SALVATION OF FAMILIES
[p. 238] SALVATION OF FAMILIES
Acts 16: 30 - 34; Zechariah 12: 10 - 14
In preaching the gospel at this time I wish to show from these scriptures that it has families in view. It is, of course, to the individual in each family, to each individual in the world, indeed, but God did not intend men to live otherwise than in families, and so it shall be in the world to come of which we believers speak. So also that eternal state of things which God has before Him is in entire keeping with His own nature. He will surround Himself eternally with families. As the apostle Paul says, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named”, Ephesians 3: 14, 15. They are all named of the Father; named doubtless according to the measure of their knowledge of God in Christ, but nevertheless all named of the Father, so that He will be surrounded by families eternally blest in Christ. And so from the outset it became apparent that man was to live family-wise. It is true that the family from the very beginning became degraded and marred. You all remember how Eve named her first son and her second son, and how, in taking the initiative in the family, disaster ensued, so that her firstborn became a murderer, and as a murderer, went out from the presence of the Lord. As time went on the marriage institution became degraded in the posterity of Cain, and with it necessarily the family became degraded and deranged, so that corruption and lawlessness prevailed.
But then, in the line of Seth, who is a type of Christ, we have restoration. God begins in Genesis 5 over again; the history of Adam is given through Seth. “In the day that God created man, ... male [p. 239] and female created he them; and called their name Adam”. That is to say, the one name covers husband and wife, which involves unity; one idea in the ordering of the family. Thus we have the divine thought restored. And so it is said that Adam “begot a son in his likeness ... and called his name Seth”. It was now Adam and not Eve. And so we go all the way down in chapter 5 until we arrive at Enoch, of whom after his first son was born, it says, “Enoch walked with God”, as if the necessity of walking with God came into his mind in the light of his family. Then we find in Lamech, Noah’s father, a recognition of God in his household in that he gave his son the name, ‘Noah’, which means that God would comfort him regarding the curse on the ground. Then in Noah we have the complete thought: he “prepared an ark for the saving of his house” (Hebrews 11: 7), and that house did not contain more than one wife for each of the husbands. Thus the original institution of God was preserved, and with that the family.
In calling out Abraham God said to him, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. God had families in His mind, and in calling out Abraham He said He knew him that “he will command his children and his household after him”, Genesis 18: 19. So that Abraham being a great father, his name signifying that, became the depositary of the mind of God.
Thus you see, beloved friends, how God had man before Him family-wise, and how, as they strayed from Him, as alas! the race has, the family has become degraded, particularly in the East. But God has never given man up. He is never taken back by surprise; He is never driven back. He holds to His thoughts, and He will arrive at the full fruition on this earth. Even in men, as they are in flesh and blood, God will bring the race back to His original thought. Man shall be blest, as the gospel said to Abraham, family-wise. All the families shall be [p. 240] blessed, and then God, as I said, will have in the eternal state of things, in a spiritual world, His eternal thought, and that is families.
I wanted to show how that in introducing the gospel into the Western World, which includes ourselves, the household idea appears. In Acts 16, Timothy is taken up by the apostle Paul and is chosen to accompany him; his mother is said to be a “believing woman”, a fine tribute to any mother! No mother can effect anything for God in her family save as she is a believing woman, and the mother of Timothy was called a believing woman. Faith dwelt in her, and it dwelt in her mother; and the faith that dwelt in her mother and in her dwelt in Timotheus (2 Timothy 1: 5). So that we have a young man accompanying the great apostle to Europe, the product of a believing household. He had thus by his side a living witness to the great value of a believing woman as a mother.
Then we find Lydia, also in Acts 16, “whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul”. (May God open some Lydia’s heart here tonight to attend to the things which the Holy Spirit would present to you!) She attended to the things spoken by Paul. As the Lord opened her heart to receive the gospel she opened her house. You see thus another household comes into view.
Then, finally, in that same chapter we have the Philippian jailor. The jailor has a house, and as he is awakened he called for lights, a sure evidence of the work of God in his soul. Unless a man calls for light, I have doubts about him, whatever his profession. The first desire in a man’s soul in whom God is working is that he should have light. There can be no headway made without light. Nothing can be done in the dark, beloved friends. God commanded that light should shine out of darkness and the light shone, and God called it Day. Things must be in the light of day. And so the jailor called for lights; no part is to be [p. 241] kept dark, things are to be searched out as far as he is concerned. “He that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God”, John 3: 21.
It was a wonderful moment for the jailor, but it was a wonderful moment for God, for God was getting his man in Europe. Timotheus was not a European; he was really a Jew. Lydia was not a European; she was an Asiatic, for she came from Thyatira. The Spirit of God had not suffered Paul to remain in Asia, so that it was not Asiatics He was now seeking, but Europeans, and the jailor was in His mind. “A certain Macedonian man” had beckoned to Paul. It was a man, not a woman. God intended to have in Europe men like Jesus. The earthquake comes and the jailor is awakened. He is moved; he is in earnest. As a representative of that dark part of the world he wants light. That part of the world was calling for help, and now we have it in a concrete case in the jailor. He calls for fights, as I said. Look, friend, are you prepared to face the light tonight? There is no hope for your soul unless you are prepared to face the light. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”, 1 John 1:5. You have to do with God.
