THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS
[p. 103] THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS
2 Timothy 2: 19; Revelation 3: 20; Acts 9: 11: Genesis 18: 19: Exodus 4: 14
I have before me to speak about the Lord’s knowledge of His people. The apostle in 2 Timothy 2: 19 brings the subject, in a general way, before us: “The Lord knoweth them that are his”. This is indeed one side of the seal, and the other side is, “Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity”, for the foundation of God stands. This is a very important fact for us as we think of our brethren who are not available to us, and as seeking to maintain the fellowship of God’s Son to which we have been called. Whilst there is the precious word that blessing attaches to all Israel that are present at any time when the saints come together in assembly, yet we cannot but recognize that only a few are present; there are many others, and if we are near the Lord, we miss them. They are our relatives, spiritually, and have a place on the shoulder-pieces of the High Priest, and on the breastplate, a place in the divine counsels. So we miss them, and this should not be a mere theoretical thing but something felt, that there are many who are not available.
This two-sided seal that I have spoken of is a sort of mandate that the Lord has given to His people in our time, so that our position is not one devised by ourselves. It has authority in it; in a sense, it has as much authority as existed on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, as a great many were converted and added, it is said of them, that they continued “in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles”. That means that they recognized the authority; it was not simply a teaching that they had acquired themselves, it was the apostles’ teaching which they persisted in, and the apostles’ fellowship. The teaching and fellowship had authority behind them, so that they were not merely a sect with their own peculiar thoughts.
Now our position today is equal to theirs in principle and detail as having this mandate behind it, and that involves the whole teaching of the apostles. That mandate applies to the present time as having recognized the confusion in the profession around us. There was no need of it at the outset, but it is needed now, because the position is questioned. Hence the mandate becomes of exceeding importance — “the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. We can stand in the presence of all our brethren — if we can only get them to listen to us — and tell them it is here we stand, we cannot do otherwise, the matter is imperative. If some do not listen, thank God for those who do! But as the prophetic word says, “Yet will I gather others to him, with those ... that are gathered”, but it will be a small percentage, a minority, and the feeling of sorrow must continue, if we are with God, as to their delinquency in obeying the mandate. Nevertheless the feeling of sorrow is allayed by the thought that “The Lord knoweth them that are his”. They may not be aware of it, but we are; it is that which we have in the seal.
I want to touch on the letters to the seven assemblies in that relation, for they synchronize with 2 Timothy. The addresses to the assemblies show that the Lord not only knows them that are His, but He knows where they are. He knows all about them; He is conversant with all the circumstances attaching to them, whether viewed ecclesiastically or otherwise; hence in the passage I have read. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”. The Lord is not content with simply knowing them that are His, but He is seeking them out, not silently, but loudly, as persistently “knocking”. It is a continuous thing, “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking”.
It is a comfort to those who know Him, and are sympathetic with Him, but it is also a challenge as to whether we have part in the knocking. Though the Lord Jesus speaks to the assemblies in this symbolical way, as walking in the midst of them, He is not corporeally there, He is in heaven, but He serves them mediately through others. As walking in the midst of the assemblies in a spiritual sense, it is through others that He is exercising this service. That brings exercise as to whether we are in His hands as regards this knocking.
The Lord says in chapters 2 and 3, “I know”. It comes like balm to one’s soul. Others do not know what our circumstances may be, and thus we are deprived of their sympathy. It may be soul trouble, or business trouble, or family sorrow, but the word, “I know” from the Lord is like heavenly balm. Seven times over it occurs in these chapters, covering all the saints from that time until the rapture. The first things He speaks of as knowing are commendable things, and this would encourage us, for, whatever trouble souls are in, the Lord says, “I know”, and He commends us in things which, perhaps, we may have forgotten. But then His faithfulness requires that He should call attention to other things; it may be the things that have brought on the sorrow. We should know what has brought on the sorrow, but He does not fail to tell us what has brought it on. Others may conjecture the cause, but it is often hidden and known only to God.
In Job’s case, the real cause of his sorrow, as calamity came upon him, was not known to Job himself at first, though he held fast his integrity. It was a long process of the chiding of his friends, and the faithful presentation of the truth through Elihu, until finally, the Lord Himself, in unfailing faithfulness,
[p. 106] brought home to him what the real root was, so that he said, “now mine eye seeth thee”. What a wonderful experience to be brought, through discipline, face to face with God, so as to say, “now mine eye seeth thee”!
