FOLLOWING THE LORD
The Lord’s last words to the apostle Peter were, according to what is said: “Follow thou me”. And we can say, I believe, that Peter is a characteristic believer. I do not believe that this word of the Lord’s was addressed to Peter as an apostle especially; it is a word that has its bearing on each of us. And the question put in the mind of someone at least, and perhaps all, is to know what following the Lord involves. The Scriptures we have read show that to follow Jesus has a double bearing. There is following the Lord in the direction of spiritual things, spiritual relationships and blessing in which He leads us; but there is also following the Lord in the path of testimony and reproach. These two aspects are seen in the verses we have read in the first chapter. We begin with John looking at Jesus as He walked, and he says: “Behold the lamb of God”. It is to be noted that John looked at Jesus “as He walked”. The Lord is presented here as being in movement, and this gives the key to what following the Lord means, for the movements of the Lord are discerned in the ministry that He gives. And if we desire to be characteristically among those who follow the Lord to the end, we need to be sure that our ears are attentive to what He says in the ministry, and we must ensure that our minds are subject to it, whatever that means.
John therefore “looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God”. He is not especially occupied with the side of sacrifice. He had previously said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Now he says, “Behold the Lamb of God”, as if to draw attention to Him who brought with Him what God could accept and which gave Him supreme satisfaction; this inevitably on the basis of sacrifice. We find the thought of sacrifice throughout Scripture. Abel brought “of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat”. Noah offered “of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl”; but if I remember correctly, the first mention made of a lamb is in relation to Abraham and Isaac, when Isaac says, “Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” And Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide himself with a lamb for the burnt- offering”, Gen 22: 7, 8 KJV. So the Lamb of God is the One who by His sacrifice introduces what is particularly for the pleasure of God. It is Jesus who came into this world in order to form as the end result of His work a world that would abide for God’s pleasure. Everything must derive its character from Himself. It is marvellous when one begins to see Jesus in this light. Think of the condition of smallness into which He has come! Luke presents that side in his gospel more than John. Think of the condition of the Babe in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger. Yet there was already in His Person all that will find its expression in the world to come and in eternity; all that will abide eternally for the entire satisfaction of God was found there, in the Person of Jesus. There will be nothing to add; nothing will be found to add, all that could satisfy God was found in the Person of Christ. I think that in large measure John’s declaration means this: “Behold the Lamb of God”. Thus as I said, John beheld Jesus “as he walked”. He was in movement and, seeing Him walking, John could not hold back his exclamation that had the effect of engaging two of the disciples of John to follow Jesus. That is to say, that the principle of “following” is set on here and we will find that it goes on throughout the gospel of John. His initial point is there and we will see it again in chapter 21 when the Lord says to Peter: “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”.
As to what relates to the ministry that the Lord gives, it will be found, I think, there are two lines of ministry: one leads in the direction of what is eternal, the other relates to the present provisional conditions. In chapter 8, in the verse we have read, the Lord says: “I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. In John’s gospel, the Lord pursues a course going right to the end. In chapter 13 of the gospel, we read that He knew that He came out from God and was going to God. It was a matter of deliberate purpose; all was well known to Him from beginning to end. There is a dignity, a majesty, a glory in the movements of Christ that John brings out in his gospel. He was come from God and was going to God. In John’s gospel, He goes through death to resurrection, and that resurrection, He sends a message which is well know to us: “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. The Lord led His own and brought them into the conditions, the relationships, the eternal blessings which had been in God’s mind before the foundation of the world and which now were being brought to light by Him. It is a direction to follow constantly, it involves the service of God in the assembly.
We need to be helped about the service of God. There is much to do, so that we are to be enlarged in our hearts and grow in spiritual power to serve in a suitable way; but the Lord desires to see us progress in that direction and we should be exercised as to moving constantly in the direction of what is positive, and spiritual, and eternal, because we have in the Spirit endless opportunities. We remember how Paul prayed in chapter 3 of the epistle to the Ephesians. He prayed that the Father would strengthen us by the Father’s Spirit in the inner man, so that the Christ should dwell by faith in our hearts. Do we often pray like this, dear brethren, not only at the prayer meeting, but in private, in the house? It was not at a prayer meeting that Paul prayed like this; he was then in prison and he spoke of bowing his knees (we do not bow our knees in the prayer meeting). This prayer of the apostle is truly a model of prayer and individual exercise, and God knows exactly how far we are inclined to serve the Lord and to move individually in relation to spiritual and eternal things. God can judge by the character of our prayers. Thus Paul encourages us to pray to the Father of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, that He would give us to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, so that the Christ may dwell by faith in our hearts. It is Jesus in all His moral and personal excellence, but Jesus as giving character to the whole system of glory, which will abide for the pleasure of God eternally.
