise son, and he was a continual testimony of that which David had fostered. David saw Solomon on the throne before he died, and the Spirit of God says of it, “Solomon sat on the throne of David”, 1 Kings 2:12. What a comfort to David to see his son set, not only on his own throne, but on the throne of Jehovah! What was the secret of that? It was this, that God had said to David, ‘I am going to take him for my son’. What an encouragement to every father in bringing up his son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, when God says to him, ‘I am going to take him to be my son!’ What a privilege that David’s son should be taken up and owned by God; and thus suitable to occupy the position of ruler! For “Solomon sat”, it says, “on the throne of Jehovah”, 1 Chronicles 29:23. One might enlarge on that, for it is a wonderful subject: Solomon, in the Old Testament, stands out as a typical son of a patriarch. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, speak volumes to us of the great patriarch David being seen in Solomon; and surely, it is not simply on account of David that all these things were written, but for us, for fathers and for mothers, so that there should be in our offspring the material for the continuance of the testimony. It is Solomon who writes that Psalm, which speaks about children as being “An inheritance from Jehovah ... . Happy is the man that hath filled his quiver with them”, Psalm 127:3,5. Such is the encouragement that parents have in Scripture in the bringing up of their children. But if there is the [p. 322] natural side in this great subject, there is the spiritual side; the idea of the spiritual father is seen in Paul. It comes out also in 2 Kings; so that we may see in these examples, how the spiritual father passes on the principles by which every complete victory is assured; and that is what we need. We need to understand how things are maintained completely. What marks Christendom at the present time is incompleteness. The Lord says of Sardis, “I have not found thy works complete before my God”, Revelation 3:2. There may appear to be great completeness in Protestantism with its catechisms, articles of faith and religious organisations. Things seem to be complete from man’s point of view, but not from God’s, and in the final analysis, God says, “I will come upon thee as a thief”, Revelation 3:3. God is not satisfied with having a measure, He looks for completion.
I want now to show from 2 Kings how, what I would call the spiritual patriarch, Elisha, would pass on to another, who is in a place of responsibility and testimony, the ability to complete things, i.e., how to reach finality, in conflict. We want to go on to the end, and to finish in accordance with the beginning, and that is what we are taught in 2 Kings 13. It says, “Elisha fell sick of his sickness in which he died”. But before he dies the king of Israel goes down to him, and says, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” Taking into mind the character of this king, and his antecedents, it was not a fit word in his mouth. He was not in keeping with the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. The first to utter these words was Elisha. He uttered them under the most remarkable circumstances. It is well, if we are to understand the import of such expressions, to know how they were first used. Elisha had been Elijah’s attendant; he had poured water on the hands of Elijah, and had learned to call Elijah, ‘father’; and when Jehovah would take up Elijah into the heavens, we find that Elisha is in close touch with him. Elijah says, “Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel”. Elisha says “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” 2 Kings 2:2. You see, he has proved what Elijah was; he represented the testimony of God; and was in keeping with it; so Elisha says, “I will not leave thee”. What an object lesson for every young man who wishes to serve the Lord! Elisha in affection clings to Elijah from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, and from Jericho to Jordan; then passes over the Jordan with Elijah: “And they two went on”; indicating how that dear young man was drinking in, from the lips of that great prophet, divine suggestions; they were over Jordan then, and Elijah is to be carried into heaven. The Lord took him up; and as Elijah goes up by the whirlwind, Elisha says, “The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” 2 Kings 2:12. He recognised that the power of God was there. But when king Joash made use of the same words, the power was not there; not that that power did not exist, but it was not available. Joash was not in the faith of God’s power, it was a mere doctrine in his mind.
