ESTABLISHMENT
[p. 50] ESTABLISHMENT
Psalm 125: 1, 2; 2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22
My thought is to say a word in regard of establishment. It is a great thing that souls should be established; that is established in regard of God’s mind, and in regard of their place in the counsels of God. I should like to explain that to you. Some of us have already been dwelling on Hebrews 11; it refers to faith in the Old Testament, how faith grew, and as a whole this indicates how the believer grows, gathering up all the previous light until he is settled as before God. In Abraham you see the faith that reckoned on God’s power. He had a son who was everything to him, an object of his affection, and God called upon him to give him up. Abraham gave him up on the principle of faith, counting that God was able to raise him up. That is faith, reckoning on God’s power, counting that God was able to raise from the dead and to place him in the sphere assigned by God’s counsels. Joseph, by faith, gave commandment concerning his bones; he made mention of this at his departure. Now bones are of no importance except in the light of the power of God. They will become dust and, except in the light of God’s power, have no importance. Hence Joseph was in the light according to God in giving commandment concerning his bones. He had faith that God could place him in the sphere designed for him. In contemplating his death in Egypt he had the faith that God could remove him to the sphere designed for him in God’s counsels. But what comes in between? The resurrection of Christ now and our resurrection still in the future.
Now there is the path of responsibility, the period in which the believer is to be for God, where he is blessed of God, in the midst of a constantly changing [p. 51] scene. It is here you want to be established in your soul as to that. God has raised up Christ from the dead and placed Him at His own right hand; it is the place designed for Him in His counsels. None of us are very sure about these things and about the present, and Moses furnishes us with that side, for the faith that came out in Moses has reference to the present. God is able to keep us at the present moment. Moses’s parents were not afraid of the king’s commandments.
Why? Had Pharaoh not power? Pharaoh was all-powerful in Egypt; it was a pharaoh that knew not Joseph; you could not reckon on his sympathy. As a believer you cannot reckon on the sympathy of this world though you may secure it. The world had no sympathy with Christ. Do you accept the support of the power of this world? The powers that are in this world do not know Christ. They may have a certain knowledge historically, but they have no sympathy with Him. As a follower of Christ, you do not seek this sympathy. Do you look for protection in the world? Believers have at times formed alliances with the world for protection, but true believers refuse to seek sympathy in the world. The parents of Moses could not count upon it. That was the king under which Moses was born; he was hostile to God’s people, yet Moses’s parents were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
You often find that young believers are afraid of that form of power, that is, whatever you are in touch with; I want to deliver you from that, for while that exists, you are not at rest, you are not established. The parents of Moses were not afraid of the wrath of the king. Why did they not fear? They had faith that God would intervene for them. What is your faith? The apostle proposed faith for the jailor, for he was exercised as to salvation. Man’s exercise is first to be right with God, and the jailor was assured that something was against him. There was something [p. 52] that had shaken the prison, and it was not the power of this world. The power that moved that prison was greater than all the power of the world or empire, and he felt that power was against him. Personally the jailor represented the power of the empire and he had the servants of Christ under his control. He could not define his feelings; he felt things were not right and he cries, “Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?”, Acts 16: 30. It is remarkable that he should address his question to them. The apostle proposed faith in a Man who had power. He does not say, Believe on the Nazarene, that was the point in Jerusalem. That is not Paul’s answer here; it is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus”. Have you got that kind of faith? I think it is a wholesome thing to enquire as to what kind of faith you have. Paul proposes faith, but in a Man who has power. He could say, “I am not ashamed of the glad tidings”, Romans 1: 16. When he went out from Jerusalem highly elated with his commission he was armed with authority to capture the followers of the Lord Jesus. He was armed with all the power of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was supported by the power of the Empire. He recognises in principle the power of the world. He was a very good official, quite equal to his commission, but when he got the commission from Christ, the light from heaven, he goes out to the gentiles and he can say, “I am not ashamed of the glad tidings”.
Think of Christ, beloved friends, going up to heaven; the gates were thrown open and He entered! They gave way to Christ; He ascended up far above all heavens. This is a great day for exploring the air, but can you think of a Man going into heaven? He has “ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things”, Ephesians 4: 10. From there He arms that man, He takes him up from the earth and gives him His Spirit. He imbues the apostle Paul with His own Spirit, and sends him forth into the gentile world.
[p. 53] What dignity attached to that position! How he would expatiate on the glory of that One! He preached a Man he knew, and he proposed faith in that Man, and now all nations are called upon to have faith in that Man. Paul could say, “I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. He could also say, “Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first”, 1 Timothy 1: 15. That is how the apostle Paul could speak to people. He would propose faith to you; he would have no hesitancy or reluctance. He would not have you with doubt, he would say, ‘You believe in this Man!’.
