THE REWARD OF SEPARATION
THE REWARD OF SEPARATION
It has been often said, God is both love and light. Because of His love we are born of God; and we are children of the light. As God is love He never fails in love to His children, whom of His own will He has begotten unto Himself; nay, His tender lovingkindness is renewed to them every morning, and they can count mercies and expressions of His thoughtful love by the [p. 181] hour; but if the love remains true to its nature, which it assuredly does, so does the light remain true to itself. It could not deny itself. Every saint tastes of the love of God. It was the love of God which led Him to send His Son; it was the love of the Father that made Him kiss the prodigal; that assured my poor heart that there was love in the heart of God for me. There can be no doubt of the love if we have to do with God; but light is as much His nature as love; and this the prodigal felt even after he had received the kiss; that he was not worthy - that the light checked him, while the love surprised and gratified him.
The light reproves me; it detects and discloses what I am: “whatsoever doth make manifest is light;” but it maintains itself, for God is light. In His grace He makes me suited for it. The servants are directed to bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and then he is fit for the light, and when fit for it, he enjoys the presence of the Father; he knows for the first time what it is to be inside, and that “in thy presence is fulness of joy;” and he feasts - “they began to be merry”.
The love first meets me, but the more truly I taste of the love, the more consciously am I in the light, for God is both love and light; and the more I am in the light, the more am I filled with, and convinced of the love, so that there is a great reward in the separation which the light enjoins. What we have to insist on is, that we cannot enjoy the depths of the love, apart from the demands of the light, for it is impossible to separate these two great qualities of the nature of God.
There is however a snare into which souls have very commonly fallen; and that is, to think that because God shows His care and watchful interest for them in the details of life, He therefore approves of them, though they are not separated from unhallowed associations; and thus while they are more or less mixed up with the world, they can assure themselves that they have tasted [p. 182] of His grace - that they have been washed from their sins in the blood of Christ; and that in the things of everyday life He orders and provides for them.
Now the love and tender care with which the blessed God watches over all His children cannot be too distinctly admitted; nay more, the particular way in which He attends to their wants and prayers; but on the other hand it cannot be denied that all through Scripture it is pressed, that there are special blessings, which are given only to those who are separate from the ways of men, and of their own hearts - and this the light, the nature of God, makes necessary.
Every true parent cherishes, loves, and cares for his children, but he cannot show the same confidence in a foolish child as he can in a wise one. He would lower himself were he to do so, and betray that he could not appreciate what was good; and the child who would assume, because his father provided him with everything needful, and often indulged him, that therefore he sanctioned his course, would only betray that he had a very imperfect idea both of his father, and of the wishes of his father’s heart concerning him. Even naturally there is a reward for separation from the follies of youth, for then a wise father can in a special way uphold his son.
In Scripture this twofold line is very fully insisted on, and with this remarkable peculiarity, that the foolish child seems to command the greatest attention, so that if one were to judge by the natural eye, one would say that he was the favoured one, while the holy and separate one is not so visibly cared for, but receives for his separate walk a reward which is quite beyond the thought of man. In judging of a saint’s blessing, everything depends on the light in which we view it. If I look at Abram and Lot in a natural way, I should certainly say that Lot was more favoured than Abram. He gets the best of the land, and though he is not separate, but mixed up with the people of Sodom, who vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, yet when he is taken captive [p. 183] and his goods, Abram has to suffer in order to effect their restoration, so that Lot seems to be the one who commands most attention, speaking naturally; but yet Scripture is careful to show the special reward which is vouchsafed to Abram for his faithful and separate course. Melchisedec, the Priest of the most high God, meets him with bread and wine, and blesses him; and thus renders him superior to all the offers and gifts of the king of Sodom. Ostensibly, and in natural things, Lot is favoured, but Abram is favoured par excellence in a spiritual way. Temporal things are vouchsafed to one child, but the Lord’s presence to another. What a contrast! and yet often the Lots can parade their earthly favours, and evoke acknowledgment from natural spectators, who cannot, because not spiritual enough, see the peculiar favours vouchsafed to the Abrams.
