FEATURES FORMED IN HISTORY
D.Robertson
1 Chronicles 21: 16-19, 24-27; 22: 1; Job 42: 1-3, 7, 8 (to 'accept'); Luke 22: 31, 32; 2 Timothy 4: 11
What is in one's heart at this time, beloved brethren, is to say a little as to certain features that are brought about by God dealing with these persons we have been reading of - David, Job, Peter and Mark. They are all persons who had histories with God. It is a great thing to have a history with God. I trust each of us here has begun to have such a history. Young people need to start having histories with God. Certain features come out in these men that I wanted to draw to your attention, so that when entering upon history with God or relationship with God you might see what God has in mind for you, the kind of person He has in mind that you should become.
It struck me, as being exercised about this meeting, that David comes out in the feature of definiteness in relation to what is for the pleasure of God. Now that is a great landmark in the believer's history; when he begins to think for God he is making progress. David has to learn deep lessons in this chapter, as all of us have to learn; he has to learn that what is attributable to God is not attributable to anybody else. There had been a remarkable period in Israel's history in the preceding chapters. David himself had been set up as the head of the people, he had been their leader in conflict, and God had shown himself time after time in favour of His people in victory over their enemies, That was the history preceding this point where David is tempted by Satan to number the people, tempted to find out the strength of the people (see vv 1, 2). The strength of the people had nothing to do with it, it was a question of the strength of God, the strength of God that brought them through. David, in the Psalm, had learned his lesson; he says "strength belongeth unto God", Ps 62: 11. It was not then a question of the strength of the people but of the strength of God. But here David is tested of Satan to attribute the power elsewhere; he seeks to attribute to himself and to Israel the power that belongs to God; and God's displeasure is kindled. It may be that is something we have all to find out in soul history, that God can be displeased. But the experience opens up wonderful lessons that David learns. He learns that the first step is the acknowledgment of guilt. It is a wonderful thing when you come to that in the history of your soul. It is not a question now of the people sinning, In this chapter David takes account of what sin means to God, his repentance deepens and he comes to the point and says, It is not a question of the people having sinned, it is I that have sinned. Now God has a word for such a person; He is prepared to take such a person on, and the next lesson David has to learn is that there is a place for such people. God points him to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite and tells him to build an altar there. David learns that he is accepted on the ground of the sacrifice of another. These are things that we must learn, not only hear about but learn. They are involved in the teaching of the gospel. The gospel is preached, of course, but, beloved brethren, the gospel must be learned; we must learn it in soul experience and learn it thoroughly, and the more thoroughly the better. So God takes David on in the history of his soul and shows him that there is a place for repentant people - the ground that has been morally secured in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. How wonderful that is! I trust I am speaking to persons who think it wonderful and glorious that there is ground for repentant people provided morally as a result of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. I think these experiences make David a definite kind of person - he comes out in the feature of definiteness. Now there is more: as David is led on he takes possession of the thing himself and is able to take account of the sacrifice that has provided the ground of his acceptance; and David comes out as a person who is going to secure the thing at full cost to himself. That is a fine thing, because if there is one thing that is apparent today it is that the enemy, Satan, is seeking to distract persons from this kind of definiteness. A person who appreciates what has been secured in the sacrifice of Christ in the way of sure ground for him to stand upon becomes a definite kind of person, a person of character, character that has been formed by God and by contemplation of the atoning sufferings of Christ that have provided the ground on which the person can stand before God.
In this chapter there is far greater matter than in the record in Samuel. There the price is paid merely for the site of the altar - fifty pieces of silver - but here David is growing in his appreciation and in the apprehension of his soul; light is streaming in and he says, No, it must be much greater than that, there is not only to be an altar, there is not only to be man accepted on the basis of sacrifice, but there is to be a house. Man is not only to know that he himself is accepted but he is to know that he has been accepted in order to be for the pleasure of God - wonderful thing in the history of your soul when you begin to think for the pleasure of God! What can you do to please God? David says, It is not now only a question of securing a site for an altar, it is not now only fifty shekels of silver - that is enough for my acceptance - it is a question of six hundred shekels of gold. Think of the wonder of that! David now in the light of his soul sees a whole new order of things that is related to God's pleasure. I think in type David is like a believer who sees the glory of eternity opening out before him where "all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 5: 18) - not only reconciled David, not only reconciled me or you, but He has reconciled us; it is a whole order filled with men like David who have come the same way, who are set for the pleasure of God. I think that is a wonderful thing, maybe elementary and simple, but I am sure the brethren as myself feel the need of it, feel the need of what is foundational and elementary to enter into our experiences day by day that the teaching of the gospel may become known to us.
