DEPTHS
[p. 535] DEPTHS
Revelation 2: 24, 25; 1 Corinthians 2: 10; Mark 4: 5, 6; Ezekiel 47: 1 - 5
I wish to speak about depths. There are the depths of Satan, as we read, and the depths of God, depths of earth, and depths of water. I refer for a moment to the depths of Satan, but with no thoughts of occupying you at any length, or in any detail, with these depths. They are to be avoided rather than investigated. Only few can investigate the depths of Satan. The Lord Himself shrank from meeting Satan; not that He feared him, but He shrank, being holy. So that Mark tells us He was driven of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil, showing that a servant ought not to turn to evil works with any alacrity, because only few can really touch them with impunity. The Lord met the devil and bound him. There was no struggle. One angel would suffice to bind him and put him into confinement for one thousand years. So that if we are obliged to meet him, we can rely on being overcomers as christians. There are various means of overcoming the devil; one is the blood of the Lamb. He is apprehended as an accuser of the brethren, an anti-priest in heaven. He operates to darken us and cause doubts in our souls. That is a very convenient way he has of attacking us, especially the young, causing doubts. We overcome him by the blood. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb”. And again, resist him. You do not seek him out to resist him; it is when he attacks, he seeks us out. It is not for us to seek him out; he seeks us out. Were it not that God hedges us round in His sovereign, sometimes providential, way, we should oft be overcome. We see in the book of Job how God hedges His saints around. Satan told [p. 536] Jehovah that. Perhaps we do not think on this, that God watches over us. Who of us, especially the young people, could stand were it not that in our youth God protects us sovereignly, and providentially too? At times we can scarcely attribute our deliverance to our own watchfulness; something happens; God acts to preserve us. So that Satan, as I said, seeks us out and when he does, when we come into direct contact with him, flattery is apt to deceive us. That is a mode he has of getting at us and discovering our weaknesses, our proclivities and he lays his bait for us. I need not speak much of this. Doubtless, if we are honest young people, we know. And then we are told to resist him. For instance, when Peter said, “God be favourable to thee, Lord; this shall in no wise be unto thee” (Matthew 16: 22), he appealed to the Lord to think of Himself only. It is a very common thing with us to think of ourselves only. When one suggested that to the Lord He addressed him as Satan. One of the most important things is to name what comes to you in the way of attack; what the medium may be; locate it in your mind, and name it in your mind, and decide what to do. If it is a Satanic emissary, there is only one thing to do, and that is resist it. “Whom resist, stedfast in faith” (1 Peter 5: 9), it says, and again we are told, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). He knows if you stand up against him what you are possessed of. You have what he has not. You are superior to him; for in truth, he is a conquered foe. The Lord bound him. He called him a strong man, but the Stronger than he bound him! So that we have that wherein we can overcome, something that I could not stop to define. Satan has not got it. It is what is of Christ. Every believer is of Christ; he has what is characteristically of Christ, and wherever Satan meets that he succumbs. If we stand firm the temptation will [p. 537] give way and victory is ours. But I am speaking now of the depths of Satan, just to suggest that there are such things as that, depths. The word is used too in regard of leprosy. In the measurement of leprosy by the priest we have a measurement deeper than the skin. The skin is not very thick, but thin as it is, if something is deeper than it, then it has to be dealt with accordingly; it is apt to damage the whole system. If it is superficial there is something between it and the system, namely skin. Skin is protective. Badger skins were protective on the tabernacle; they were evidently superior for that purpose. But the skin is for protection, and if something is deeper, then beware! it will damage the system. It is the priest’s service to locate that and name it when it is deeper. But now I am speaking of the depths of Satan, and as I said, I do not intend to stay very long, but to suggest that they are spoken of. Those who name them use the phrase, depths of Satan. They attributed the knowledge of the depths of Satan and the participation in the depths of Satan to others than themselves. That is, those who were on Jezebel’s side in the Thyatira state of things. Jezebel, that is Thyatira — we have touched on it a little — is a phase of the assembly’s public history that admits of the grossest wickedness and the most sublime goodness and truth running together, parallel with the parable in the Lord’s ministry in Matthew 13 where the wheat and the tares grow together. The tares are deceptive, because they resemble the wheat. Those that represented the tares in Thyatira falsely charged the wheat (those that were the wheat were the genuine people of God), with participation in the depths of Satan. We can readily understand that, because the Lord Himself was charged with casting out demons by the prince of demons, by Beelzebub. Such is the effrontery of opposition, such as is in Thyatira,
[p. 538] charging the godly with the wickedness that they themselves were perpetrating. “As they say” it says, but the Lord is speaking to the “rest” in Thyatira. “But to you I say, the rest;” that is the remnant that did not know this doctrine, the doctrine of Jezebel. He says, “as many as have not this doctrine”. That is it, they had not this doctrine, and had not known the depths of Satan. The Lord had them in mind in infinite discrimination. “His eyes as a flame of fire” moving about among this assembly. He drew near to it and exposed it. He exposed Jezebel and the doctrine that she taught. He comes to a certain number called “the rest”, meaning those that are left, the remnant; “But to you I say, the rest”. He addresses certain ones in that phase for that is the idea in the assembly’s public history. It is the great leavened mass marked by Jezebel’s wicked influence and teaching, but the Lord turns, after speaking to the angel about her and her wicked conduct, to a certain few, whom He calls “the rest”, those in Thyatira who had not that doctrine, and who had not known the depths of Satan, as they said, what they called the depths of Satan. They had not known them at all. They were godly people. Perhaps history scarcely records such devotedness, such godliness, such holiness as was found in those days in the Middle Ages. For that is what is alluded to — the individual integrity of the saints that the Lord addresses here. They were individuals. At that time there was no collective position such as we, through grace, occupy; but individuals were exposed to the north winds of Satanic power in those days, with little or no protection. They had divine protection. We have some of their hymns; they are some of the sweetest we have. History too, carries down testimony to their devotedness. The Lord says, “But to you I say, the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, who have not known the [p. 539] depths of Satan, as they say, I do not cast upon you any other burden; but what ye have hold fast till I shall come”. That is their position, awaiting the great moment called the Reformation when God opened the door leading up to the present time. For God acted slowly but surely. One of the most comforting things in the history of God’s testimony is the slowness of God’s actions but the certainty of His goodness; the sure end He reaches.
