FIDELITY TO CHRIST
A.Macdonald
2 Samuel 15: 21, 22, 32, 37; 17: 7, 8, 10, 18 (last sentence), 20; 11: 11; 19: 30
In our earlier meeting reference was made to the ladder of grace mentioned in one of Mr Stoney's Letters of Interest titled Grace and Practice (see Vol.12, p.312). We touched briefly on the seven steps on the ascending line leading up to being 'lost in wonder and in praise in the knowledge of Himself'. The descending line, which I desire to speak about now, has five steps relating to practice, which brings us down to the sphere of testimony. The ascending line is objective I suppose, but the descending line is more difficult, involving working out of the truth. One would rely on the help of the Holy Spirit that what one says may point to Christ. Mr Taylor said that he did not know of any better subject to speak of than Christ and the assembly. You wonder at some who have said that they were following in the steps of these men, as to whether they ever really knew them. I am not speaking of the saints here, but I believe we need to view these things in a sober way and to examine ourselves, our own hearts, to see if we really are walking in the steps and in the same spirit as these men of God who have taught us. I understand that the words of Mr Taylor, as he left the Nostrand Avenue meeting room for the last time, were, Grace is reigning through righteousness. Then he said, Did we not have a good meeting? Grace was reigning. How quickly those words were forgotten!
David's reign would be a foreshadowing of the reign of grace. What grace! "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness?”, 2 Sam 9: 1. He did not need to do that, but from his side he initiated such a move. You can see in it the standard that David had before him; no wonder it was a reign of grace. Mephibosheth was a recipient of that grace; we may come to that later. Beloved brethren, may we in no way in our spirits or in our thoughts cast a shadow across the dispensation of grace; let us not misrepresent this dispensation. I was struck with that just the other day when reading a passage of Mr Taylor's in which he said that we should make it our business. He put it that simply and plainly so that we would understand - we should make it our business not to misrepresent the thought of grace.
Well, as has been said by one who was indeed a heavenly-minded man, that while the ladder of grace has seven steps on the ascending line there are but five descending steps. The first step of the descending line relates to what we know of Christ; do we know Him? Do we have affection for Him? I believe the more we become acquainted with Christ the more we will know what devotion is. That is the first step down, devotion to Christ. That is something in which we all can grow. lttai might illustrate this, he is called "the Gittite"; it is remarkable the kind of men David took on and who became assets to his kingdom. And I believe it is the earnest desire of everyone here, old and young alike, to be an asset to the testimony. We do not want to fail the Lord. Some of us have done that. Peter did; he denied the Lord; some of us have been like that and we have had to learn what it is to weep bitterly, and yet knowing all the time that the Lord's eye was upon us. Oh! that look of the Lord to Peter, it just melted his heart. It says he went out and wept bitterly. I believe we are in a time when there is much bitter weeping; there never may have been such tears with us before. We are in a time when there is still pressure, when the saints are going through much; they are going through deep waters, but they are going through them. We want to be sympathetic with that, and I believe we realise all the more why we need to draw near to the throne of grace, why we need to enter there, why we need to be dependent. lttai the Gittite came to David when he was in rejection and was fleeing from Absalom. There is no better time to come to Christ than now while it is still the day of His rejection. I appeal to any heart in this room, if as yet you have not come to Jesus, come to Him now; this is still the day of His rejection. lttai was tried and tested; we will be tried. David said, Why do you come to me now, I have nowhere to go? It is like Naomi's challenge to Ruth. Naturally speaking what is there for us? Ah! but we see in lttai devotedness to David, devotedness to Christ in type. What an answer Ittai gives to David: "As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be". I believe that lttai knew what it was to be measured by David: "Two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive", 2 Sam 8: 2. He is speaking of the one full line to keep alive; "As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth". Also, I believe that he knew in mind and heart, and had accepted, the two lines to put to death. "Surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be". What a fine answer! As the challenge comes to us what kind of an answer can we give? Am I prepared to go the whole way? Can I say "In what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be"? It was devotedness to David, devotion to Christ typically. Not that we could ever follow Jesus where He went: 'None could follow there, blest Saviour' (hymn 298). Christ alone was great enough to go into death, and that the death of the cross. None was great enough to follow Jesus there; the Lord Jesus Christ is unique; we have to remember that there is none like Him, none to be compared to Him. I think the enemy would try to divert by comparison and he has done it publicly. I do not think such a thought will stand the light of Scripture, the word of God. Take the sword and bring it in and allow the edge of the word of God to have its way. The Lord Jesus Christ is unique, He has been anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions (see Heb 1: 9).