Elisha was sick and about to die; there was nothing in that to denote the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, so that Joash is using an expression far beyond his state, as many of us do. But, nevertheless, it is the reign of grace, and Elisha is true to the dispensation, and, in terms, says ‘Joash, if you are to come into the power of the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, you must learn the power of God, as exercised in weakness’. As Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am powerful”, 2 Corinthians 12:10. Elisha then says: “Take bow and arrows”; and Joash took them; and Elisha said unto the king, “Put thy hand upon the bow. And [p. 324] he put his hand upon it; and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands, and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, An arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance, even an arrow of deliverance from the Syrians; and thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou hast consumed them”, 2 Kings 13:16,17. All this looks very promising. I can understand the king’s heart being elated and encouraged. He had the bow in his hand, and the arrows, and he shot through the window eastward. The east represents what we may hope for, but what we may hope for is according to our faith. It is, “According to your faith, be it unto you”, Matthew 9:29. How much faith has Joash? All that the east denoted was available to faith. There was only one arrow shot, and it was the arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance. Who is the arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance? The One who comes from the east! Jesus, who will rise like the sun, with healing in His wings. He will deal with everything; He will take up things and reach finality. The Syrian will then be crushed for ever. It all looks promising, and it is promising; but is that all? If that is all, we must wait for the millennium, for the time when the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven for deliverance. But we do not have to wait till then. Elisha says, “Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground!” There is no bow now, only arrows. The bow and arrows refer to long-distance operations. At the coming of the Lord Jesus in power, He will use long-distance weapons. The most powerful weapon of warfare is nothing to be compared with the weapons of God. “As the lightning”, said the Lord, “goes forth from the east and shines to the west”, Matthew 24:27. Mark the long-distance weapon of God! “So shall be the coming of the Son of Man”. He will deal with [p. 325] things in a complete way, and reach finality. The prophets are full of it, as describing the Lord’s military exploits when He come out, and deals with His enemies. But what about the present? The apostle Paul says to Timothy, “Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”. That means that I have got to war now, and acquire victory. “No one going as a soldier”, he says, “entangles himself with the affairs of this life”, 2 Timothy 2:3,4. Now that means that I use the arrows, not against others, but against myself, i.e., the ground. Smite upon the ground, not once, nor thrice, but five or six times; for the number of times you strike is the extent of your victory. I need not enlarge upon the thought the ground occupies in Scripture. It is where we come from; and is what we are; and that is to be dealt with, because of sin in us, and if it is not dealt with, there is no present victory. The east would bring in a future victory, but what we want is present victory. Elisha would have king Joash understand that there was a present victory, as well as a final one: “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God”, 1 John 5:5. The knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God is present victory. As I apprehend Jesus risen from the dead, there is no place for myself. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal”, 2 Corinthians 10:4 and if not carnal, it means that I am not going to serve self, in pleasure and ambition, here. I am not to have the precedence, but am going to serve the testimony, and so I strike upon the ground. Obviously it is dealing with myself, and not with others at a distance; if I am dealing with others I must use the bow as well as the arrow, but since it is with myself, the arrows alone.
If it is the arrow of God’s deliverance, I must know deliverance from myself in the flesh, as the Lord said to the apostle when he sought to have the thorn in the flesh removed: “For this”, he says, “I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace suffices thee, for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me”, 2 Corinthians 12:8,9. This was no smiting three times, but five or six times, so that Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, “I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race”. He said, in another connection, “So I combat, as not beating the air. But I buffet my body ... lest after having preached to others I should be myself rejected”, 1 Corinthians 9:26,27. So Elisha the prophet was wroth with the king, and well he might be. He said, You should have smitten it five or six times, and the victory would have been complete. God graciously helped the king, but he got only three victories, whereas if he had smitten six times, the Syrian would have been completely overthrown.
There is one other thing, namely, burial, which comes in as a fit ending of this great subject; it says, “Elisha died, and they buried him”. The sequence of the incompleteness of Protestantism is that there is now no burial. At the beginning of Christianity, the great principle of burial was recognised. Not only was the flesh judged, but there was a definite burial. “We have been buried, therefore, with him”, it says; Romans 6:4. In Elisha’s burial we are brought back to first principles. The gospel that Paul preached involved the burial of Christ: “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried”, 1 Corinthians 15:3,4. Everyone who is baptised is buried with Him in baptism unto death. It is a real, and not an assumed death; in order that “as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”, Romans 6:4.
Now they buried Elisha: “And the bands of the [p. 327] Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year”. Then it goes on to say, that as they were burying a man they saw the band. The Moabitish bands refer to what we call the religious denominations; they are all bands. Earlier in this book we read of Syrian bands, and through the exercise of grace, they ceased to invade Israel. Bands are great things to dissolve; there are bands so constituted and so ramified by ancient reputation and tradition that you cannot dissolve them. They can only be dissolved by God. At the present moment they are interfering with one great principle of the dispensation, which is burial. Burial comes in early in Scripture. Sarah’s is the first recorded burial. It took place after the resurrection, typically, of Christ. It is a great feature of the dispensation; our death and burial, in the light of resurrection. Now the Moabitish bands have put a stop to it; they invaded the land, while they were burying a man. I hope you do not think I am fanciful when I say that Christian sects are not of God any more than were these Moabitish bands. Baptism is taken up by them, but not in the sense of burial. There is no such thought in their minds. Moabitish bands would hinder the burial of this man, but they cast him into the sepulchre of Elisha; and he went down; that is what you and I ought to do, in spite of all obstacles. The eunuch says, “Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?” It adds, “They went down both to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him”, Acts 8:36,38. Of the dead man it says, he “Went down, and touched the bones of Elisha”. What a wonderful thing to touch the bones of Elisha — to get in touch with that which represents the death of the Lord Jesus! He died and was buried; we die and are buried; but we must come into touch with Christ to be raised. So it says, “He revived, and stood upon his feet”. What are the [p. 328] Moabitish bands doing now? They cannot touch the Man that has risen from the dead! That is where the victory lies. But the testimony is to be continued in those that are risen, and we are risen with Him. What a phenomenon! And yet it is so. This man comes out of the grave as revived. What a testimony, he stands upon his feet, a living man, as having gone down! The great moral feature of the moment is to bury. A lot that should be buried is seen even amongst the people of God. The principle is to bury everything that brought Christ to the grave. So that in Colossians it says, “Buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”, Colossians 2:12. It would be a glorious thing if we got into our souls the light and joy of being risen men, by having gone down and touched the bones of the true Elisha. No Moabitish bands could do anything against us then; we would be in positive victory. It is in this victory the testimony is continued here.