So that these devoted people in those days are carried down in spirit to us, and God has opened up the truth to us of the assembly, not the depths of Satan surely, but deliverance from them. Let everyone here search his own heart as to whether he is among those delivered from that, the depths of Satan — the wiles and depths by which he holds his ministers as the book of Revelation clearly shows. But He says, “Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins” (Revelation 18: 4). That is the voice today.
And over against this we have the depths of God. Think of that! What a relief to the mind to turn away as judging it in principle at least, although not investigating these depths of Satan, but knowing they are there and keeping away from them. You know they are there, and you know where they are. That is what these addresses to the assemblies are intended to do, to teach us as to where this and that is, and where the depths of Satan are. Keep away from them. Many are drifting in that direction, but over against that drift we have this, “Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins”. And then the depths of God. What an attractive thought that is! How it enters into a meeting such as this, and what we have had already today, and have very often, thank God. One rejoices in the interest that is kept up in these meetings. It is delightful to heaven to see the [p. 540] brethren attending these meetings, overcoming difficulties coming and going back. How God loves to let us, dear brethren, into the thought of His depths, the depths of His love. You will understand that the phrase “the depths of God” does not refer to what God is in His intrinsic Being, His abstract Being, “Dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see” (1 Timothy 6: 16). There is no opening for us to enter into that domain because we are creatures. At best we can only think of limited things, but still there is the thought of the domain of God in the abstract, what He is, dwelling in Himself, I may say, “in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see”. But there are the depths of God that the Spirit of God reveals, searches, for that is the word. The expression is “The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”. Now how does He carry on this wonderful service? He carries it on in us. I say that so that we might be touched a little bit to make room for Him, for that is what the apostle is aiming at, that the saints at Corinth might make room for the gracious activities of the Spirit. He is operating to bring out the depths of God. It is God in this wonderful economy into which He has come. It is God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These Persons are God, They are commensurate, only of course the Son and the Spirit take a lower place in the economy to carry out the behest of love, yet the Spirit is equal with God. He is the Spirit of God, you see; He is God, and hence able to investigate the depths of God. It is not the Spirit in heaven, it is the Spirit here. God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10). You understand that the Spirit is speaking about Himself through Paul. He is speaking about Himself as in the economy into which God has come and that economy requires the assembly. He is here in the assembly and so in the next chapter the apostle says, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” (1 Corinthians 3: 16). Jesus Himself was the temple of God when He was down here. Think of the greatness of the thought that we, the saints, are the temple of God. It is in that that He is operating and He is bringing out, dear brethren, whether we believe it or not, receive it or not, He is bringing out the depths of God. Think of the word ‘search!’ He searches all things, He searches every one of us. Let no one think of escaping from that. Let us invite it! Let Him search us! We spoke of that here before, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139: 23). Let the Spirit do it, He will search all things.
But then there are the depths of God. Think of Him doing that! He makes room for Himself in our hearts. That is what He does. Time would fail me to go into the types to speak of this, but under Isaac we have the idea of room, the Spirit of God giving room, one well after another, until he arrives at Rehoboth which means room. “Jehovah has made room for us” (Genesis 26: 22); there is plenty of room for the well to spring up. Where is room being made? In our souls, because you know we are very shallow at best, very shallow. The Holy Spirit is obliged to occupy Himself in searching us out severally that we might know ourselves and name the things that hinder us, and in naming them judge them with authority and disallow them. The Spirit says, ‘I am with you every moment in that and making room for Myself;’ What will He do then? He will search the depths of God, that is what is [p. 542] going on. If there is room in our souls then He will search the depths of God. The Corinthians were not making room for Him and that is why He speaks to them in that way. He says I have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, only as to babes, but babes in Christ for they had the status of real christians. What can the Spirit of God do in the way of search unless you allow Him to expose you to yourself, so that you might name the things that are within hindering, and judge them in authority and disallow them. He says, I am with you in that. That is the way of growth in us.