lttai would be a good man to have in any locality; he would know how to merge with the brethren. That is a great thing to learn; he did not want to be number one. Joab always wanted to be number one, but lttai did not mind one little bit if he was put over the last third of the army. He would work along with Joab and Abishai who were not too easy to get along with. Do I know how to merge with the brethren in order that the rights of Christ may have the right of way? It is well worth it.
I now go on to the second step of descent, which is testimony. These steps represent practical matters which bring us down to earth. What kind of testimony do I render? I question if any other man in Scripture rendered exactly the same testimony as Hushai the Archite. I am impressed with these '-ites'. What a man David was to bring about conviction and conversion in men's souls and hearts! The attractiveness of David was able to take a Gittite or an Archite and turn them right around: no more Archite or Gittite but persons made to fit into David's kingdom; that is what he did. And, beloved brethren, what a kingdom we are in! It is the kingdom of the Son of God 's love. We want to be on that positive line, the one full line to keep alive. What a testimony Hushai rendered! He was in a place where he was vastly outnumbered. It reminds you of Elijah the prophet being outnumbered eight hundred and fifty to one, but what a testimony he rendered! And what a clear testimony Hushai renders! Right in the very presence of the enemy he uses language which never let David down, and he did not let David's followers down either. That was a tremendous test. We are tested almost every day in regard to testimony which we render. How often we have missed the opportunity to speak a word for Christ. But the blessedness of doing it! This man did it. How well he spoke of David: "thy father is a man of war" and "Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men". What a testimony! And he becomes bolder as he goes on. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. Strength comes in as we confess Christ; we will find strength flowing in. I do not know whether Hushai ever thought of saying this before but, he is bold enough to say right in the teeth of the enemy: "All Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men". Is that not a fine testimony? You see how bold he is and how well he speaks of David. That is a test to each one of us when we are in the enemy's camp as to how well we can speak of Jesus and of His beloved people.
The next step down on the ladder is renunciation of the world, of its tradition and rudiments. I believe that this unnamed man and unnamed woman at Bahurim did that. They have no part at all with Absalom. Absalom would not know anything about this. Think of him growing hair so long that he was proud of it and had it weighed! And he sat in the gate; he thought he knew something about administration but he did not have divine principles before him, he had himself before him. One of the things Mr Taylor strove to get into our affections was that we put divine principles first. But Absalom was just the opposite; he was not governed by divine principles. He sat in the gate and such and such an one would come along and he would say, Oh well, you are fine, your case is all right; and another one would come along, Oh that is so-and-so, we will just gloss that over, you are all right too. He would make everybody feel fine, and he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. He was unprincipled. What a sham! How empty! I think this man and woman of Bahurim settled for nothing less than the real thing and they were prepared to remain hidden. How unlike Absalom! You could not hide him, his hair would be all over the place; in fact finally it would seem that it was his undoing, for he was caught in a terebinth by his head. But I want to speak about David, and these unnamed persons in a local setting who could be depended upon in a crisis. Are you prepared for that in your local meeting, just to go on quietly, unnamed, unheralded but ready to stand in a crisis? Absalom would never be like that. He had fifty men to run before him and horses and chariots to herald his coming. How different this man at Bahurim! And what a locality he was in! It was not an easy locality because Shimei was local in Bahurim. He was the one who cursed David and cast dust as he went opposite to David when David was fleeing and in rejection. Shimei, as local in Bahurim, would be a difficult brother to get on with, if you can call him a brother (you could hardly call him a brother) but he was local there. But a certain man at Bahurim was hidden, we might say, but he had a well in his court which, I believe, refers to his resource in the Spirit. We could not proceed rightly in this meeting apart from the Spirit. We cannot have part in the testimony aright apart from the Spirit. Let us give more room to the Holy Spirit and count on Him for His help. We may be few and weak, and we feel it, but I think we have the sense of the support of the Holy Spirit and a sense of the Lord's presence. That is what makes the difference. No matter how few or how weak we are, it is sufficient for God to come in and bless. This man and woman had a well in their court, and the woman covered the well's mouth and spread ground corn on it. I believe they knew what it was to renounce the world, and they knew what it was to renounce Absalom and his world, and were prepared to go on hidden and unnamed in the support of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ in type.