What I particularly had in mind in regard to this knocking on the part of the Lord, is His unfailing faithfulness in the present moment. Whoever they may be, or wherever the Lord’s people are, He knows them, and He knows their circumstances, and He continues knocking. The knocking requires that He knows the towns and the villages and streets and the numbers on the doors of the saints; and the object is, “if any one hear my voice and open the door” — think of the Lord of glory, the Upholder of all things, the Creator, knocking at the door! It is most touching, and it ought to challenge us, as to whether we have part in this service. If any man open unto me, “I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me”.
In the gospels we see how He goes after the sheep; the Shepherd will go to any length after the sheep. You will remember the journey to Emmaus — it was a distance of sixty furlongs, and He would have gone further for He will go to any length in order to secure the return of a wanderer. “He made as though he would go farther”, it is to remind us of His patience in following up those who have wandered from Him. With the Lord Jesus this kind of service will go on, and the present time calls particularly for this service of knocking, knocking at the doors of His people; and then there is the offer to the one who hears His voice, “I will come in unto him and sup with him”. He has His own way of knocking. It is not a corporeal action but a spiritual movement which would convey to that one that He has a place to which He would invite him. He would say as it were, I will come in to you, and sup with [p. 107] you, but I have a better place in which you may sup with Me. Think of supping with Him in His place! He would invite you to it as He did the disciples who left John the Baptist in John 1. When they asked, “Where abidest thou?” He said to them, “Come and see”. We may be assured they were pleased to stay there, it was not irksome. The Spirit of God tells us, “They abode with him that day”.
From Acts 9 I want to show how the Lord acts in detail: Saul representing one whom the Lord would serve, but through another. We are shown the way of His doing it now. Saul has to come to it, that he is to learn from other believers, and we also have to learn that way. There are those who assume that it is not necessary; but let it be understood by everyone here, that you have to learn from other believers. The Lord will not allow anyone to pass by His people, those who love Him; for in principle, they are the assembly. Everyone who, like Saul, has come under the direct ministry of the Lord, will be sent by Him into the city, and there it will be told him what he is to do. This is a very important point to any one who seeks to learn. There is the teaching, but there must also be the learning, and I must understand through whom the teaching is to come. It may be humbling to find that I have to learn from persons I regard less than myself. Thus Jesus tells Saul that he should go into the city to be told what to do, involving that he must learn from persons who were of much less account in this world than he. It is a salutary lesson. Saul said, “What shall I do?” which was right, and the Lord could have Himself told Saul what to do, but He said, “Go into the city, and it shall be told thee”. One would say to anyone in christendom that he has to learn, not from the hierarchy, but from persons of no religious reputation in this world.
The Lord not only knew the city but the name of [p. 108] the street, and the house in which he was. The Lord had His eye on that man, and He has His eye on every one of His own, but especially on one who like Saul is in the throes of concern about his soul. He said to Ananias, “Behold he prayeth”. The Lord knows anyone who is praying genuinely, and will not fail to help him; it may be by sending someone to him. We are very slow to move at His bidding; but if there is one praying, the Lord has someone whom He can send to him. So the Lord sees to it that Ananias goes, for chapter 9 stresses the idea of His authority. It is very comforting that the Lord not only knows them that are His, but He has authority to obtain service from them. So Ananias goes and lays his hand on the praying man and says to him, “Saul, brother”. He serves in the spirit that he has gathered up in the presence of the Lord. The Lord knew what was going on in Saul’s soul, and that he was praying, and so He sends His servant, having fitted him for a service to be rendered. It does not appear that Ananias was a distinguished servant of the Lord, for he is never spoken of afterwards except by Paul, and then it is in relation to this incident. So the apostle has to begin to learn from one who is of much less account than himself, from one that he would despise naturally perhaps.
The history of Abraham in the Old Testament amplifies this. He is properly Abraham, the believer. He stands out as the father of all believers; but what is said by Jehovah in Genesis 18: 19 is, “I know him”. Not only in the sense of Timothy, as merely one of the elect, but He knows him as one who will command his house after him, to “keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice”.
It is a very important matter as to how the Lord knows us; in relation to our houses, is the point here. He visited Abram according to chapter 17, and had [p. 109] carried on a holy conversation with him, telling him that He was the Almighty God, and showing His power. Then, having changed his name to Abraham, He gives him the covenant of circumcision, and we are told “God went up from Abraham”. This is most interesting, Jehovah having to do with a man who has a house, giving him the covenant of circumcision and then leaving off talking with him. What will Abraham do as left alone? You remember in the gospels how it is said the Lord laid His hands on the children and departed. What happened afterwards? The children were left with those responsible for them.
