SYMPATHY WITH THE TESTIMONY
[p. 267] SYMPATHY WITH THE TESTIMONY
My thought on this occasion is to seek to point out the importance of the preaching, so as to enlist your sympathy in it, and when I speak of the preaching I include in my thought not only that which meets the need of man, but also that which unfolds the “unsearchable riches of the Christ”. The thought of preaching is very prominent in the Scriptures, so prominent, indeed, that we cannot but see that it is of great importance with God; of such importance that in a certain sense the power of the kingdom is subordinated to it. I would cite as a proof of that the book of Ecclesiastes. In that book, as many of you will recall, the speaker opens by introducing himself as “the preacher”, and he tells us that he was David’s son, and he was king in Jerusalem; and then further, by way of confirmation of the ground upon which he stood, he says, “I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem”. That is to say, the preacher was king. In the minds of most the idea of a king is much greater than that of a preacher, but according to the book which formally introduces to us “the preacher” we are told, not that the king is a preacher, but that the preacher was king. In other words, that as preacher he had all the advantages of his position as king. His official capacity as king and the power involved in it afforded him an open door everywhere. Now that is a very great conception, and it only shows what the preaching is in God’s account, and how desirous He is that the preaching should reach all.
As I was saying, the idea of the preacher is very prominent in the Scriptures. The first preacher was Noah; he was not a king. One would not judge that he had much power in the world to which he [p. 268] preached. My impression is, that he was under great reproach, and in that way greatly limited. The preaching also continued, as we know, to Abraham’s time, and we find in Jonah a preacher, a man who was hardly equal to his message. I need not dwell upon Jonah; he was not a king. He was a man between whom and his preaching there was a great disparity; he was not fully sympathetic with what he preached. Instead of going to Nineveh he would go to Tarshish; but God had the preaching in view, and He wished that the preaching should go to Nineveh, and the preacher whom He designed to carry the preaching there must go, hence Jonah has to be qualified for his mission by death and resurrection, so that he carries his message to the Ninevites as one who had, in principle, passed through death on to the ground of resurrection. But Jonah was not a king. The man who is formally called “the preacher” in the scripture I have referred to is Solomon, and, as I said, as preacher he was king.
Now I would desire in a very special way that each one here should get into his soul the conditions under which the gospel has been announced, and is being announced. In referring to Old Testament personages one is apt to eulogise them because of what they were personally, but that is not according to the Spirit. In order to get the benefit of an Old Testament type, whether it be a thing or a person, we have to transfer our minds to Christ. Hence, if I refer to Solomon I refer to him as a type of Christ, and what I see is that in the preaching of today the preacher is Christ, and that whilst the kingdom is of great importance in other respects, for the moment it is subordinated to the preaching; so that instead of its being preached now that Solomon was king at Jerusalem, it is preached that Christ is Lord at the right hand of God; that is the position. I am not for the moment dwelling upon what is preached.
[p. 269] What I would wish to make clear to you, with the hope that you will become sympathetic with the preaching, is that all the power of God vested in the Lord Jesus Christ is for the support of the preaching. You may thus think it well worth your while to become sympathetic with it. There is nothing in it, dear friends, to be ashamed of. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Preacher, and He is the King. Now if the King is Preacher, He has right of way. The king has an open door everywhere in his dominions. Take any kingdom in the world, Great Britain for example; suppose that the king were an evangelist, and had a message; suppose he wished to make an address, he has an open door everywhere, he could preach anywhere. He can come over to Canada and preach; he can go to Australia or to India; he can go to Africa; he can go to the West Indies; he can go anywhere in his dominions to preach. Well, now, apply that to Christ. The lordship of Christ is in heaven. “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”; and He is Lord of “all” as Acts 10 states; so that He has right of way everywhere.
I would cite another passage before passing on to another thought which is before me. The gospel of Mark presents to us the preacher, and the closing verses of the gospel state that the Lord, having instructed His apostles, ascended up to heaven and sat on the right hand of God. What is He occupied with now? In Luke He went up with His hands outstretched in blessing; He left behind Him in this world a rejoicing people. He had come out of heaven to bless man, and He went back as having blessed man. In Mark He sits at the right hand of God, and what then? He charges Himself with the superintendence of the gospel. That is really the position in which Mark presents Christ at the close of his gospel. He presents Him as the “preacher”
[p. 270] in the place of supreme power at the right hand of God. And what is the result? We are told that “they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them”. The emissaries of Christ had an open door everywhere. Now that is the position, beloved friends, in regard to the gospel, and that position remains unaltered. I need not say that occurrences here on earth in no way change the mind of heaven. The psalmist of old contemplated the ruin below, but he looked up to heaven, and all was in order there. There is no deviation there. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken His seat on high in regard to the testimony, and He retains it, and hence the door is open, and will remain open, at His pleasure, until He returns.
