RESTORATION
[p. 282] RESTORATION
Revelation 2: 1 - 7; 22: 16, 17
I desire, beloved friends, before the Lord to set forth the manner and measure of restoration. I see many young servants before me; I address myself to them. I cite three examples in the Old Testament of the nature and measure of restoration. I see that we are never restored to the outward distinction we have lost, but we are restored to God and with a fuller expression of His favour than we had before. For myself, I do not expect any great unfolding of truth to come out, but I do expect restoration of affection to Christ, and I think I see it. That was the point of departure, and we have always to go back to that. As the Nazarite, we have to begin again. Every exercised soul knows where he slipped, and that he has to go back there and begin again.
But for John 21 we should never have known what was the point of departure in Peter’s soul. The Lord knew it - he is restored to God. Now John takes up the most enlightened church, the one most in the ministry of Paul; they were very correct - much to praise them for - but they had left their first love. Now they must remember from whence they are fallen, repent and do the first works. Historically it is the first phase of the church, the first failure, and it goes down to the present time. The candlestick is not restored, but there is restoration to God. All in Asia turned away from Paul - that is, from Paul’s testimony - and when you wane from heavenly things you are waning in personal love to Christ. You say, Is it the place? I say it is the Person in the place.
In Hebrews I learn that the One who sympathises with me is the One I am brought into company with, and He is in the holiest of all. I am so attached to the [p. 283] Person who is there that I am running to Him, outside everything here. He is coming, but I am not going to wait till He comes; I want to be with Him now. This makes me a witness. How far shall I go on this road? To death - “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood”, etc. In Ezra 3 we get the divine principles of how it is effected - what characterises real restoration. They came as one man to Jerusalem. Remember from whence you are fallen - nothing so marked of late years as the little sense souls have of the fall we have made. Some get out of it by being happy in their souls; but I say we are chargeable for every failure of the church - for every stain on the company. They set up the altar, they kept the feast of tabernacles - they began aright, they did the first works; but I turn to Ezra 4 to see how they failed. Their would-be friends became their opposers. Opposition became too strong. Am I not liable to do the same? They suspended the work for sixteen years. Haggai 1 tells them they are losing a great deal - dwelling in their ceiled houses, and the Lord’s house lying waste - earning wages to put into a bag with holes. They began to build. “From this day will I bless you”. Now they are brought into favour - the cloud of glory had departed, but they were restored to God, and Haggai 2: 18, 19 gives the measure of that restoration - that is my point.
In Exodus 32: 20 the people had fallen into idolatry. The apostle uses it as a warning to the Corinthians. He says nothing about an idol. They sat down to eat and rose up to play like christians enjoying themselves where Christ is rejected. What is the mode of recovery? Moses took the calf, ground it to powder and made the children of Israel drink of it. You have to drink the bitter water; then verses 25 - 27 go on:
“Slay every man his brother”, etc. Terrible exclusiveness, terrible separation! The house of Levi did it. We have not only to remember but to repent. God [p. 284] comes in to judge. Now see how God deals with them on restored ground (chapter 33). We are looking for gifts, for distinction among men. We get restoration to God, but we never lose the stain of our departure among men. “The sword shall never depart from thine house”. In 1 Samuel 7 what is the position of the people? In the land, but oppressed by the Philistines. What can be done? Is there no restoration? To God there is - all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. “Put away the strange gods ... from among you”, etc. In the Old Testament you get the divine principles. When we come to the church we see the manner of the restoration. Abraham had to go back to the spot where he had the altar at the beginning.
If I turn now to the New Testament, Matthew 25 gives the point of departure of the church - they all slumbered and slept. It is the kingdom on earth described in Matthew 13. The three parables learned inside are not known at all in christendom; the other four are plain to every student. One is the treasure hid in the field, in this world, and I may say for myself that nothing has ever given me such encouragement as the fact that the Lord has His treasure in this world. Second, the pearl of great price. Third, the net. Those who brought the net to shore were those who put the good into vessels. This is the work of the evangelist, but it is connected with the other two. Now the kingdom of heaven shall become like this (chapter 25). If you really loved Him, you would like Him to come back.
Let us see where the failure began. The church lost personal affection for Christ, they all slumbered - no activity, taking rest (see Song of Sol. 3), and a soul has never written his own history if he does not know how he has looked for a bit of rest in this world where his Lord is rejected. The Thessalonians turned to God to wait for His Son from heaven, and this before the truth of the rapture was unfolded. Failure is [p. 285] marked by loss of personal affection for Christ, that which marked the expectation of His coming. The Ephesians were brought by the Spirit to realise their union with Christ in heaven, like Rebekah brought to the country where Isaac was. What should we think of Rebekah if she had wanted to return to her own country? That is what the church has done - lost affection for her Lord and forgotten the place where He is. There is no mention of the Lord’s coming in Ephesians, because you are in His company. No one is really desiring the Lord to come if he does not know and enjoy Him now as being united to Him as heavenly men on earth. “Our conversation is in heaven”, from whence we are looking for Him. It is not enough to say the Spirit’s power has opened the heavenly door. You want to say, ‘has brought me to that favoured hour’. (74:5)
In Ephesians 3 you get the character of the provision for those knowing Christ in heaven. If you have that, what do you feel here? I want His company. He is coming to change my vile body, to give me one like unto His own glorious body. If you dwell on this with the Lord, He will open it out to you far better than I can. If I want His company down here, I find it in His assembly. But how did restoration begin? The cry went forth, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh”. All that were affected by it came out to meet Him. In my younger days the gospel did not go beyond justification by faith. Acceptance was a new word. I well remember when it was first used. It is not a theological word at all. In this way the revival of the gospel and the church came together.