How real are the arms of the Lord about us and the power of the King! How real to believe, just to believe on that Man and be saved! The idea of everything is to get light as to Christ. If you get the light of Christ in your soul then you get movement. What movement there was in the jailor! He got light and he asked questions. What an effect the light had for that man! He had faith; he believed in God, rejoicing with all his house. He believed all that the apostle presented to him, he believed the whole message; and that laid the foundation of the church at Philippi. If ever there was an assembly established it was the Philippian assembly. The foundation was connected with Lydia and with the jailor; it was the first foundation in Europe, and the jailor was secured for Christ by that message. What a beginning for the West! Light shone into his soul with regard to Christ and set his soul in movement. The apostle’s message to the jailor had reference to the present moment. The question was, “What must I do that I may be saved?”; and the answer was,’Believe on that Person!’. I want to know if you have such a trust as that. I do not mean the soul’s salvation in Christ, but faith for the present time. “They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved”. Where are you in regard to that? This is a rushing age; everything is marked by the rapidity of change. Where are you, beloved friend? Are you moving with the masses? Every wind that blows makes a change; that is what the ocean is, but now you have a mountain; and the mountain remains unchanged. “They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved”. As I said before it is all a matter of what kind of faith you have, whether you are perfectly calm and undisturbed by the prevailing condition of things.
If you go back a few psalms in this book you will find that a course of experience is entered on in Psalm 120. First the speaker says, “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!”. That is the experience of many souls, but the next psalm says, “I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: whence shall my help come? My help cometh from Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth”. That is the language of faith! He looked up for support in Psalm 121. Then in Psalm 122 he had the house of God before him. He had light as regards the house of God, and he was glad when they said, “Let us go into the house of Jehovah”. In Psalm 123 he is waiting on the Lord “as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters”.
How is that? He is attentively waiting on God for deliverance. In Psalm 124 he finds the Lord is on his side, if not he would have been swallowed up. It is a happy thing to have the apprehension that the Lord is on your side. Then in Psalm 125 we have “They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved; it abideth for ever. Jerusalem!-mountains are round about her, and Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore”.
Now you can understand the difference between that and dwelling in the tents of Kedar! We have [p. 55] one trusting in the Lord, and the Lord round about His people as the mountains are round about Jerusalem. One need not have a thought in regard to the present in the light of this. The enemy remains, but the Lord is round about His people from henceforth and for evermore. What a stay that is to your heart! The surges may roll around you, but the Lord is round about you, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem. That is what the jailor experienced, as answering to the apostle’s proposal, “Believe on the Lord Jesus”. That Man has power!
The apostle in writing to the Corinthians was desirous that they should be established. If they were as mount Zion they would be established. If you were established, nothing here would affect you or move you. Things may exercise you; everything that occurs in your life should exercise you, but exercise brings strength. If a man exercises and eats food he will be healthy and strong. Coming in contact with adverse circumstances will not move you, but exercise you. If you have suited food, exercise will develop you.
Paul had exercise but it did not move him. He could say, “Be firm, immovable”, 1 Corinthians 15: 58. It is painful to see believers carried about with every wind of doctrine. When Elisha prayed that the eyes of the young men might be opened it says, “He saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 6: 17), and the psalmist could say, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands”, Psalm 68: 17. It is God’s invisible protection! “Jerusalem!-mountains are round about her, and Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore”.
Now the apostle wished to establish the Corinthians, and he says, “He that establishes us with you in Christ”. Think of the grace of the apostle in speaking thus to them! God would establish you as well as me, he says. God does it, and He does it by bringing [p. 56] light to bear upon your soul. You want to accept everything that God has done. “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. God has done all that; God is bent on establishing souls. Then He anoints you, and anointing means that you are to be distinguished. God puts something on you that distinguishes you, that is the Spirit of God. God puts the Spirit of God on the believer; it distinguishes him. You are marked off by God, distinguished by God!
Then He seals you. What does this mean? God puts His stamp on you, showing that you belong to Him; you are the property of God. Then it says, “And given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”. He gives you something for your enjoyment. There are many things in our heart and mind that we abhor; it is a fountain of all that is evil. God gives “the earnest of the Spirit” in our hearts. See what the Lord said to the woman in John 4: “The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”-springing up, that is the Spirit! Think of what it was to that woman, a fountain of water which would spring up, spring up to God! The countenance of man was made to look up into God’s face, and by spiritual affection the countenance is turned Godward.
May the Lord affect our hearts!