Well, now, the appeal that I would make to you, especially in regard to that which has opened up to us during these meetings, is that there might be sympathy in the testimony of Christ; that is really what characterises the “virtuous woman” of Proverbs 31. She is hard to find, for we are told “her price is far above rubies”, and what she represents is faithfulness to Christ during His absence, really those who care for and maintain His interests while He is away.
Now before I pass on to Timothy, I want to give you a hint or two as to the character of what is preached. I cannot now dwell upon the terms of the gospel, nor upon the mystery which is contained in the gospel; that would be altogether beyond my present limit. What I wish to indicate is what I conceive to be that which renders special lustre to the preaching. The first example of it is in Acts 9. In that chapter we see how the authority of Christ is wielded on behalf of the gospel. The conditions that had arisen at Jerusalem threatened the overthrow of the gospel, and the obliteration of the assembly; outwardly these things seemed to be on [p. 271] the verge of destruction; the disciples were scattered from Jerusalem by persecution, and the apostles alone remained; Satan had made a tremendous onslaught on the testimony; there was a champion of evil in Jerusalem. The kingly power of Christ was no longer there; it was elsewhere; hence evil was maintained in Jerusalem. It was, at that moment, the centre of satanic agency in opposition to Christ and to the testimony of Christ. It looked as though everything were threatened; but the Lord was in the heavens. “He that sitteth in the heavens”, we are told, “shall laugh”; the Lord shall have them in derision Psalm 2. The Lord Jesus was at the right hand of God, and all the emissaries of the enemy at Jerusalem could not touch Him.
Saul of Tarsus was the avowed antagonist of Christ; we are told that he left Jerusalem with a letter from the high priest. The chief priests were the professed representatives of God in Jerusalem, but in reality they were but agents of diabolical energy against Christ. That is what they were, and they had found a man after their own heart. They had in Saul a man who in his very inner being was antagonistic to Christ and the testimony of Christ. We are told he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.
Now I wish to show you the wonderful triumph of the great Preacher, and the great Defender of the church, for Christ is both. He meets Saul by the way, and He meets him, beloved friends, with heavenly light. What a marvellous way to meet an antagonist! “A light from heaven” shines down on Saul; and words fall from the lips of Jesus: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” And what is the answer from Saul? “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What a complete triumph! so that Saul, instead of entering Damascus as the emissary of the high priest at Jerusalem, as the [p. 272] enemy to Christians, enters it as one who is subdued to Christ, as one into whose soul had shone the light of heaven. That is the result of the Preacher being King. In His kingly authority Christ brings that man to the ground; and as the Preacher He takes him by the hand, and sets him up as His preacher; so that instead of being an emissary of the high priest to Damascus, he becomes Christ’s great preacher to the Gentiles; he becomes the vessel of heavenly light from a glorified Christ to a Gentile world. What is it that gives lustre to Paul’s preaching? It is the light from heaven. Into his soul came light, the light of a Man who is God’s Son in heavenly glory; and Paul was so impressed with the revelation that immediately he announced in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God.
Now I want you to ponder especially the result of the intervention of the authority of Christ. It was not only that the gospel preached by the twelve was secured, but additional light was vouchsafed. You will find that every divine victory involves an increase of light. Not only was the gospel which the twelve preached secured, but the precious truth of God’s Son in heaven, as unfolded in Paul’s gospel, was added. Well, now, the other feature of the testimony upon which I would dwell for a moment is that which is contained in the following chapter; and here we get further light from heaven. Now that the Lord has His own preacher we are led into the understanding of the extent of the congregation. The congregation is the whole race of men. Peter is on the house-top at Joppa, and the sheet with four corners descends from heaven. Already we have had the thought before us today that four is a numeral that suggests what is universal; now nothing can prove that more forcibly than the four-cornered sheet. What was signified was, that the mind of God, the mind of heaven, for it came from heaven,
[p. 273] is universal in its bearing. The mind of heaven comes into view in the four-cornered sheet. I do not enlarge upon it; I only want to show that now that the Lord has His preacher He indicates that all men are in His mind for blessing.