The apostle goes on to say, “being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”. An immense extent is set out before us. I allow myself to ask the question of our young brothers and sisters: Do you pray like this? And may the older ones among us also ask themselves if they pray like this. Do we realise the depth and extent of the things into which we have the possibility to penetrate in the power which is found among us? As we are diligent as to things and how we apply ourselves to following the Lord and the ministry that he gives, we realise that the power we have to enter into it is given in increasing measure. In that way, the service of God is enriched.
This, the Lord says in chapter 8: “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. The more we penetrate into spiritual, heavenly and eternal things, the more we will discover that they give us entire satisfaction. We will find our life in these things. Men pursue what does not give the enjoyment of life, which brings deceptions, disappointments and all sorts of sorrows. But in the things of the Spirit there is abundant enlargement and satisfaction. So the Lord says, “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.
You remember that John tells us what he had in his mind in writing his gospel: “these things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life in his name”, John 21: 31. It is not only by His Name, but in His Name, His Name is the whole extent of the glory that attaches to His Person, and it is even in this that we are invited to find our life. “These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ”. He is the Christ, the Son of God, marked out as such by resurrection of the dead. That is to say that these things belong the other side of death. We must apprehend this to be ready to accept death so that we move in what is spiritual and eternal. The Lord says, “he shall have the light of life”.
We come then to the other side of these things. In verse 43 of the first chapter, it is said, “On the morrow he would go forth into Galilee, and Jesus finds Philip, and says to him, Follow me”. The Lord takes another position here: He goes forth into Galilee. “Search and look”, it was said to Nicodemus, “that no prophet arises out of Galilee”. It is evident that Galilee was a despised place, a place of reproach, and we know that the Name of the Lord is in reproach. The Lord has gone out of the world by way of death. In this way, He has left the world. The judgment of the world has not yet been executed, but it has been pronounced: “Now is the judgment of this world”. The judgment is pronounced by reason of the fact that the Lord has deliberately left this world and taken a position outside of this world. “Now is the judgment of this world”, the Lord says, “now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”, John 12: 31, 32. This speaks to us at the same time about the power of the attraction that is found in Christ who, although the crucified Man, draws millions of men to Him.
So therefore the Lord went forth into Galilee and said to Philip “Follow me”. That is to say that the Lord would have us understand that we have to accept the reproach that attaches to His Name. All the exercises arising currently relating to associations and other matters tend to make our walk more straitened. As the Lord said in the gospel of Matthew: “Narrow the gate and straitened the way that leads to life”, Matt 7: 14. The Lord is showing us that the way is intentionally narrow and that it will be more and more, because we follow a rejected Man, a crucified Man. He leads us to Galilee, and He says to Philip, “Follow me”.
In Revelation, a company is brought into view, not actually the assembly, a company that is not as favoured as the assembly, for it is neither the body of Christ, nor the bride of Christ. We are much more privileged than every other company which is mentioned in the Scriptures. Let us remember this. But the company brought into view here is on the earth, a company that will have privilege to be identified with the Lamb, to follow Him, each of its members bearing His Name and the Name of His Father written on their forehead. This will be realised in the future just before the moment when the Lord will appear in His public glory. And it is said of those who compose this company: “These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins: these are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes”. The Lamb is the Lord’s title in His suffering character, especially in the book of Revelation. Throughout the book, He is presented as the Lamb, which suggests reduction; it is He who has suffered, who does not have apparent power, who is defenceless, called to suffer. This is the character of the Lamb.
Those who compose this company “follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes”. Whatever His path means for them, they follow the Lamb with constancy: they follow wheresoever it goes. That, it seems to me, is a word for us. The truth that the Lord brings before us from time to time means continual tests, where would He lead us? The message for us is this: Would we be able on the one hand to enter ever more into the enjoyment of spiritual and eternal things, things that are infinitely blessed which have their source in God’s purpose; and along with this, would we be able to follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes? The Lord desires to encourage each of us to face this. He says to Philip, “Follow me”. If the Lord says, “Follow me”, there is in these words a particular power. You can see that Philip responds on the spot. A similar case is found in the gospel of Matthew. The Lord, addressing Himself to Matthew sitting at the seat of taxes, says to Him, “Follow me”, two words only, and Matthew rose up and followed Him. Luke relates that he left all. It is good to be subject to the word of the Lord without compromise. He left all, rose up and followed Him. This is the effect of the power which is found in Christ, the way in which He says, “Follow me”, irresistible power which would be communicated to each heart. So it is said of these that “they are virgins”. They have kept themselves in fidelity and purity. They follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. “These have been bought from men as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb: and in their mouths was no lie found; for they are blameless”.
If therefore the Lord would secure such features in a day to come, and this should be written, it is certainly to the end that these features should be found among us now. It says, “they are blameless”. The Lord’s mind is to present the assembly to Himself “having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless”, Eph 5: 27. Such is the Lord’s mind. This is what He desires to secure now in the assembly and we need to make sure to bear the features that mark this company that is mentioned in Revelation and which the Lord will secure in a day to come.
1st March 1960
Place not given
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle