DETACHMENT AND ATTACHMENT
[p. 78] DETACHMENT AND ATTACHMENT
Zechariah 12: 9 - 14; Deuteronomy 33: 7
I desire to show that the light of the gospel is intended to effect detachment and attachment. In other words, the light of the gospel coming into the world has the effect of detaching the heart, the soul, and the mind of man from all that he may be attached to hitherto, of completely isolating him. On the other hand it has the effect of attaching him to another system or order of things. So it becomes obvious that if we are to be in the good of what the gospel proposes we must be detached from things here. I refer to things used to render man self-supporting. You will recall that man deliberately gave up God. So in Romans 1:28 it says, “And according as they did not think good to have God in their knowledge”; this is a remarkable statement: men put God from their minds; it was a matter of choice; they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and God gave them up. God having withdrawn His support from man, man had to cast about for support. God would have supported Noah’s line on the earth. What a wonderful position he would have had! God made a covenant with man, and God would have supported him. We should have had a world established by divine support, but men decided to eliminate God from their knowledge, and God gave them up. Man was left without support, and the result was the banding together at Babel, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower ... and let us make ourselves a name”, Genesis 11: 4. I refer to that as the origin of the world as we have it today, when each nation desires to be self-supporting, unconscious of the need of divine support.
On every hand we see it in the brotherhoods established; not only one huge brotherhood of men, but [p. 79] subdivisions appear, especially in the present day. You remember Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49: 5, “Simeon and Levi are brethren”. The idea of brethren is beautiful where love is; such a brotherhood Christ has established; but it goes on to say, “Instruments of violence their swords”. The prophet’s eye sees them, but he sees cruelty there. What does God think of these brotherhoods? They are avowedly for self-support. Why self-support? Because they have no divine support. So the Spirit of Jesus is presented to that brotherhood saying, “My soul, come not into their council”, but what do men think of that? So at Babel the families of the earth were dispersed. Every foreign tongue is but a token of the judgment of God, barriers contrary to love. In Acts 2: 8 we read, “And how do we hear them each in our own dialect ... ?”; there are no such barriers where love is. There is a terrible day coming; the day of sentimentality leads on to that of apostasy and finally to open antagonism.
What did God say? “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel”.
When light comes into our souls we begin to think of these things. Today God has given Jerusalem up, and the assembly is now the object of attack. There is a day coming when God will revert to Jerusalem, and then it will have enemies, God’s enemies. When the light of God penetrates into your soul, Satan will begin to attack you, as it will be with Jerusalem. Satan stands to resist, and so it is with every soul, as soon as God begins to work, Satan begins to resist. See what the Lord does, “Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan! Yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee!”, Zechariah 3: 2. The preacher here speaks from the Lord, for He is on your side. Jerusalem is lying waste now; when God reverts to it, the enemy will stand to resist; that is all future, but I refer to it now to show how God works. God raises the question with Jerusalem herself, with every family and with every individual.
[p. 80] There are great advantages in belonging to a christian household. The gospel announces blessing to the household, “Thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”, Acts 16: 31. The head of the house may trust in God, and what God proposes in the gospel, He will carry out. As belonging to a christian household you are very near the house of God, but you have to do with God yourself; each member has to repent apart. Your father can have you baptised and count on God for you, but he cannot repent for you; you have to do with God for yourself. The light of the gospel is to separate you from others so that you may be alone with God. You have to get alone with God; that is the effect of light.
There is separate wailing and mourning for the Messiah. Each family and each member of that family repents for his guilt before God. God gives the spirit of grace, and it requires grace to judge yourself, “But he gives more grace”, James 4: 6. There is no lack. He says, “I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications”.
The whole of your past history comes before you. The woman of Sychar says to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”, John 4: 29. She had judged all; it was all out. In the case of the leper when the leprosy was all out the leper was clean. That woman was clean when she went back to the city. Wonderful grace! Not only does God forgive sins, but He gives grace to confess them. Man naturally would not own he had sinned, so we cover things up, but it is just as well to come to the light at once. Then you learn the means of removal. The effect of the spirit of grace is to lead to isolation of soul. You get into a corner by yourself and tell it all out to God. When the leprosy covered the man, he was clean. Hide nothing; tell it all out to God; the blood is there. Leviticus 14 is the answer to Leviticus 13, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1: 7. The conscience is set up in the light of the death of Jesus; such is the effect of the death-the blood-of Jesus.
The passage in Deuteronomy shows the effect in the individual; it is the blessing of Moses, the man of God. In Genesis it is the blessing of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, speaking prophetically. In Genesis Judah is like a lion, “The sceptre will not depart from Judah ... until Shiloh come” (Genesis 49: 10); royalty is there: Christ is the gathering centre, and Jacob sees this in Judah. It is the hope of Israel as seen in Christ. But when we come to Moses the man of God, Judah is seen in weakness. It is the experience of a repentant soul. There is repentance, a cry, and Moses, as it were, hears that cry, “Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah”. If there is that cry, there is the intercession of Jesus. He has taken up a position in regard to men; you may reckon on His support in the faintest cry which He hears. You are detached, and now you want to be attached. God designed man for society; we all love companionship; this desire is in the heart of every man. It is God’s thought to detach you from the brotherhoods of this world, and then your voice is to Him. My impression is souls do not cry to God enough. God will make out your cry, “Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah”. He knows what you need. The light of God renders your conscience bad; the blood of Jesus makes it good. You want society; you can be attached to the Lord Jesus. What is said of Judah? “Bring him unto his people”. If there is anything to be desired, it is the fellowship of God’s people. Judah has his people, “bring him unto his people”. There is to be a living link between your soul and Christ, but you want society, fellowship, companionship. God can give all this. You lose nothing, but gain everything. You are brought into a living system; the power of [p. 82] the Spirit of God is there. One loves to see young Christians coming into that. There is a living order, and God would bring you into it.
In the case of the leper outside the camp the effect of the judgment of his sin is that he was not fit for the society of God’s people. Remember what Ruth said, “Thy people shall be my people”, Ruth 1: 16. The Lord knows all about you; you come to know Him and you say, “Thy people shall be my people”. Every society in the world is banded against Christ. Is it not a great thing to be linked up with a people that are living though hidden? Our time for display will be when Christ is manifested. Meanwhile He supports you. The Christian has His Spirit. The Shunammite woman, who is called by the Spirit “a wealthy woman” (2 Kings 4: 8), is a continuation of the widow with the oil. Not only were her debts met, but she became a woman of wealth, and lived off the balance. If you recognise the Spirit you are spiritually wealthy. There is no claim against you, not a moral charge, if you live by the Spirit. That is your income, you live by the Spirit, and so you have a wealthy woman, but not too great to live amongst her own people. Judah is to be brought to his own people. You recognise the Holy Spirit, and now you have your hands, “May his hands strive”. The Spirit of God becomes your means of support: “Be thou a help to him”, that I take it to be the kingdom established in Christ. The Christian has the support of the Spirit and looks to the Lord for protection. You will be in reproach if you associate with the Lord’s people, but you pray and the Lord protects you. It is by the protection of the Lord Jesus you are here looking to Him now; it is wonderful how He comes in for you, so that you are protected and supported.