CONFIDENCE

2 Corinthians 1:19-22; Revelation 1:12,13; Hebrews 4:14-16

I would like to speak about one consequence of divine grace, which is that the believer has confidence in God. We are living in a day when things are uncertain. The world is very uncertain and people are afraid because of it. There is nothing in the world that is stable. There will never be anything stable apart from what is of God. We were reminded recently of the scripture in Hebrews that even things that the Lord made, the works of His hands, are only for a time (Heb.1:10,11). That refers to the physical creation – the earth and the heavens – which will all be rolled up and done away with. But there are things that remain; the word of the Lord abides for ever, and we can have confidence in it. We can have confidence in it because we can have confidence in Him.

The context of this passage in Corinthians is criticism of the apostle Paul. I do not want to say too much about that, but Paul had said that he would go to Corinth and then he did not go. There were those who said about him, ‘One day he says yes, and the next day he says no’. Paul sets out that there was a reason for the change – he did not go in order to spare them. But he takes this as an opportunity to speak about the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the One whom Paul had preached among them, and he says, ‘There is nothing changeable about Him’; “in him is the yea, and in him the amen”. I remember a brother saying that in the Lord Jesus coming into manhood, we see that “in him is the yea”. He came in to do the will of God. He came into a scene where every man was doing his own will, but He had said, “Lo, I come … to do, O God, thy will”, Heb.10:7. How was the will of God going to be established? The Lord Jesus came in as the “yea”. Then when He was taken up into heaven, the great work had been accomplished, and He was “the amen”. Everything had been settled, nothing could follow that. Everything was secured for God; Jesus Christ was “the amen”. “For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”. Does your heart not go out to God when you take account of what the Lord Jesus has done? Is it not right that there should be glory to God? Think of the greatness of the divine plan, and it was all committed into the hands of Jesus. John tells us that “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3:35. That will be seen publicly in a day to come, when the government of the whole world will be in the hands of Christ. What confidence God has in Christ! He did not need to be tested like men need to be. In man’s world, someone is given a little responsibility and if they discharge it, they are given a little more. But the Father has given all things into the hands of Christ; those capable hands could never fail. Everything will be brought about by that glorious One, and He has given us to understand something of that.

That is why I read the next two verses, because God would establish us in Christ, the One in whom God has total confidence. How can I be sure about that? The believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit. It is the sign that we belong to God. It is a mark of His ownership, in order that we should be serviceable to Him, and represent Christ in the scene where He is not to be found publicly. God has also given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The earnest means that we have the enjoyment of the real thing. It is not just that He has told us about our heavenly portion, but in the gift of the Holy Spirit we have the earnest. We have the ability to enter into our heavenly blessings, even though we are still waiting for the time when these bodies will be changed, and we will have conditions that are suited to Him.

In Revelation, John saw the Lord Jesus in a judicial way. He had not seen Him like this before. The Lord Jesus appeared to John, reviewing the state of the church. We think of what Christendom has become, but what we see here is that there is One who is in the midst of seven golden lamps. Later in verse 16 it says, “and having in his right hand seven stars”. This was a sight that John had never seen before and he fell at His feet as dead. This was John the beloved apostle, who knew what it was to lean on the breast of Jesus. He knew His love. John wrote his gospel as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John is a wonderful writer. He wrote his epistles as a father, he wrote the Revelation as a brother and he wrote his gospel as a lover. John saw the One who loved him, yet he fell at His feet as dead. But it was the same Jesus; He laid His right hand upon John and said, “Fear not”. John was about to be shown things that would make anyone fearful. The whole future of the earth was about to be unfolded to him, scenes in which we will never have part, through God’s mercy, terrible events such as have never taken place in the history of the world. The Lord Jesus goes on to say, “The seven stars are angels of the seven assemblies” (v.20). In the English Bible the translator has put a footnote in the next chapter, which tells us that the meaning of the angel is a ‘symbolical representative of the assembly seen in those responsible in it, which indeed all really are’ (note ‘e’ to Rev.2:20). That means that the seven stars represent those who are responsible in local assemblies, and that includes all of us.