The next step, the fourth descending step, brings Urijah the Hittite to one's mind. He was one of the staunchest, spiritually-minded men of the Old Testament. It has been suggested that, as David was preparing his list of mighty men, he put their names down one after the other until finally he comes to the end. Then the Spirit of God caused David to include Urijah the Hittite. He was characteristically what is set out in the fourth descending rung of the ladder. I understand it to be the ability to enter into the nature of the body and the house as each is in God's sight. The language Urijah used as he spoke to David about the battle in chapter 11 is remarkable. The first thing he mentions is the ark: "The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields". I believe he understood the ark and what the ark stands for, and he appreciated the body and the house as God sees it. The ark, of course, speaks to us of Christ, but his reference to Israel and Judah, I believe, would show that he would understand the body; he would have body feelings. Do we all know what body feelings are? "if one member suffer, all the members suffer", 1 Cor 12: 26. These feelings follow our understanding of how to fit into a local meeting. We take on body feelings. And if there was ever a day when we needed it, beloved brethren, it is at the present time. As we think of the sufferings of the saints and how persons are misunderstood, we realise how much patience and body feelings are needed: "Israel, and Judah abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields". He had no personal feelings against Joab; he recognised the place that Joab had because David put him there. Paul tells us that we need to esteem each other as better than ourselves (see Phil 2: 3). It is not an easy thing to do sometimes. It may not have been an easy thing for Urijah to do but he did it. And he would understand the two lines to put to death and the one full line to keep alive: "As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing".
We just want to touch on the fifth, or last step down, which calls to mind what is set out in Mephibosheth. This last rung of the ladder is the heavenly man coming into expression down here; I believe Mephibosheth would point to that. I do not know of a man who was so misunderstood and yet was prepared to be misunderstood as Mephibosheth was. There were no complaints. He was a non-complainer. Some of us can remember Mr Taylor speaking of a non-complainer. During World War II he received letters from Mr Spiller of Portsmouth which he kept with him in his inside pocket and treasured. Once in a while he would bring one out and read it during a time of extreme pressure. He said that that dear brother was a non-complainer. That is something to aim for, beloved brethren, in a time of pressure, when we may be misunderstood or even slandered, can we be like Mephibosheth? Ziba slandered him and David misunderstood him but there was not a word of complaint from him. Oh, what a heavenly-minded man he was! He said "Let him even take all". He was not influenced by this world's goods because he had a foretaste of what it is to sit at the king's table, and he valued the grace he had been shown. I believe, if we just lay ourselves out to ask the Lord and the Holy Spirit to give us a foretaste of heaven, we will get it and we will not want the paltry things of this world. Mephibosheth just said "Let him even take all", and he is at perfect peace and his heart is full of joy and gladness in that the king had come back in peace to his house. Beloved brethren, that is what we are aiming at, that Christ may have the right of way in our hearts and in relation to the testimony in this city. That is what counts, not our personal likes and dislikes. I believe God's sovereignty enters into it, and He has chosen us and has set us together. We may say, I do not like this one or that one; but let us learn to get on with one another and realise that the Lord has chosen us; the Lord has made us to sit down in companies of fifty; He has put us together in our local settings. Let us learn to get on together and be like Mephibosheth. Never mind about what is going on down here, but as we have a taste of the heavenly land let us carry it in our hearts. You may say that I am touching on the millennium now. Mr Taylor said we are to carry the spirit of the millennium in our hearts; do not let us forget that. Let us carry the spirit of the millennium in our hearts, where the wolf and the lion and the lamb lie down together.
Naturally we may be like a bear or a lion, or we may be timid like a lamb, but let us judge these tendencies. Let us learn what it is to be at peace and lie down together, and surely the Lord will feed us, He will see us through and He will open the heavens upon us and will shower down a blessing. Was Mephibosheth any less wealthy? I do not think so. The wealth of Mephibosheth was in his heart; he was no less wealthy than before. David appears to have been remiss in what he did but Mephibosheth shines in this passage: "Let him even take all, since my lord the king is come again in peace". As He has His right of way in the hearts of His people He will surely come in in blessing. May it be so, for His Name's sake.