So David is led on to a very wonderful point: he sees the sword sheathed. I do not think anyone can really be for the pleasure of God until he sees the sword sheathed. There are places where the sword is not sheathed. You may say, That seems contradictory to the gospel. Nevertheless it is true. We read in John 3 of those on whom the wrath of God abides (see v 36) - a solemn word - those who chose deliberately to reject the expression of favour and grace that was expressed in Christ. Gibeon is a figure of Christendom; David is afraid to go there. Oh that every true believer - those of us here and every true believer - might be afraid to go to Gibeon. The Galatians were in danger of going back to Gibeon, going back under legal ordinances; the sword is not sheathed in relation to that. The government of God is there and man is not in liberty in relation to God. But David sees the judgment sword sheathed. What does it promote? It promotes a sense of liberty in the soul. What does he say? This is the house of God. We need to understand what the house of God is. It is apprehended in the way of divine light in the believer's soul. That is where the foundation of the house of God is. People speak of a church building as the house of God. That is not true; and we might fall into such error and make a kind of brethrenism appear to be the house of God. The house of God is situated and based in the soul of believers who have come through these experiences that David came through. Wonderful experiences! His own guilt is acknowledged, his repentance deepened, his soul apprehending that God had provided for him in the sacrifice of another, paying the full money, God coming in and assuring him that the judgment is passed; and in the liberty of his soul he says "This is the house of Jehovah Elohim". He is no longer claiming the glory for any other. He is claiming the glory for the God who shewed him such grace.
One just wanted to speak simply of these men, but you see how definitely David moves from this point on. A believer who has light in his soul as to what constitutes the house of God and what is for the pleasure of God begins to move definitely; and so in the succeeding chapters you find how definitely David moved to provide wealth in relation to the house of God. He reaches up to that great point in chapter 29 when in the sight of all the congregation he rises in the fulness of his soul and blesses Jehovah from whom it has all come. Ah, dear brethren, that we might be marked by such definiteness. There is a great need for it. I believe the enemy would seek to drive brethren in these last days into a nondescript state, a kind of indefiniteness and vagueness. There is nothing more foreign to the work of God than that. It is to come out in its clarity, in its distinctiveness and its definiteness, and it is seen - I think at its best - in persons, the more the better, who are considering what is due to God. I think David has come to that point in the history of his soul.
Now Job, I think, is marked by the great feature of being an intercessor. One would like to be an intercessor like Job. The whole book is marked by speaking and Job himself does his fair share of it. I noticed some time ago that Mr Taylor said that Job and his friends spoke many precious things but they were not in the right setting. (See Vol 26, p. 217). You could not say that they were wrong things. They said many wonderful things, but the speaking of his friends is to condemn, and the whole aim of Job's speaking throughout the first 31 chapters is to justify himself, to show that he is righteous and that no blame can be attached to him. How like that many of us have been! How adept at justifying ourselves! But the point comes when God takes over. The three friends speak a lot too, but they are not with God in their speaking. There is one thing lacking in their speaking. There is plenty of condemnation, plenty of reproval but no conviction, and speaking that is apart from God always lacks conviction. You can always tell when a person is speaking as from God: there is conviction in it. It is not human power, not power to beat you down, but there is conviction coming down like an arrow into your soul - God is in it. And God had such a man ready to speak to Job - Elihu. I do not want to go into the subject of Elihu, but it is well worth young people reading Elihu's sermon, as Mr Taylor called it (see Vol. 13, p. 58), his preaching extending from chapter 32 right to 37. See how wonderfully Elihu speaks, a man who speaks as from God, testifies of the greatness of God, of His majesty, His creatorial glory; his speaking is full of suggestions of the glorious Saviour, Jesus, of the glorious character of His work, of the favour of God, the south land and the light coming from the north. His speaking is so full; and what strikes me as being the greatest characteristic of Elihu's speaking is that God can come in and take over. That is what we long for more than anything, beloved brethren, that God is seen to be working with us. God worked with Elihu; He was a co-worker, we might say, with Elihu, and there comes a point when Elihu ceases to speak and God continues to speak, and Job is brought to this point in chapter 42 that he has to do with God; he comes to this very fine point in the history of his soul when he says "I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine". What a point to arrive at in soul history! I wonder if I have arrived at it; I wonder if you in any measure have arrived at it, that God can be hindered in no thought of His. He has thoughts for you. When the Lord met Peter in John chapter 1 He has a thought for him. Peter was not already what the Lord was thinking about him. He says, You are Simon but "thou shalt be called Cephas". He prophetically named him. You have a prophetic name and I have a prophetic name. God has put that name there before Him; it is a prophetic naming. I used to think that the believer's name written in the Lamb's book of life was merely a matter of divine favour, but there is far more in it than that. There is a prophetic naming of every believer. God has an end and is going to reach it, and the end He has for you is the one He had for Peter. Jesus says to him "thou shalt be called Cephas". You can be sure of it: just as He had a name for Simon He has a name for you. And that is what Job comes to: "I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine". From that point on Job begins to speak effectively, and when these three men come up before God and find that God is indignant as to the way they have acted in their service towards Job, what they find is that God commends Job as a man who can pray for them. I do not think, beloved brethren, that there could be any better or greater commendation than that, that you are marked as a person who can pray for others. There is a great need in the present day to pray for others. Oh for the moral power that can speak and be accepted before God as we pray for the brethren! Well, Job is brought that way. It says "and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept".
