HOW EVIL IS SHUT OUT OF THE SERVICE OF GOD
[p. 507] HOW EVIL IS SHUT OUT OF THE SERVICE OF GOD
Genesis 15: 11; Matthew 9: 23 - 26; John 20: 19; 1 Chronicles 3: 5
These scriptures treat of evil being eliminated or shut out of the service of God. Sin is still in the world. It entered in by one man and spread down the race so that it is in the world. God began to deal with it immediately it was found there. The new man is of an order where sin is not let in; it refers to character and quality, and is inclusive of all persons who are created anew, for it is new creation, man in new creation.
He will not allow sin in but will keep it out. The Lord Jesus, coming in, became Man and dealt with sin. He was made sin, a most touching and far reaching thought, that we might become the righteousness of God, the sure way of keeping out sin.
So this principle was seen in Abraham who is called in Galatians 3: 9 “believing Abraham”. The Lord beginning to operate excludes sin. The two thoughts, authority and holiness, exclude sin.
Authority in my mind represses sin or excludes it. Holiness operates with authority in the believer; the mind is subject. It will lead us astray unless we have authority over it.
The new man is created in truthful righteousness and holiness. All this is resident in the believer and Abraham is the example of that. Believing Abraham is accounted righteous by God. Therefore I deal with him first under this heading. Young people should take this in; because I am a believer I am to be in the service of God. Abraham had been a worshipper before but now his faith is counted to him as righteousness.
God enlightens us. Abraham says, “How shall I know?” (Genesis 15: 8). The best of us only knows in [p. 508] part. So there is an immense field opened up. “How shall I know?” is a good question. You need to know. God has ordained that persons should be shown things. The eunuch did not have to wait long before he was shown (Acts 8: 35). Children are sometimes taught what he was reading; I had to learn by heart chapter 53 of Isaiah. The man that could show was there in Philip the evangelist, and he began to expound to him the glad tidings of Jesus.
I do not have to wait long; if I seek knowledge, I get it. The eunuch is an excellent example for young believers. It is an important thing to know. The eunuch says “What hinders ... ?” Now is my opportunity. The water is there. If there is a need in my soul everything is there to fill it. Philip was there too; God put Philip there and He put the water there too. The eunuch needed Philip first and then the water. We find that as we need things spiritually they are not far away. Water was here in the desert!
Baptism is not an ordinary thing, it is not the idea of taking a bath. The way Jesus went, down into death, into the waters of Jordan was His own way. John baptised Him. Think of it: His own way! Philip baptised the eunuch; there was no standing on dignity with him; he went down into the water with him. The water was there and movement belonged to it. In christendom, baptism is full of manner and form; we should see the divine way. The Spirit of God was so pleased with this service that He caught Philip away. From then there is an ellipsis as far as we are concerned. He was found at Azotus. We are not told what happened in the intervening period. He was raptured; so the rapture will not be new to him.
The eunuch went on his way rejoicing. This indicates the state of his soul. It was a spiritual way.
In Genesis 15: 9, God told Abraham to take certain [p. 509] creatures of which He specified the ages. Abraham as a cattle owner would know the ages of his animals. He knew, and he was moving as a man of faith. The creatures were to be picked out of many, “a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old”. The ages of the birds are not specified but he was to select the heifer, the she-goat and the ram, each of three years old.
He slays them but the identity of the pieces of the creatures is to be maintained. Identity goes through into resurrection. What is Satan doing about all this? He is bringing in degradation by means of unclean spirits, the birds of prey. The devil is after hindering the initial service in a believer. We might not think that there was much harm in these birds, but they are defiling. What thoughts arise in us at the beginning of a meeting? Are they from the devil? You cannot serve unless you keep them away, scare them away. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). We must resist in faith or what we are doing will be defiled. How we are to keep away these suggestions is the first point. When the fowls came down Abraham scared them away, so we are not to be afraid to scare these things away when they come.