God can and does bestow gifts on His children though they are not separate, but He does not reward them with His presence except as they are separate. We read of Isaac (Genesis 26), that when he dwelt in Gerar the Lord blessed him; he had things in abundance, he was thriving, as men speak; but the Philistines envied him, and eventually he separated from them, and then the greatest favour is conferred on him; “the Lord appeared unto him the same night”. I have no doubt the blessed God will hear the prayers and vouchsafe mercies to a saint in Sodom, or in Gerar, but as far as I can gather from Scripture, I believe He will not vouchsafe His presence to anyone who is not separate. I admit fully that the light of His presence reaches every quickened soul, but I maintain that the light of His presence is not the same thing as His presence. “In thy presence is fulness of joy;” and in His presence there is no self-condemnation nor exercise, because I lose sight of myself altogether, and am only occupied with Him. As I enter into His presence there is exercise, but that is produced by the light of His presence, and before I am really in it.
In 2 Corinthians 6 we read, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. This was said to saints on whom the greatest spiritual gifts had been bestowed, an assembly most highly favoured, if one were to judge by what was visible; but there was something greater than that they had received, and this they could not attain to but by separation; they were the temple of the living God, they are enjoined to be separate and touch not the unclean thing, in order that they might enjoy the highest favour, even that of being received by Him. From this it is evident that there is a special blessing consequent on separation, and not to be procured otherwise. This refers to the congregation, though the principle may guide in our relations with men.
It will not do to argue that because God in His mercy does not withdraw the general or foundation principles of His grace from His people, that they are approved of by Him. When Israel forfeited by unbelief the sabbatical year, the greatest expression of His favour, He did not withdraw the shelter of His wing; their kings reigned and were upheld by the Lord for 490 years. The Corinthian assembly was the temple of the living God, but unless they were separate from unhallowed associates they would not enjoy the greatest favour of being received by God and enjoying Him. It is the (Greek word) — the overcomers, who are thus rewarded. “Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever”. What is true congregationally is also true individually; and without holiness or sanctification no man shall see the Lord. A servant is not fit for the Master’s use in the day of the greatest decline, unless he purges himself from the vessels to dishonour in the great house. Where do we find in Scripture anyone favoured with the presence of the Lord, or personal communication from Him, without separation being insisted on? If Moses would turn aside [p. 185] to see the bush burning with fire, yet not consumed, he is warned of God, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground”. There cannot be distinct nearness to God but apart from everything of man.
To God (Paul says) I am beside myself; that is, he is literally outside of himself, or as when in the third heaven, “whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell”.
There is no real entrance into the holiest of all, but as I am outside and apart from everything of the flesh; and consequently the joys of that scene cannot be known without separation. If one were not separate, and could at the same time encounter the presence of the Lord, it would be so dreadful that one would be overwhelmed by fear, and therefore is it that really earnest souls who are not separate, when they approach the Lord, instead of being made happier, they become more distressed, because the light of His presence, the nearer they come to it, rebukes them the more, and they are rebuked instead of welcomed. Rebuke must come first when saints are not separate: “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten”.
All saints are holy in Christ before God, and holiness by faith is the simple acceptance of the truth, but besides this I am for Christ on the earth. He is for me before God, and congregationally and individually, I have to come out and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Before God I have nothing to separate from, I am in Christ and of Christ there; but here on the earth I have to be for Christ, and God favours me in a special way - a way peculiar to separation, as I am practically separate from everything that is of the world either in the assembly or in my own person; and while He as a Father always pitieth His children, and attends to their supplications and wants, doing more apparently for the Lots than for the Abrams, yet Abram’s blessings were much higher and greater, and the reward of separation unto God.
[p. 186] Every saint who is subject to the word has his feet washed, but the Lord does not manifest Himself to anyone who does not keep His word; and certainly he must be separated, or washed by His word first, before he can keep it; and when we keep it, and are walking in the holy path which it defines, then our reward is the manifestation of Christ, and the abiding presence of Him and of the Father.