Now in Luke the Lord has a wonderful result to reach in Simon. Simon, who was so prominent, the Lord is going to make a confirmer of the brethren. Would you like to be a confirmer of the brethren? There is a great need to be confirmers of the brethren, not persons who spread despondency but who can bring in a note of confirmation among the brethren. The Lord had to deal sorely with Peter here; he had to learn the scourge of his own heart, and we have all to learn it, but the Lord reaches through, we may say successfully, in His dealing with Peter and makes him a great confirmer of the brethren. Think of the power and the energy of Peter's service and the boldness of his testimony in the beginning of Acts. What a confirmer! He sees everything in the light of the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. What a confirmer he is! Some may have said, But they have crucified the Lord. What of it? Peter relates the whole thing to the predeterminate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Remember his service to the dispersion. His epistles are written to those who had been caught up in the dispersion, in a time of uncertainty, in a time of confusion. Read these epistles and see what a confirmer Peter is. He speaks of the elect of God the Father (see 1 Pet 1: 1, 2). What confirmation that was to sojourners of the dispersion swept away out of their homes! Here is a man with a message for them and he says "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". What a matter that is! Think of how, as he proceeds in his epistles, he confirms the brethren. Speaking of the truths of Christianity, he says that God has raised Christ from the dead. Why? - "That your faith and hope should be in God", 1 Pet 1: 21.
There are many details that the beloved brethren could fill in for themselves, but it is just to show in these men, and in Peter here, that God formed something definitely in them in the way of a feature that can be named; and Peter comes out as a great confirmer of the brethren. When it is a question of Paul's ministry Peter warns them against being untaught and ill-established. He says these are the kind of persons who wrest Paul's ministry. Peter at that point was confirming the brethren to go in for the very best - Paul's ministry. That is the kind of man that God would form in you and me, the kind of person He would be looking for as He deals with us and as we have soul history and relationship with Him, that we might become as Peter, a confirmer of the brethren.
Finally a word as to Mark. All these men had histories, some of failure, but that only magnifies the grace of God. When you come to Mark, one of the most needed features of the last days is said about him – he is serviceable to Paul for ministry. Beloved brethren, I believe that is one of the greatest needs of the last days, to be serviceable to Paul for ministry. We know that Mark at one point left Paul. He chose an easier way than the arduous journeys of Paul; but God's grace had been operative with him, and in the history of his soul he has arrived at the point where the apostle Paul could say "he is serviceable to me". Now the word "serviceable" here means 'one who acts or waits in service' (see note to 1 Cor 4: 1). Think of the features of patience and steadfastness, of reliability - the rock-like character that has been formed in a man like Mark through having dealings with God. Read Mark's gospel and you find he is marked by urgency, and the impelling power of his ministry gets into you as you read it. But, behind all that there is a man who knew not only how to wait in service but to act in service. Paul says that his waiting is over - "he is serviceable to me for ministry". Think of being serviceable to Paul, dear young brother and young sister. No greater privilege could be afforded to us as Christians in the testimonial period than to be serviceable to Paul; it means to be serviceable in relation to the whole line of heavenly ministry committed to him. One does not decry in any way the ministries of Peter and John, but all lead up to Paul's ministry, the ministry that brings out the height of God's thoughts. Paul's ministry comes from a Man in final conditions and covers the great truth as to Christ and the assembly. Think of the wonder of it! Paul's ministry, too, provides for the last days in his speaking in 2 Timothy, particularly chapter 2. What a thing it is to be serviceable to Paul, to be held in relation to God's best. How often we have heard, in speaking to believers, Oh that is only Paul that said that. How terrible such a thought is! Well might we say, There is only Paul. What does John's ministry head up in? To see the product of Paul's ministry coming down out of heaven from God, the new Jerusalem. John sees it coming from its setting in glory, an eternal setting. Beloved brethren, when we come to Paul we come to the acme, the crown of all God's thoughts for men. There is nothing greater. One longs to be able to say more about it, but I think I have said enough just to show the sufficiency and the greatness of being with persons of whom it can be said, he is serviceable to Paul for ministry. Paul has long since gone to be with the Lord but his ministry remains, and Paul in that sense remains. God is pleased that in a moral way the character that marked Paul in service remains; it shone in the early days of the recovery and has continued to shine. It may be that at some period it has not been obvious to all, but it is there in its rich quality. God prizes it, and I think He values persons who are recovered to such an extent that they can be relied on and be serviceable to Paul for ministry.
I trust these things will help us, especially the younger persons, not to be afraid to go through soul exercise with God. God has in mind to form these features in each one of us, features of definiteness, features of effective intercessory speaking, features of confirmation of the brethren and features of serviceability. I trust we all know what it is to be in the hand of God with a view to these features being seen in expression in each one, for Christ's Name's sake.
KILMARNOCK
17 September 1977