The beautiful characteristic of a true remnant is that it becomes most exemplary in the very thing where it had failed. A dear man of God once said to me there were two marks of a brother who was going on - he was a praying man, and Ephesians was the best worn book in his Bible. Now some give up [p. 286] Ephesian truth who once knew better. I feel like the old bishop who on seeing one taken to the scaffold said, ‘There goes John Bradford but for the grace of God’. We are just as ready for failure as any in the church of God, and we are made sensible of our position as connected with an order of things which we have all helped on, and this is the first step to thorough restoration. We get a beautiful remnant character in Anna. She departed not from the temple. When the Babe was brought in she knew Him. She understood what all the learned doctors could not see. If you are devoted to God’s interests, it is wonderful how He will help you. There has been an effort to have the gospel without the church. But the man who understands the church best is the one who understands the gospel best. The man who had most to do with the church was the greatest evangelist that ever was! He knows best what is in Christ’s heart, he is looking for the silver piece, but he knows where to put it! The lost sheep is brought to the house, not sent back to the field.
I desire to awaken in your souls an interest in what concerns the Lord. I commend for your study 2 Timothy. The apostle is brought down to the lowest point, but the Lord stood by him; he is characteristically a Philadelphian. You cannot get lower than one person. Let 2 Timothy be your handbook - “the things that thou hast heard of me ... commit thou to faithful men...”. We get instruction and very great encouragement for every simple heart, but I greatly desire before the Lord that souls should be impressed with the gravity of our position.
In Revelation 1 I see how the Lord looks at the state of things in the church. It is not for us to expose the errors of christendom so much as to seek to get souls near the Lord. His eyes are as a flame of fire. If you are connected with evil you cannot bear that. It was the first thing that arrested myself as a divinity student. “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned”. What marks the remnant is having to do with Him who is holy and true, who has the key of David. All rewards are connected with the earth. But we cannot plume ourselves as though we were the testimony. There was an effort of this sort at Plymouth, but we never shall recover our position with men; we do with God - marvellous grace that it is so! But I look for more separation. You have a little power, you are not one with nothing in you - you are not going to die, you have kept My word; and in John I get that love is perfected in you if you have kept My word - not denied My name, in a new way connected with Himself. Now you are returning to what should always have characterised us; we have no other name, and now the coming is before us as the morning star to the remnant.
Now there is a company who can say, ‘Come’ to the Lord - this is bridal character, not alone expecting Him, but characteristically and personally in union with Him - knowing the kind of relationship of the members to the Head, and as such saying, ‘Come’ - beautiful close amid all the ruin. I do look for it - a company here to meet the Lord. All who are alive shall be caught up to meet Him in the air. What marked the company was that when the bridegroom was coming they all arose and trimmed their lamps, came out in distinct Holy Spirit power on the earth. Here it is what we are to the Lord Himself. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. In company with the Spirit she invites the Lord to come (Revelation 22: 17). The blessing goes round still, through the evangelists, if you like, but what a close!
When we have seen the right thing, how do you account for our departure from it? I think we have not been susceptible to the failure - have not remembered from whence we had fallen, hence we are not restored to the point of departure. The defect in [p. 288] nearly every christian is that, like Jacob, we have limited God to ourselves. Many never get beyond Christ for me - like Jacob’s altar, El-Elohe-Israel. You say, what am I to do? I cannot tell what affection would do, I see it always does something unprecedented and suited to the occasion. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and the Lord values greatly her sitting beside Him, getting with Himself; and as to service, Mary did great service when the time for service came. The Lord delights in ministry to Himself. In Luke 12 two things characterise the body of light; waiting and watching; you must have both. I understand watching to be wide awake, taking care of the things which belong to Christ. Affection is ready to do whatever is the pleasure of the Person who is the object of affection. He invites you to have company with Him. He values a heart devoted to Him. If we realised more the defection of the church, we would take it more to heart. As soon as a soul becomes connected with Christ it becomes exemplary where the defect was, strong in the very point which was the weakest.
The Lord can touch every heart and awaken a sense of our departure, that we may do the first works - not expecting acknowledgment on the earth, but as attached in heart to Himself, inviting Him to come, as those who are occupied with everything that concerns Him here; and the nearer we are to Him, the more we learn how He does expect us to be occupied with His interests till He comes. May we be so more and more for His name’s sake!