The Lord Jesus speaks of the seven stars in His right hand. Keep yourself in the hands of Jesus. We can be confident that He will maintain things. Circumstances may become difficult, and the apostle Paul wrote that in the last days difficult times will be there (2 Tim.3:1). I am quite sure we are in the last days, but the Lord Jesus never relinquishes His hold of the seven stars. We sang:-

‘He by His church has always stood:’ (Hymn 107)

and He will maintain it until the end. There will always be something which is wholly for Christ. It must be so because a divine Person has taken up His abode here. The Holy Spirit has worked in the hearts of believers, souls are drawn to Christ and to one another, centred in Christ and in faithfulness to Him. All this is the work of a divine Person and that can never fail. The seven stars remain in His right hand. You read the addresses that follow. Will Laodicea remain? There are overcomers in Laodicea and they have a promise just as the overcomers in Philadelphia have; these precious promises go right through. So let us be encouraged, beloved brethren. Let us have confidence in divine Persons.

We may wonder how we will manage, how will we get through in difficult times? Well, the Lord Jesus appears in another way in Hebrews, as our great High Priest. How great He is – Jesus the Son of God. The apostle wrote, “hold fast the confession”; our High Priest has been in these circumstances. He knows what it is to experience the difficulties of life here; He has experienced them himself, so He would say “hold fast”. We have Christ as an example. He has been tempted in all things in like manner, and there is resource available in Him. So the writer says, “Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace”. That throne is always available; there is no fear in approaching that throne. In the book of Esther, there was a very different kind of throne. If somebody approached that throne without being called, there was immediate punishment, unless the royal sceptre was extended. The sceptre is extended now. Have confidence in that! Christ is in glory, it is a day of grace. That golden sceptre is stretched out now and every one of us can approach the throne with boldness. What we experience is that we “receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help”. We do not have yesterday’s help for today, there is fresh help for every day, there is grace for the moment. In that sense we do not have to be concerned about the grace needed for tomorrow, because if we are still here tomorrow, there will be fresh grace and it will always be available in order to sustain the saints until the Lord comes. He will come! It says, “he that comes will come, and will not delay”, Heb.10:37. In Peter’s epistle we find that there were those who mocked, and they said, “Where is the promise of his coming?”, 2 Pet.3:4. We can have confidence in the promise of His coming; it is in the hearts of His own. That is where it is treasured; that is what we are looking for. It will be the next great event, to see Him as He is and to gaze upon that face now shining in glory. He has taken account of His own here below, maintained them in their weakness, encouraged them in their links together and strengthened them to go through to the end.

So the apostle later in this book says, “Cast not away therefore your confidence … ye have need of endurance”, Heb.10:35,36. We must endure. If the pathway was not an easy one for Jesus, why should it be for us? Then the writer says, “looking stedfastly on Jesus”, Heb.12:2. Even if we have to speak about things which may be difficult, let us keep Jesus before us. Always pursue what is normal, and that way we are not diverted by things which the enemy would bring in. We can have confidence in the Lord Jesus.

Now I want to refer to the Book of Proverbs. In chapter 31, it says, “Who can find a woman of worth? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband confideth in her, and he shall have no lack of spoil” (vv.10,11). The Lord Jesus has something on the earth now that is reliable, and His heart can confide in it. There is certainty that He shall have no lack of spoil; there will be increase. The Lord Jesus is assured that there will be increase. How will He get it? When will He get it? He gets it now, and He will get it in fulness when He claims the assembly for Himself. His heart confides in the assembly. How does He do that? He does it through the saints who make up the assembly. When we receive some impartation from Christ and take it into His presence and go over it with him, it will result in something richer, some increase in the service of God. Can I make a difference? I may feel that what I have is so small, but think of the accumulation of it all. If you look around this room and add it all together, how many years’ worth of experience with God has there been? It is not all the same; everyone has his or her own link with Christ and the increase shows tremendous variety. It is all for Him and He has confidence in it. That is what He will take for Himself when He comes, when we hear that wonderful cry and we shall be changed. There are dear saints who have gone before, who will be raised. Thousands will answer to that voice and then later He will come and display it all, and He will be “wondered at in all that have believed”, 2 Thess.1:10. How right it is that He will have no lack of spoil. It will all be His.

That was my simple impression, beloved. The Father has confidence in Christ, and we can have confidence in Him. The assembly will be preserved and there is divine workmanship in the assembly which He has confidence in. May we be encouraged by these words until He comes, for His name’s sake.

Address at Bad Endbach, Germany

2 May 2015

A. Martin

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