NEW YORK
20 October 1979
FAITH
N.T.Meek
2 Kings 7: 1, 2, 16-20; Malachi 3: 10; Luke 2: 25 -32
I am thinking, dear brethren, of the need of faith, not only initially in the acceptance of the gospel, preached as it is "for the obedience of faith" (Rom 1: 5), but faith maintained and entering into our outlook, always being governed by faith, reckoning on God and not on man or on ourselves. It is a very real thing to be maintained in the present world in faith. Paul said that "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5: 7), and yet we have to confess that we walk a good deal by sight, we are governed by things around, we are governed by things as they appear.
Such was the man whom we read of in Kings; he was governed by how conditions appeared to be. Those were famine conditions; that was how things appeared to be, and when good news was presented to him he said it could not be, not even if Jehovah opened the windows of heaven. It is easy for us to get like this in our souls, to think that the prophecy that the measure of fine flour would be at a shekel and two measures of barley at a shekel was impossible. The famine had been with them long enough for this man to have got accustomed to it and to think that things would never change. Conditions had got low and life had become difficult enough, and the poor man could not visualise the possibility of change. And it is very easy, dear brethren, for our outlook to become so fixed that we cannot visualise any change. It may be in relation to a circumstance, or to a person for whom we may be praying, that we cannot visualise a change, we cannot visualise the circumstance becoming different, certainly not overnight. These scriptures come nearer to us than we think. Maybe at some time this man had prayed for the siege to be lifted; maybe he had, I do not know; but things had got down to a pretty low ebb, and conditions can do that, even in a locality. And certainly in one's soul one can get down to quite a low ebb so that one is only just kept alive.
We go through these circumstances at times, periods when everything seems to be in decline and the situation seems to become more and more limited when the outlook becomes blacker and blacker, Then it maybe there is sorrow after sorrow and disappointment after disappointment. Sometimes we go through that in our lives when there is hardly any ray of light, hardly a single ray of hope within sight. It speaks of that kind of thing in the shipwreck in the Acts - that "all hope of our being saved was taken away", chap 27: 20. How dark it must have become! That is how things may seem, but the situation can be changed overnight by the power of God. Dear brethren, that power is the same as it was in the book of the Kings and in the Acts, the power of God is the same. It has been often exerted and it has lost none of its power by its being exerted; that power is infinite, the reserve behind it is as great at the end of the days as it was at the beginning. We often say this in relation to the gospel and preach it, that God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, yet in our circumstances we may feel that we are in this kind of hopeless position where we cannot conceive of an answer, we cannot conceive of relief.
The situation changed here; it changed overnight by the power of God. How wonderful! One would yearn to have faith in God in this respect; one would long to know what it is to learn to trust Him when all is dark, when outwardly everything may seem to be hopeless and without any break. There was no relief army on the horizon, no distant war cry, no drums, no message, they were beleaguered, the city invested. The prophet says "Tomorrow about this time". Dear brethren, we must always reckon on the morrow. "Tomorrow about this time": that is the word here. The man could not see it, he could not grasp it.
We read these scriptures and it always does you good to put yourself in the position of the worst offender in the scripture. Never think that you are above that; never think that you are not the elder son of Luke 15, for example, nor the younger son; whoever was worse you take that place. It is possible for you and it is possible for me to be like this man. I think one has known this condition, where one becomes almost totally disbelieving in relation to the power of God. I suppose I have not been through much pressure really, not compared to some of the brethren, but I know that one faints in the day of trouble. Yet the Lord would sustain us because the situation can change quickly, it can change very quickly by the power of God. That power is still the same, whatever the darkness is, whatever the problem is, whatever the difficulty is that you are facing. Whatever the anticipated trouble, always reckon with God.