Well, there is just one other thought, and that is, that the preaching is the means, as we have already seen today, by which Christ secures the treasure of His heart. Are you not sympathetic with Him? If there was one thing that marked the apostle Paul it was his desire to present to Christ the assembly as a chaste virgin. John the baptist heard “the voice of the bridegroom”, but Paul got nearer to Christ than that. I liken Paul to the mighty men of David who discerned the longings of his soul when he said “oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” they broke through the host of the Philistines and presented the water to David. Paul was the great “mighty man” in Christianity; it was he who got so near to the heart of Christ that he discerned the beatings of His heart, and his energy took character from it. He ever had in view to present the assembly to Christ as a chaste virgin.
In these three things I have noted you may gather up something as to what is involved in the preaching, and if you see the importance of it, and if your heart is touched by the love of Christ, what will mark you will be sympathetic activity. I am very far from wishing to put you under bondage, or from heaping responsibility upon you; but I do see this, that the appeal for the “virtuous woman” is in order that there should be absolute devotedness to the interests of Christ during His absence.
Now, when we come to 2 Timothy, one thread running right, through the epistle is Paul’s faithfulness to the testimony. He stood unflinchingly by the testimony, even when he appeared before the [p. 274] emperor, before him who represented the combined power of the world. He says, “At first my answer no man stood with me”; all forsook him. But he adds, “The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known”. That is, Paul stood unflinchingly for the preaching, and as he stood by it the Lord stood by him. There is nothing to fear, beloved friends, the Lord will unfailingly stand by what is of God. Christ is King, and He uses His power to support the preacher, so that the preaching might be fully known and that the Gentiles should hear. Now notice, it was not only that the preaching should be fully known, and that all the Gentiles should hear, but that they should hear by the appointed preacher. The Lord would not allow Satan one iota of advantage. It is as if He said, ‘Paul is the preacher, and the preaching is to be heard through him’. The apostle says, “that by me the preaching might be fully known”.
Now another thing that I would call attention to in Timothy, and which ought to appeal specially to us, for Timothy represents the kind of ministry that would replace the apostle’s, is that the instruction comes to Timothy from Paul in terms of the most intimate affection; he is addressed by Paul as “son”. Christian obligation thus involves peculiar pleasure. I do not enlarge upon it. You may all recall how Paul addressed Timothy as “My dearly beloved son”. Do you think that is only for Timothy? No; it is in such language that the Spirit of God would stir up the hearts of God’s people now. All obligations are pressed upon us in terms of endearing affection. So that in appealing to you tonight it is in no wise to put you under bondage; but I do say this, that it is sorrowful to consider the people of God gathered together and enjoying the things of God, and yet to turn away and enter upon pursuits [p. 275] and paths of selfishness and ambition in this world. It is sorrowful, and may God preserve us from it! The Spirit of God would appeal to us as to what stand we are going to take in these evil days; and He presents to us Paul as the great model servant. He sets him before us as the servant who stood unflinchingly by the testimony in the presence of all the power of evil; and shows us that there was complete deliverance. He says, “And the Lord shall deliver me”.
Before I close I will point out one other thing, and that is, that the Lord will not throw you aside when the testimony is over. We all know how vessels may be taken up and used and when they no longer interest us are thrown aside. In His government God may use wicked men, or even Satan himself, and they come under His judgment at the end; but in the service of the gospel He uses clean vessels, and these are preserved. Paul says, “he shall deliver me, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom”. The Lord will not throw the vessel aside. No, beloved friends, the fact is, that before He deigns to use you here He shows you that you are already a vessel prepared for glory. He has prepared us for that. He uses us down here for the moment. He uses us, as we have been saying, during the provisional period, and when this is ended we enter into eternal rest and glory. He has formed us for glory; the very Spirit which we have received from Christ is the Spirit of glory, for “whom he has justified, these also he has glorified”. We are used down here for the moment in connection with the testimony, and we are preserved in connection with the testimony, but not only that, we are preserved for a heavenly position. As Jude puts it, He is “able to present us faultless in the presence of his glory with exultation”. Such is the great end which the Spirit of God holds out before us, the [p. 276] great end of the path we are on as connected with the testimony of God.
That is all I have to say, and, as I said at the beginning, my aim is to induce among us sympathy in the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said to Timothy, “Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord”.
May God grant that not only what I have said tonight, but what we have dwelt upon during these meetings, may have a lasting effect upon us and that nothing may divert our hearts from the sympathy with the testimony of our Lord until He comes.