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HOLY BOLDNESS IN DAYS OF DIFFICULTY

A.B.Parker

I have selected these two passages to speak, as the Lord may help, about holy boldness in days of difficulty. Moses and David are possibly the greatest men of the Old Testament. We would not assume to reach the distinction, individually, that these men had. On the other hand we must not underestimate the greatness of the dispensation in which we are, nor the possibility of spiritual development which is possible through having the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit of God has recorded the Scriptures for us and we are told that they bear particularly on those of us upon whom the ends of the ages are come. We are at the end of the present dispensation; our hope of the glory is brightening I believe. In the few moments that are left to us we want to be in power; to be contributors to a state and condition of things collectively in which the service of God is filled out in fulness, equal to what was reached at the beginning. We do not have much in the Scriptures to show how the service of praise was conducted at the beginning. We do get a little insight into the power of prayer engaged in by the apostles, and we get examples of their preaching. But it would seem that the service of praise, as we know it, has developed through the knowledge of God, and sensitiveness to divine leading. Scriptures, such as Ephesians 3, have helped us, but it is a very great matter when a corporate entity moves in sensitive response to the leadership of Christ in the power of the Spirit into the blessed experience of knowing the current feelings of the Father and rendering glory to God. This is what makes the service of praise so vital in its character and creates in us such earnest longings to be in it more fully.

The scriptures read refer to times of great stress, and there can be no question but that such times deepen the work of God in us. The breakdown in certain persons has been used of God, when thoroughly judged, to deepen His work in them. Take David, for instance; having reached such a height of glory in overcoming all his enemies, then failing grievously, but having repented, accepting God 's hand in government, he could say "The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me", 2 Sam 23: 2. He was marked by humility, bowed under God's government, yet even in that state he failed in numbering the people. That breakdown led to tremendous sorrow, too, calling out his shepherd feelings: "these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be on me, and on my father's house!" 2 Sam 24: 17. But through that exercise he apprehended the place where the altar of burnt offering for Israel should be erected and where the house of God was to be built. Breakdown has certainly been experienced by us but, if rightly felt and judged before God, He will help us to know, with absolute certainty, where the presence of God can be known. It is a very great matter to have the conviction in our souls that we are where the Lord would have us. In that sphere we can put our spiritual energies into the development of depth and feeling in the service of God.

Then there was the depth of exercise Abraham went through in offering up Isaac. It was a test to the tenderest of feelings in natural relationship. All of us have gone through this in varying measures, but facing it before God, with right feelings, recognising His will and His government, we can learn the great basic principle that underlies the service of God, that " On the mount of Jehovah will be provided", Gen 22: 14. Could there be any question of the substantiality of the work of faith in the soul of Abraham as he went to mount Moriah, to offer up Isaac, in whom the promise of God centred? He offered a sheep (God will provide Himself with a sheep); this was the offering that he had (Isaac) but in the mount of Jehovah was provided a ram. When he offered, without reserve, at the sacrifice of the choicest of natural relationships, his eyes were opened to see a ram caught in the thicket. It suggests the maturity of apprehension there was in Abraham; he was capable of offering a ram; it was what he got as the meeting proceeded. What an occasion it was! The substantial part of what went up to God was what was arrived at in the mount of Jehovah. So it is, dear brethren, at the service of praise that what we get as we are together, as sensitive in spirit to the current feelings of divine Persons, is what flows in greatest power and fulness for the satisfaction of the heart of God.