The next element to be dealt with is the flute-players in Matthew 9. The Lord had been sent for to raise Jairus’ daughter. It was His own service. The service of God enters into our households. The matter in connection with Abraham was an individual one, but Jairus’ daughter is a household matter and a collective one. The brethren are connected with it. Death can invade the believer’s house. When Josiah died Jeremiah lamented for him; and it says that the singing men and women continued that lament “to this day”, (2 Chronicles 35: 25). These singing men and singing women had [p. 510] lost their spirituality and that was shown in the continuance of the lament. There are, of course, true singing men and singing women. There was unbelief in this house in Matthew where the child was thought to be dead; the possibility of raising her was not thought of in that house. Those who were there considered that it was a finished matter. But Christ had been left out as to that household. Jairus brings Him in; he, the head of the house, had gone to the Lord, the Prince of life, the only One who could attend to this matter; He is the Originator of life. The flute-players being present showed that the whole thought had become degenerated. Have we faith as to our households, our children? If we have we will follow it up and scare away that which will bring in death. On the way to the house, the woman is healed of the issue of blood and the child dies. In the Lord’s mind she was not dead at all. There was no evidence that the wife was not with her husband, but she did not stop the sending for the flute-players; they were a purely worldly thing that had to be put out as the scripture says. The Lord is the Prince of life and He brought in real spiritual feelings. Let us take notice; the first point is to scare away the birds, the second is to see that when the Lord comes into the house He says to this worldly element, “Withdraw”. They did not go, but derided Jesus. The Lord says, “The damsel is not dead, but sleeps”. Think of the mother listening to the Son of God! “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live” (John 5: 25).
They had hired the flute-players, but the Lord says, “Withdraw”. His mind was that the child was living; they thought not and would bury her. They were put out; the house was cleared of this deadening influence, unbelief. It says that when they were put out, the Lord went in. Notice the words — it is [p. 511] the way of Christ. Now the wife sees the result of the prayers of the head of the house: “he went in and took her hand”. It is the service of Christ, as was Abraham’s. What is put out is stressed, their presence there is an evidence of unbelief. They must go. Their presence was a hindrance to what was in the Lord’s mind. We do not know how long the journey to the house took, but the absence of the head is marked by unbelief on the part of the wife.
They were put out and that is what the home needs. Put away what damages the children. Let us look around and see if death is not brought in as a fruit of the unbelief of the wife. The word in 1 Corinthians 11: 10 speaks of authority on the woman’s head. In the husband’s absence the wife can be in authority. The head returns and finds evidence of unbelief. The Lord says that they must go. It is coming out; Matthew is naming what is there; the flute is a wind instrument, melodious, but it tends to banish faith.
The Lord took her hand and the maid arose. The whole position was marked by lack of faith. The maid arose — Matthew does not enlarge on it at all. The woman just touched the hem of His garment and was healed. Now the child rose as the Lord took her hand. She rises spiritually. It brings out the wonderful character of what should be in our houses. The Lord should not have to come in for this. The father, the mother, and the little children should do it. He took her hand and she rose up.
In John 20 it is a matter of keeping out the Jews from where the disciples are gathered. The Jews are not equal to this; they are legalists. Keep them out without making much ado about it. John presents the spiritual side but Luke enlarges on the matter. John just says, ‘Shut the doors of the house [p. 512] wherever you are; do not admit the Jews’. The Jew is the outward man; the true Jew is in spirit; the outward man is a legalist. Brethren are often marked by legality and most of our troubles arise from it. There was not one legalist at all at the first meeting of the brethren. Christianity is a question of the spirit. There was not a trace of them. John shows that abstractly and fundamentally they were not there. “I am the door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture” (John 10: 9). Jews are not there; they would limit you. Abstractly, fundamentally, the place is clear of that element; if it were not so the service of God would be hampered or limited.
To augment the matter, it says in Chronicles that there were four thousand doorkeepers. Wonderful position! Solomon is on the throne and we are immediately told that the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward, man by man. In Numbers it is babe by babe, but these are not babes; they are saints viewed as men. It is not the number in fellowship in a general way but one man, two men, three men. All are looking after the doors; they have to keep out all that was against what David had in mind. It was four thousand that praised the Lord on instruments of which David said, “I made ... to praise therewith”. David is Christ; we are the instruments.
Every meeting of the assembly is a great occasion. Nothing must mar the full effect of what David has made. Each instrument has its own doorkeeper. “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17: 6). Those wonderful harps! They are not flutes but are stringed instruments. The Lord would love to take us round and show us these things which He has made. Every instrument is a doorkeeper. “Harp-singers harping with their harps” (Revelation 14: 2) is most remarkable. Every note is heard and each one is in unison. David says, “Which I made”. You must keep right, or the Lord must stop, as a bandmaster does when the sound is not right. There are four thousand doorkeepers and those four thousand are praising Jehovah. There is no room for anything else in the temple. So you see how important it is to keep out evil. So the Lord can say that He made those for the eternal service of God.