"BUT THEY CONSTRAINED HIM"

“BUT THEY CONSTRAINED HIM”

Luke 24: 29, Genesis 18: 1-8; Judges 6: 11-21; Judges 13: 8-20

The object in reading these three passages is to use them to indicate how we may detain Divine Persons — a wonderful suggestion! In each of them there was the power to detain the heavenly Visitor. In the first, it was clearly God Himself as well as the angels; in the second, the angel seems to give place to God, for it says the Lord looked on Gideon; and in the third, the Angel of Jehovah, a direct representative of God.

I trust all of us have had moments when we have been conscious of the Lord’s presence. We would love to be able to detain the Lord. In assembly, we realise at times the consciousness of the Divine Presence, and long to be able to hold that Presence for a longer period. Such moments are all too brief, whether known individually or collectively. How soon the Lord withdraws because we lack the power to detain Him!

I would say a word from these wonderful scriptures in order to show what these beloved saints had, through which they could hold the Lord for the moment. In the new heavens and the new earth, “the tabernacle of God is with men”; that is not provisional but eternal. We realise but little the supreme blessedness of having God Himself with them, their God. He will dwell with them. It is not then a visit. Eternity is not God visiting, as He does now. “What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?”, Psalm 8: 4. God is pleased to visit, but the goal is not a visit, but a permanent residence amongst men, of the blessedness of which we have but little conception. My desire is that these visits should be increased with us. The Lord indicated that where conditions permitted. He would manifest Himself to one believer. “I will love him, and will manifest myself to him... and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”, John 14: 21, 23.

Think of this beloved saint, Abraham, this father of us all! What a magnificent scene it is! He can detain these three heavenly visitors. He recognises them and speaks to one as the Lord. He suggests to them that they sit down under the tree and refresh themselves while he goes away to perform a certain service for them, and they say, “So do, as thou hast said”. Evidently what Abraham proposed was of such value that God was prepared to wait while it was carried out. It says at the end of the chapter, “the Lord went his way”. What a way it is! What things God has on hand! This chapter refers to some matters He had on hand. God’s movements are far greater than we have any conception — “Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known”, Psalm 77: 19. Yet Abraham can detain Him for the moment, and God is willing to be detained. I think it is clear that God is willing to be detained at this point, for the word is, “So do, as thou hast said”, and the Lord and the two angels remain under the tree waiting on the service of Abraham, because there was something that he would do that was acceptable to God. It speaks to us of God’s delight in that which we may bring to Him for His own joy. We need to be transferred from being self-centred to having God as our Centre. Abraham has God as his Centre, and he is urgent in his service God-ward. One confesses how dilatory we often are when it comes to serving God; as if there were no urgency. When Abraham saw these three visitors “He ran to meet them”, the Spirit of God records that. The service he proposed to render while God waited he carried out urgently. He told Sarah to make cakes quickly, and he himself ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and a young man hasted to dress it. They were detaining God. I am not magnifying the incident, it is there clearly that God and the two angels are being detained under the tree waiting for this service, and you can therefore understand Abraham being urgent. Would to God we had an outlook like that in assembly service, and did not act as though it were a matter of no consequence.

What can Abraham bring that is of such value that God waits on Abraham? The Spirit of God opens it up in wonderful detail — cakes of fine flour, a calf tender and good, and thick and sweet milk. God is willing to wait for such gifts that these things represent. It is a marvellous suggestion that the bringing to God of these cakes, this calf, and this milk, is of such value that God will wait for it, and it says that they ate it while Abraham stood by, watching the delight of his heavenly visitors as they enjoyed what he had brought to them.

What can we bring God that could hold Him for the moment? These things suggest what God would wait to receive; they represent our apprehension of Christ. The cakes of fine flour represent our appreciation of Christ as the second Man out of heaven, a different kind of man from every other. “The first man is of the earth, earthy”, no fine flour, no wheat; “The second man is the Lord from heaven”, 1 Corinthians 15: 47. I believe God delights for us to bring to Him our appreciation of the heavenly Man: The calf speaks of the energy of His devotedness to the will of God, every energy intact, nothing effete. Tender — what a suggestion in that! — not affected by the hard labour that sin brought on man; no yoke ever having come on Him: the calf is tender and good. What perfect goodness, what excellence in that blessed One! Abraham brings that to God. The milk thick and sweet is Christ as the expression of the mind of God, the Word. That is the thought of milk in Scripture. Christ is the One Who expresses the wealth and sweetness of the thoughts of God. Abraham brings that. God waits for it and receives it and eats it, speaking reverently, having tarried for it under the tree.

Abraham has his portion out of all this, for you cannot conceive that God does not answer with abundant blessing those who minister to Him. “Where is Sarah thy wife?” One result is that he learns of the coming of Isaac, for us it means we learn more of Christ and see Him in a fresh way.

Then God discloses to Abraham what He is doing in relation to this world. “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” God discloses to such what He is doing in relation to the judgment of this world, as well as what He is doing in bringing in Christ. We are tested every Lord’s Day as to what we really have, so that, when the Lord comes in, we can hold Him.

We pass on now to a feebler scene, more in keeping with the day we are in, the end instead of the beginning. Abraham is the father of us all, we are all obligated to Abraham. Judges is a day of great weakness and departure, yet it is remarkable in this book, that so perfectly portrays the departure that now exists amongst God’s people, we find two persons on two different occasions that can detain the Lord. The first is Gideon. The Lord appears to him as he is threshing wheat. He values wheat, like his father Abraham. The Midianites were in power, and they destroyed the produce of the land. They and their camels were like grasshoppers. They represent the activities of contention amongst God’s people. If we open the door to contention, in Ballarat or elsewhere, the wheat, the barley, the olives, the grapes, and the honey will disappear. Contention is a dreadful scourge. Nevertheless, Gideon has some wheat in a very limited sphere, in the wine-press. The Lord appears there to him. I do not touch on what He says to Gideon, but point out that Gideon asks that He would stay there while he gets his present and the Lord agrees to this. It says, “The Lord said”; and later, “The angel of God said”; you can hardly tell whether it is the angel or the Lord that is there. Gideon goes away to get the present, the Lord being willing to wait for it. Clearly it was understood that what Gideon would bring would be worth waiting for. What did he bring? A kid of the goats and unleavened cakes. That is what he had. Abraham had much more but Gideon had that. No Midianite had devoured these, he had kept them free from the Midianites. The kid represents some appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ in His perfect dependence. The kid of the goats represents His separate holy pathway. His dependence and separate character were cherished by Gideon in the Midianitish days in which he lived. Then he had unleavened cakes: he had excluded leaven. One dreadful leaven is the leaven of contention; it spreads until it corrupts everything. He brings his kid, the flesh in a basket and the broth in a pot. He has all in vessels, typically in himself: the Christian is the vessel. God values that what we appreciate in Christ should be formed in us. Gideon has his present in the pot and in the basket. It is laid out on the rock, which represents Christ again, the blessed unchangeable One. The angel waits for this present and it goes up to God acceptably. The angel really represents the Lord waiting there until this kid and these unleavened cakes are brought; and they are accepted. There is sufficient in them to hold the Lord for the time being.

The same thought appears in an even worse day, just before Samson was born. The Philistines, who represent the mind of man operating in the things of God, were holding the saints in bondage. The Lord appears first to Manoah’s wife, and afterwards he appears again consequent upon Manoah’s prayer. When it is established that he is the man, Manoah says, “Let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee”. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, “Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord”, Judges 13: 16. Nevertheless, he accepts the suggestion that he be detained. We have little conception how much the angels are doing. What service is laid on the angels of God! As ministering servants, how much they have to do. Yet this angel says, “Though thou detain me” — but he is detained while Manoah brings his present.

What does he bring? A kid of the goats. What a contrast to the Philistines is the kid of the goats! The Philistine finds a champion in Goliath. See him in his height, his armour, his head, his sword! Put Goliath alongside a kid of the goats! Manoah had a kid of the goats and the angel would wait for it. He also puts it on the rock. What magnificent thoughts of Christ these are! The rock is another view of Christ, not a small view but a great and glorious view. The angel accepts the offering on behalf of God and he goes up in the flame, and they bow down before God.

This thought appears in Luke 24: 28, “He made as though he would have gone further”. Where was the Lord going? He was going further, He had much more on hand that day. There is hardly a greater day than the one on which the Lord rose from the dead. How much He did on that one day! So He is going further, but nevertheless these two saints can detain the Lord for the moment. It is purely a provisional matter, “Stay with us”. Oh, how the Lord loved to hear that! “Stay with us... and he entered in to stay with them”, Luke 24: 29. I have no doubt the Lord delighted in that appeal to Him, for they valued His presence. What did He find when He came in? They were willing to accept His headship without question. He sat at table, took the bread and gave thanks. I doubt if we will ever hold the Lord until we accept His headship. The Lord knew they had reached that point in their souls. He gave thanks: He took the place of Head in that house. If we are not willing for Him to be Head, we cannot detain Him. Another thing that entered into their power to detain Him was their willingness to be adjusted. They were on a path that was not altogether right. However sincere they were, they were going away from the line the Lord was on, the centre of His interests, but He adjusted them. They listened to the Scriptures. He opened to them the Scriptures and they listened. I am sure it would appeal to the Lord that here are two persons who are willing to submit to the Scriptures.

They did not only accept them mentally, but their hearts were in the matter. “Did not our heart burn within us”, Luke 24: 32. I believe the Lord does value persons who are willing to let the Scriptures have their living voice to their minds and hearts. Whatever might be said as to their going away from Jerusalem, they have power to detain the Lord. I am not overlooking that they had to go back to Jerusalem, nevertheless there was something about these two that could detain the Lord and hold Him at that moment. “He made as though he would have gone further”. He had much more in mind to do, and many other places to go to, but He is detained by these two persons by their submission to the Scriptures, by their burning hearts, and by their willingness to accept Him as Head.

May these features be with the brethren here, that they might be able to hold the divine presence to some extent, and also may each one of us realise something of this great privilege. If we do not know it individually, I doubt if we can realise it much together. “I... will manifest myself to him”, is what the Lord says.