The experiences of Moses and David, of which we have read, may contribute, I trust, to our understanding of what we can arrive at out of intense pressure. Reference already has been made to festival conditions, but what greater festival conditions can there be than being consciously in the presence of the Father, hearing His voice to us and feeling His embrace as those who are accepted in the Beloved? In the midst of terrible crisis conditions Moses speaks to God about an experience he had in His presence. God had said to Moses, "I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in mine eyes". What that must have meant to Moses! Now he is faced with what seems to be a critical impasse. The people had sinned, having turned to idolatry, and Moses had gone up to Jehovah to see what could be done. He was prepared to be blotted out of Jehovah's book that the people might be preserved and kept as God's people. What depth of feeling there was with Moses! He asks Jehovah, "Make me now to know thy way, that I may know thee... and consider that this nation is thy people". There is a way, dear brethren. The Lord Jesus said that "hades' gates shall not prevail against it", Matt 16: 18. There is a way and there will be persons in that way and we want to be numbered amongst them. But then Moses said, also, "Let me, I pray thee, see thy glory". What holy boldness! The glory is attached to God's Name. Jehovah came down and stood beside Moses on the rock and proclaimed the name of Jehovah: "Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and fourth generation". That, dear brethren, as I understand it, is Jehovah's Name. We do well to know it in detail, to understand God's uncompromising righteousness, His holiness, yet the mercy and the grace that there is with Him. And if we know the way He will take in any matter we can relate it to that part of the Name which is being exercised, so to speak, in the issue that is at hand. Think of the impression Moses must have received when Jehovah said "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy". There is no word of judgment, the attitude of God in this crisis is that He is going to be merciful and gracious. What a wonderful comfort that must have been to the heart of Moses. Moses had seen to it that judgment had been enforced; he had taken the golden calf and ground it to powder and had strewn it upon the water; he had armed the sons of Levi with swords and told them to go through the camp to slay every man his brother and his friend and his neighbour. That sounds like a wholesale slaughter but it was not so, it was discriminative judgment. The sons of Levi could be trusted with swords; they had been affected by the smiting of the rock in Exodus 17: "Whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah", Deut 33: 8 - the type of the sufferings of Christ that the Spirit may be given to change person had affected hard-hearted Levi who had participated in the slaughter at Shechem; and now the sons of Levi, eight thousand of them with swords, went through the camp and only three thousand were slain. What discriminating judgment, to slay only those who were unrepentant! Dear brethren, let us use discriminative judgment! Let us not lose a life needlessly but hold life dear, and save life whenever we can righteously do so. The Lord Jesus said "How much better then is a man that a sheep!", Matt 12: 12. May our sense of values in appreciation of the saints be such that our endeavour is to save life, not to lose it. And may we understand what part of the Name, so to speak, is being exercised in any issue. Is it God's judgment, His mercy, or His grace? "Make me now to know thy way", Moses said. May we know clearly what the Lord's way is in critical conditions which develop amongst the saints, Moses was not content to have anything less than the divine presence. He said, "And now, if indeed I have found grace in thine eyes, make me now to know thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thine eyes; and consider that this nation is thy people! And he said, My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest. And he said to him, If thy presence do not go, bring us not up hence". There can be nothing greater, dear brethren, than the consciousness that God is with us, God amongst us of a truth; and I believe that the service of praise is an index to this.

David, in the passage read, faced a very real crisis. Moses had acted for God in a crisis which was created by the breakdown of the people and the priesthood. The crisis which David faced was due to his own breakdown - the failure of the king, the corruption of authority. It gave a lawless element an opportunity to rise up in rebellion. These two elements - priesthood and authority - are necessary, dear brethren, and require to be kept in balance. The Lord's parable at the end of Matthew 18 is most helpful in this relation. In the administration of righteousness the man must pay what he owed or be cast into prison. When he prostrated himself, saying "Have patience with me and I will pay thee all", grace operated through priesthood. Righteousness had established a basis on which grace could operate and he was forgiven. Alas, he then demanded that his fellowbondman pay him a debt which was owing to him and, ignoring the plea for mercy, went the full length in his demand. He had not learned grace. When asked for patience he gave none. What disaster can occur when authority and priesthood are not held in balance! That parable, I believe, sums up the teaching of the chapter; a chapter garnished by a touch of Luke 15, which tells us of the activities and feelings of divine Persons in securing man in sonship. The "certain man" having a hundred sheep leaves the ninety and nine on the mountains to seek the one gone astray. And if it should come to pass that he find it: that phrase is the difference between Matthew 18 and Luke 15. But it is a touch of the glory of Luke 15 brought into assembly administration with right feelings that are not diverted but carry the savour of it not being the will of our Father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should perish.