So here He went up from Abraham, and Abraham, we are told, circumcised “all the men of his house” that selfsame day: that is to say, he is proved to be the keeper of God’s commandments. Presently, Jehovah comes back with two others. How great a favour! It is a household matter. One of the most humbling things is to see believers seeking to go on with the Lord’s people, while the children are allowed to go on in the world. Not so with Abraham. Jehovah says, “I know him that he will command his children and his household after him”. He came back to Abraham, and came back in company, and moves on; “and Abraham stood yet before the Lord”. Abraham is not one who wishes the meeting to be shortened. Think of the grace shown in this second visitation — the honour that Jehovah should wait with the other two until Abraham brought the refreshment! God dignifies a man’s household on the basis of faithfulness — and then He tarries with the patriarch as he intercedes for Sodom. Jehovah had said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? ... for I know him”; He knew him as a father, as a husband, and that he would command his children, and his household after him. Thus he is the friend of God. In this [p. 110] chapter we learn that God conveys to us what He is about to do, because of faithfulness in our houses.
I pass on to Exodus 4 in speaking of how the Lord knows us. Moses was complaining that he was not ready for his mission, for the great honour of being sent to Israel. He said, “I am not eloquent ... but I am slow of speech”. It may be that there are those whom the Lord would call into His service, and who are slow to move — but the need is great. One has often gone over the incident of the loosing of the colt in the gospels. Matthew tells us that the Lord had need of them; that is He needed the ass and the colt, which would be an allusion to the formation of a meeting. The Lord has great need of new material, but such material as Matthew suggests — “two of you” (two of the assembly). Mark says, “the Lord hath need of him”. He needs a servant. The need is great. Some of us who move about in service know how great it is. The Lord has need of those who can serve His people, but He never sends us at our own expense. He will furnish us with all that we need. He is not an austere Master.
Luke says the same: “The Lord hath need of him”. In John, He does not send the message at all. He finds a colt Himself and sat on it. What does He do? I would say to young brothers, be sure you are found. He is finding those who are spiritually available and He will continue to find such. How great an honour to that colt, that he should carry the KING into the royal city! Thus the Lord is seeking those available in view of the continuance of the service, that is what is going on now. It is a question as to whether the Lord knows any of us to be as He requires.
He has appointed Moses to His service, but Moses said, I cannot speak. Then Jehovah says, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well”. One prays continually for such an one as this, Aaron, the Levite, thy brother; one not hitherto mentioned, though he is now eighty-two years of age. We may be assured there are many such, and the Lord gives us to understand that He knows just what we are capable of. The first thing is that Aaron is a Levite. We have never heard his name before but he was there, and the Lord knew what was in his heart. He is a Levite, and we shall understand what that means if we read Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Chronicles. It is a question of what Jehovah knew was in that man.
How blessed the thought for anyone desiring to serve the Lord, though he may be hidden away, his name not known amongst us, yet the Lord knows. He says of Aaron, “I know that he can speak well”. How He watches over us in secret! He knows the Gideons, the Aarons, the Davids — He knows they are suitable for an emergency. It is very beautiful in Aaron’s case, because he was ready: the Lord says, “Behold, he goeth out to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart”. I think that is what should be before us. If we are before the Lord in secret in regard to His service, He will bring out His Aarons, His Levites — and they will become polished shafts for His service. Let us not appoint them, for the Lord says, “I know”. The Lord has to do that Himself. He moves before us in the appointing of His servants. It is a matter of secret history. We know one another very little, but the Lord knows us from the outset. He says, “I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he goeth out to meet thee”. Moses had the light direct from God. Aaron could never have Moses’ place, but he was to be his spokesman. Alas, he envied Moses later, but he did not at first.
In closing I want to point out how a man like Moses, himself one of the most distinguished of [p. 112] speakers, can appeal for confirmation to Jehovah on the ground that He had said, “I know thee by name”. How he valued the fact of Jehovah’s knowledge of him, not as in the sense of 2 Timothy, but according to his faithfulness. How God honours a man like that! He said of him, “he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly”. He spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks with a friend. Think of Jehovah coming down to the door of the tent, and speaking with him as a man speaks with his friend! How wonderful to be known thus! I link it with the word in 1 Corinthians 8: 3 — “If any man love God, the same is known of him”. God honours those who love Him. How great the inducement to be a lover of God! Like Moses and many other devoted servants, so the lover of God today is “known of him”.