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A PECULIAR TREASURE

Richard Cumming

I have a very simple impression, beloved, from these well-known passages of scripture. I am freshly affected as to the preciousness of what there is, and it is continuing right down to the present time, to this week even; what there is “where two or three are gathered together unto my name”. This is the Lord speaking, about this matter of gathering together unto His Name. We freshly experienced that on Lord’s day morning, and there was a very real sense of divine power entering into the occasion, the activities of the Holy Spirit. We ofttimes refer to what has flowed out from the breaking of bread, what there is that entered into the service of praise. How precious these things are, what is being maintained in freshness and in the power of that blessed One, right down to this week; what there is for us to carry from our experiences of what we have enjoyed on Lord’s day. I am impressed by what there was that went through the day, the preciousness of that, and what we can carry with us in our spirits as the week proceeds.

Think of what is referred to here; the thought of smallness comes in, the twos and the threes. There are many localities going on faithfully in small numbers in these days; but there is what is being maintained in faithfulness, and in fidelity, those gathering unto the name of the Lord Jesus. I am just freshly touched by the need for continuing, to be maintained in the preciousness of it. Divine Persons are available to us, to help us to continue here as overcomers. There is a great need to be maintained in such a way and holding fast to what is precious in relation to such gathering, showing forth the Lord’s death: “ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”, 1 Cor 11: 26. We are to be freshly conscious of His presence coming in and what there is that flows out. What vibrancy can enter into the occasion, and does, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We speak as to the activities of the Holy Spirit in these days, and rightly so. What a Person we have, the One indwelling the believer and the One who is able to quicken our hearts, quicken our affections, giving us to be conscious of the day leading to a close. We often refer to the word in the Revelation: “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”, Rev 22: 17. As it lays hold on our hearts and our souls, it helps us to be maintained in these closing days as we wait for our Lord’s near return.

I just link this with where we read in Malachi. It speaks there too, about those who “thought upon his name”. I feel the edge of this for myself, but may we be maintained in faithfulness, and fidelity. We have read just recently in John’s gospel where the Lord could speak to some who had turned aside, but then He could say to His own who were there with Him, “Will ye also go away?”, John 6: 67. Peter answered Him, “to whom shall we go?”, v 68. May we keep the reality of that with us. As we seek help, help comes in. There is no doubt about that at all. We have the preciousness of the Name, the preciousness of the Name to those who love the Lord and who are waiting for His appearing.

Then there is here, “they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”. Again, how precious that is too. There is what is being maintained in relation to what can be enjoyed as regards to divine Persons. The Holy Spirit is helping us and, as we have said, quickening us in order to be maintained in answering to what relates to the praise and glory of divine Persons, what is welling up within the heart and within the soul: “they that feared Jehovah”. I would hesitate to say that this would be reverential fear; this is something found in those who have a deep sense of what is right, and what is fitting by way of response to divine Persons. It says, “they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure”. The footnote ‘a’ is helpful in relation to that; it says, ‘my own possession’. How precious that is, “a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts”. As we think of that title, we think of the greatness of what God has. That provides a fresh stimulus to us: we may be in a day of small things, but we are referring here to Jehovah of hosts. How we can sing in relation to the work of the Lord Jesus -

For Thou hast brought again to Him

More than by man He lost; (Hymn 431).

How great the operations from the divine side, and what has been secured that we might be maintained in it. It says, “saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare”. Just prior to that it speaks too of Jehovah observing those who spoke one to another; “and heard, and a book of remembrance was written”. I think it has been said that what we find here is not just persons, but persons who are worshippers. We have recently had the thought that we get in John’s gospel, “the Father seeks such as his worshippers” (chap 4: 23), and persons are being secured. The thought perhaps in that chapter, is that persons have been secured, and here it is, you might say the persons who worship. May we each one be preserved in the preciousness of it.

May the Lord bless these few simple remarks.

Aberdeen

15^th April 2025

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