Administration is one of the things which has been our greatest test. We sorrowfully know something about breakdown in administration. David had repented of his great sin but he recognises the hand of God upon him in government. It is our salvation, dear brethren, to recognise God's hand of government upon us. Zadok and the Levites brought the ark to accompany David as he fled. They considered that the testimony was identified with David. But David, conscious of God's government, would repudiate that thought. He would say, in effect, 'By wondrous grace I have been identified with the testimony; it is not identified with me; it must remain in its "habitation"; if I find favour with Jehovah He will bring me again and shew me it and its habitation'. David is held by the acceptance of God's government. Dear brethren, let us not forget it. Many of us must say, along with David, "Although my house be not so before God", 2 Sam 23: 5. But let us get the gain of the sorrow, as David did. But here the rod of God's government is closing in on David; he flees from Absalom; he goes up the mount of Olives weeping, the people weeping with him. What a sad sight it was! His head was covered and he went barefoot, praying as he went. The crushing word had come that Ahithophel was among the conspirators; Ahithophel, whose counsel was as the words of God in that day, was allied with Absalom. David prays; he hangs the matter, so to speak, on the "nail in his holy place". That was Ezra's expression in a day of great crisis - that God's favour had been such as "to give us a nail in his holy place", Ezra 9: 9. It is in the holy place, the sanctuary, not the holy of holies but the place where the golden altar is, where prayer is made, there the incense rises to the nostrils of God. David prayed; he left the matter with his God: "Jehovah, I pray thee, tum the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness". Then he gets past the matter of prayer to worship. Would you not love to hear David pray at the summit of Olivet? What would his worship be? How do we worship, dear brethren? Have we learned God in some way that may not have been known apart from current exercises? Can we worship with sorrows not yet adjusted? Would not David tell Jehovah that His way was perfect, even though Absalom had made it necessary for David to flee for his life? He was fleeing in disgrace, in humiliation, and yet in the presence of it all his heart goes out to God in worship and the whole outlook changes. Hushai, David's friend, appears. David recognises the hand of God in this. He is in control now though still he must flee. But from this moment victory is assured. He begins to act administratively to ensure that victory will be accomplished. His worship, deepened by the acceptance of the humiliating conditions, underlies the revival of right administrative feelings. O, if we could only come to it; not only to tell God that His ways are perfect but to be worshipful when we tell Him! That, I believe, is the indication that we have reached the end God has in view for us in allowing breakdown to come in. It is only by our judging things fully and getting the gain of what has happened that we can participate in the service of God in vital and living power such as was at the beginning. In it there is an increased portion for our souls, too.

It is on account of the recovered man in Luke 15 that the fatted calf is killed; it is reserved for the day of recovery, as well as the best robe, the ring and the sandals. May we take some intimation from this as to what God's attitude is now. Will not festival robes replace the filthy garments as in the case of Joshua the priest? Can we reach the sphere of the music and the dancing? If we do we are not far from the atmosphere of the eternal day when God will be all in all. Now that may sound somewhat extreme but I think that, when God is "all in all", everything will immediately respond to every prompting from God. The music seems to suggest what comes out from the heart of God, and the dancing is our response to it. It is not just singing; singing is one thing but dancing is a matter of the whole person in responsive motion. The elder brother, coming from the field, heard the music and the dancing. They must have been dancing with all their might. Dear brethren, may the Lord help us to get the full gain of what we have been through and that it may be evident in increase in the service of God. And may we not be lacking in holy boldness.

LONDON

18 May 1974

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