This man did not do that; he is marked, it seems, by total unbelief. O thank God for just a little bit of faith! The Lord spoke about a grain of it, the smallest particle (see Matt 17: 20). Thank God for the element of faith. Dear brethren, it is God-given and it is part of our treasure, part of what we have received that we should value. Faith trusts in God and reckons on God being able to come in; it was seen in Abraham, he staggered not at the promise through unbelief (see Rom 4: 20). How often we do, but Abraham did not stagger. You wonder if you put yourself in Abraham's position whether you would ever have believed what God told him. The situation can change if God comes into it; and that is what happened here, God did come into it, but this man died in the midst of plenty. O for the ability by faith to hold on in difficult circumstances, and what might seem to be hopeless circumstances, what might seem to be circumstances of such long duration that you cannot visualise any alternative. This man just could not visualise it happening. I suppose he looked at the gate and the enemy just the other side, perhaps right at the gate, maybe with their faces at the bars of the gate, and he could not visualise the barley being sold there. O no, he says. How unbelieving our hearts are, dear brethren, are they not? When we are put to the test how unbelieving we are! The situation here was tested, it was tested to the limit. Certain persons got the gain of the pressure, but this man did not; he died in the midst of the plenty. And it is possible to do that. I think it can stem from an attitude of mind that does not reckon on God. I am sure God has opened the windows of heaven; He has not shut them up. Whatever we may feel, and however black the situation has been, and whatever our part in it has been, God has no t shut fast those windows. They are open and it is possible for us to enjoy it as these people did. They proved that "the measure of fine flour was at a shekel and" I love these expressions) "two measures of barley at a shekel"; the people went out and found it was so.
So one would like to encourage every heart that, however dark the situation may be - and unbelief would say it is hopeless - faith in God says that food is available. I would that all our hearts might know what it is to exploit the faithfulness of God and the provision of God, even though outwardly the time may be one of much scarcity and barrenness. This bears on how we gather together, small and weak and none of us knowing much, yet we come together in faith that these measures of barley will be there and the fine flour will be there; we come together in the expectancy of it. I think the Lord loves that, He loves to see us coming together expecting; it is like "prove me now herewith" as the word is in Malachi. You put it to the test, you prove it. In a certain sense the Lord is almost obligated, if one could use that word, to honour faith. That is how I would like to gather, on the basis of coming together expectantly, not only as seeking to bring something but also expecting that God will honour His word. I am sure we shall prove it. He invites us to prove Him: "prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing, till there be no place for it".
I suppose that is what happened in Luke. For four hundred years or so the brethren went on. In the period between those two books a few came together, they endured. Anna continued, it says, night and day, and there are many like her still; they endured, they just go on. Conditions were bleak at that time, they must have been really bleak; things happened historically that were frightening, but these saints went on. What must have been their experiences together? One day they went to the meeting and what happened was greater even than what God said in Malachi; Christ Himself was there! Christ Himself was there at the meeting, brought in and received by Simeon. Oh! for arms of faith that would receive Christ as He is brought in, that could hold Him and retain Him, that could hold an impression of Christ. It must have been unique. You think of the literality of it, these persons, most it seems older ones, going time after time, and now having this unique experience. The literality of it was once and for all but in the application of it we can have part. It is how the Lord can be brought into every gathering; so that every gathering becomes unique. It has been said that no priest in the whole of the Old Testament was ever so consecrated, ever had arms with such a treasure, ever had arms that were so filled as the arms of Simeon here; he actually held Christ. You say, What does it mean? In one impression of Christ, beloved, there is almost an entire world. Like a single dewdrop on a petal; when you look at it you can see reflected all that is around embraced and held in that sphere, a great vast area is all contained in that single dewdrop. It is just like a single impression of Christ. How large it is, how much it contains, a living impression of the Lord Jesus! I suppose these persons, as they came week by week, must have been maintained in some way in faith because Simeon at least had the promise that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came, and he came and he came and it happened. That is to be your experience and mine. I would like to encourage every one of our hearts therefore to come together in faith, to gather expectantly, to gather on the basis of the Lord's promise and not just relying simply on the text of Scripture, but in our souls and our outlook expecting to receive some fresh appreciation of the blessed Lord. It may be only one outshining feature, but in it there is a whole world; a whole world of bliss really exists in one impression of Christ.
May the Lord encourage us so to gather, to assemble, not in despondency but in faith and in hope, to assemble with this outlook. If faith is there and if it is expectant I am sure God will honour it. I say these things and I am tested by them. I do not speak as having fully attained but I can see something in it, that God honours the right expectation and outlook of His people. May it become brighter and more powerful with us in all our gatherings. For the Lord's Name's sake.
NEW YORK
1 September 1979