The jailor was awakened, and instinctively he felt that he needed lights, and he called for them. The lights were there in Paul and Silas. The voice of Christ through Paul from the inner prison says, “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here”. It was the voice of compassion. And now he says, “Sirs”. He speaks respectfully to the servants of Christ, those whom a few moments before he had thrust shamelessly and cruelly into the inner prison. In whom was the change, in them or in him? He asked, “What must I do that I may be saved?”, and the answer is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. There is a beautiful touch to my mind in the expression ‘Lord Jesus’. He has [p. 242] supreme power, but He has the heart of a man. He has the sympathies of a man; and the jailor has to believe on Him to be saved, and his house. You cannot have a house without a head. Thou shalt be saved, the head of the house first. The wife and the children would see salvation in the head. The child rent know salvation as they see it in the father. They see it in one who loves them and they learn it easier there. I am not denying that each child has to do with Christ. It has; but I am speaking of the salvation of a household, and it is in the mind of God that the parents should be examples to the children. And so the jailor was to be secured first. He believed. He made no delay in believing. He felt the need of salvation, and he took the way indicated by Paul’s word, not only for himself, but also for his house. He was baptised, and all his straightway. He brought Paul and Silas into his house. They were the representatives of Christ, and he had them there. Their stripes betoken that they are devoted to Christ. Would the children of that house forget this scene? I think not. Salvation in the head of the house was evidenced in a very practical way; it was truly in that house. I can see the blessed apostle in spite of the excruciating pains which must have resulted from his stripes and chains, actuated by the love of Christ as he baptises that man and his house. It was a saved household. The gospel was preached to the head, and the head believed, and was baptised, “and rejoiced”, we are told, “with all his house, having believed in God”. There was thus a household secured for the Lord Jesus in Europe by the gospel.
Now I want to go to Zechariah to show you in more detail how the work of God shows itself. I have been dwelling on the head of the house. Now I want to come more particularly to the house itself. And what you find is that God begins; and now it is not only the head but there is the family: the house of [p. 243] David, the house of Nathan, the house of Levi, the house of Shimei. They are all exercised. But how exercised? God has poured out upon them “the spirit of grace and of supplications”. The work begins with God.
Now it may be that God is beginning on someone here tonight for the first time. The Spirit of grace and supplications is poured out, and you have begun to think of what has happened to Jesus. It may be just dawning upon you that you have responsibility in regard to Jesus. They mourn for Him. First it is they mourn for Jehovah. I want to show you the identification of Jesus with God. In this passage it says, “They shall look on me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him”. God is in view in the first; then it says, “they shall mourn for him”that is Jesus. This prophet identifies Jehovah with Jesus, “the man that is my fellow” (chapter 13: 7).
“They shall look on me”. The truth comes home to us that we have been treating God shamefully. How have you been treating God all these years? As refusing the gospel, you have been treating Him with utter disrespect. You have been rejecting His offers of mercy, and now the thought of God comes into your soul and you feel it.
Then you are reminded that you can only know Him in Jesus. It is the only-begotten Son that comes into your mind. They “mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son”. The “only son” is Jesus; He is “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” and “He hath declared him”, John 1: 18. The revelation of that God, the thought of whom has come into your soul, is in Jesus. And you have treated Him shamefully! What has man done to Jesus? What have the princes of this world done to Him? They have crucified Him. Have you had anything to do with that? Ah! yes, you have had to do with that; you have been taking sides with His [p. 244] murderers! I know the primary responsibility is with the Jews, and wrath has come on them; but Christ’s accusation was written in Hebrew and in Greek and in Latin. The race of man is brought into it, and no one can escape, especially none of those to whom the gospel has been preached. He has been announced in your ears. You have turned a deaf ear to Him. You have persecuted Him, it may be. But now “the spirit of grace and of supplications” poured out into your soul leads you to mourn for Him. Have you done it? The family thought enters at once into the exercise. It is the “only son”, you see. You are thinking of Him family-wise, and that is how the gospel presents Him. He is God’s only-begotten Son. God has given Him for us in order to save us, in order that we should have everlasting life. Does that not touch your heart? As the spirit of grace and supplications enters the heart you thus regard God and Christ.
But now I want to show you that it is every family apart. As I said, God is dealing with men familywise, and the wives mourn apart. In speaking a word about the wives I do not want to take any advantage. Far from it; the gospel must be announced on the principle of grace. But wives exercise a tremendous influence in the family for good or for evil. I have spoken of Timotheus’ mother. I have spoken of Lydia. What about the wives here tonight? What are you doing in the family? Has the salvation of the family been before you? You have a responsibility in regard to the family. Look at Eve; see her way in the family! Look at the wife of Lot! See her in the family! She stands out, beloved friends, “a pillar of salt” for every woman, for every mother in the world. What did she do? She “looked back from behind” her husband. That is what is said of her. Did she want her children saved? No, her heart was in Sodom. Lot’s sons-in-law had no confidence in Lot.
[p. 245] Need I say the mother had a great deal to do with that? She had. If she looked back from behind Lot as they left Sodom, you may be sure she did many things behind him in Sodom. The husbands of her daughters regarded Lot as a man that mocked when he spoke to them about leaving Sodom. I am not excusing Lot, but the Holy Spirit says he had a “righteous soul”, 2 Peter 2: 7, 8. Thank God for that! He was a true believer, but a poor father. Peter says nothing about Lot’s wife, but the Lord Himself calls attention to her as a warning; “Remember the wife of Lot”, Luke 17: 32. All wives should take this to heart. In Zechariah the wives mourn separately. “The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart”. The wives are apart, not only from the husbands, but from the family. If she is to be a power in the family she has to learn to have to do with God separately. Beloved friends, that lies at the foundation of family salvation. Salvation is to be seen first in the head, the husband, and then in the wife. Many wives live just in the faith of their husbands. It is well indeed that they should follow their husbands to a point, but God requires for salvation that the wives should learn to do with Him apart.
Having said so much about self-judgment, “the spirit of grace and of supplications”, which brings about this mourning for Christ, I want just for a moment to speak a word about cleansing, for it is in the presence of self-judgment that you have the fountain opened here. It is open in Jerusalem where the mourning was (chapter 13: 1). The word ‘fountain’ alludes to moral purification; that is to say, water. But I am not confining myself to that, because the means of judicial cleansing, the blood, flowed from the [p. 246] side of Jesus as also the means of moral cleansing, the water. They go together. And so in John’s gospel what you find is, the blood comes first. In the epistle the water is first.
I confine myself for the moment to the blood. It is for sins. It refers to God, beloved friends. As the families judge themselves, the wives apart, there is a fountain of cleansing, there is the means of cleansing. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1: 7. That has its value, and I invite you, in the Lord’s name tonight, to take advantage of it. What does John also say? “This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness”, 1 John 5: 6. The Spirit is bearing witness tonight. He is calling attention to Jesus, who has come into this world in connection with the means of cleansing; it is what man needs most, judicial cleansing. That is to say, that which enables God to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then there is that by which we cleanse ourselves; that is to say, water. The water refers, as I said, to moral cleansing. The blood is judicial, and the judicial is first in the gospel of John, for it is a question of my relations with God by faith. And so the word is, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
Now, are you ready for this tonight? “It is the Spirit that bears witness”. The Spirit here tonight is bearing witness to you to the value of the blood and the water that flowed from the side of the dead Christ. John says that he was a witness that as the soldier pierced the side of Jesus forthwith flowed blood and water. The Holy Spirit is a permanent living witness to it.
In the following verses God cuts off the idols; He acts to help us as cleansed, and the family thought [p. 247] according to God is so understood that if any son arises who prophesies lies the father and the mother smite him. You see thus how thoroughly they are secured for God. They no longer shield their son. They love God more than their son. They are true Levites (see Exodus 32: 26 - 29). Where the cleansing value of the blood of Christ is accepted, we arrive at true levitical instincts, and so it says that “the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy garment to deceive”, Zechariah 13:4. Wearing a hairy garment does not make you holy. Holiness can only be by the Holy Spirit working in us in relation to the death of Christ. You may wear hairy garments; you may enter a monastery. These things do not make you holy. Holiness is by the Spirit of God, as I said, working in the believer in relation to the death of Christ.
Now the Lord Jesus appears in spirit and says, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for man acquired me as bondman from my youth”. That is the spirit of the Levite. The true spirit of service now is that you make no official pretentions. You are not claiming distinction on religious grounds. He said, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground”.
He was man’s Servant. Think of the lowliness of Christ! Has He not been our Servant? Yes, beloved friends, He is serving you tonight, and He is seeking no religious distinction. Neither should anyone who serves Him wear a hairy garment to deceive or any other garment to give him religious distinction.
Then it says, “What are those wounds ... ?”. The lovers of Jesus will always enquire after the wounds. Have you? He says, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends”. It goes on to say, “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”. Now we come to the wounds with which God wounded Him. “He was wounded for our [p. 248] transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities”, Isaiah 53: 5. The wounds that man gave Him in themselves would not work atonement. He must have divine wounds. And so Jesus was smitten of God and afflicted. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed”.
I leave the word with you. I had in view the salvation of God for the family, bearing fully in mind, as I have indicated, that each member of the family has to judge himself apart, and, as a believer in Christ, to be cleansed by His precious blood.