And then the depths of God! Think of how much the Holy Spirit had to do in Paul. We get the expression among the saints of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, the room had to be made. As I was saying, under Isaac room had to be made. If yours is only a thimble-size measure He will fill it, but He wants to fill a man. The Corinthians were not men hence the smallness of the ministry. He says I cannot say anything more to you, “For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2: 2). The point was to make room in their souls for the development of the truth and as soon as the Spirit gets room then you will have something of the depths of God, for the basis of His operations is in love in the assembly. The Holy Spirit dwells in you, hence you are the temple, but then the temple must afford room. You know, all of you who have read the Scriptures, that the tabernacle had a compartment called the holiest. It was not so large as in the temple. The oracle in the temple under Solomon was a cube, twenty cubits in height, meaning there was great room for the expression of God in that holy place. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” The Holy Spirit is able to operate even while you are sitting in the ferry or train or car.
[p. 543] He is able even then to bring you the highest thoughts if you make room for Him. You are not occupied with things that are of no value, you are open and ready at all times for the operations of the Spirit. We may read a passage or a book that helps us. He may bring the very greatest thought to you which you have never had before. Well, He is operating always in that way. And then you see the depths of God. “For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”.
Well now, I go on to the gospel of Mark to show what I have already touched on a little, the kind of ground that is requisite for this in us. There are four kinds mentioned. I selected this one because it uses the word “depth of earth”. It is in a negative sense. There was no depth of earth. That explains a great deal as to conditions that arise in the history of God’s people. Young people start out fairly well in the things of God and attend the meetings. That is what is pictured in this soil called stony ground. They receive the word and seem to be glad to have it. They tell the preacher, ‘I confessed the Lord tonight’, and the preacher tells others about it. They are not slack about that. Well, you want to wait. One speaks with experience about this matter. The more one sees of this kind of thing, the less one is inclined to count. Paul hardly ever counts. The Spirit of God counted the early christians under the twelve to bring out that there was real depth. He gives the evidence of it: but Paul hardly ever counts his converts. Sometimes we make much of one who receives the word. We are told, “immediately it sprung up” and the Lord later says, “Who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy” (verse 16). Watch that — people who are buoyant at the first when they profess to believe. Joy in the Holy Spirit is the thing: that is the safe thing. We read of some converts of Paul’s that were full of [p. 544] joy in the Holy Spirit. That joy will be sustained; but the Lord points out this bad soil; although they received the word with joy it did not last. It says, “immediately it sprung up out of the ground because it had no depth of earth; and when the sun rose it was burnt up, and because of its not having any root, it withered”. I am speaking mostly for young people; not segregating them, I do not think we should. But one might do that in one’s mind in speaking, because this kind of soil is likely to be found in them. Young people are imitators and follow one another, and when a test comes, something happens and then there is exposure. What is the secret of it? No depth of earth. I want everyone here who is young to think this particular verse is for you. That is depth of earth. Have you got any? Do you feel that you are making headway in your soul? Are the meetings becoming more to you than they used to be, or less? Is a little persecution at school or in the office tending to dampen your ardour and to cause you to turn back? This is the explanation — no depth of earth. A little earth, enough to receive the word immediately with joy. Nature is capable even of that, if I am following others, if I see a certain advantage in being recognized as a christian. Nature is capable of that, but it is untrustworthy. It is depth of earth that is needed. That is to say, there is some place for a root, because that is what the Lord mentions later, “they have no root in themselves” (verse 17). It is the root that gathers up the sap out of the earth and there is growth, permanent growth. All that, I hope, is very simple, but it is most practical. If you young people are to continue in the testimony you want to see to this matter of depth, depth of earth. It is earth, notice; it is a figure. It is earth over against stone. What is the stone? Your natural heart. Because the scripture says God is going to take away the natural [p. 545] stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh, which means earth in the figure — what is capable of being impressed and yielding fruit. Look out for this matter, dear young people. Depths; over against depths is shallowness. Shallowness shows itself, alas! amongst us, painfully so of late. Hence the need of depth of earth.
Well then, the final thought is what Ezekiel speaks of; depths of experience of divine grace. You begin with shallowness, normal shallowness; there is such a thing as that — ankles. But my ankles are as much a part of me as my head. [p. 546] So that it is a question of experiencing divine grace. You have often had this river before you, I am sure. One has often heard of it, spoken of it, too. It is a wonderful type. There is no time now to enlarge on the type. It flows out from the house of God on the south side of the altar. It flows out to the east side. They are called waters; not a river yet. It is waters flowing out — most valuable. Think of the value of water of this kind flowing out from the house of God, from beneath the threshold of the house, where love walks. Really that is the allusion, where love walks. The threshold is where God goes in; every divine movement of love. This water flows out of that. It flows out of the right side of the house, south of the altar, because in order to be effective Christ had to die. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is most touching — the altar; and then it goes out to the east, and the prophet is brought around the north side. He comes down the east side and there it is, it is called a river. As he approaches it there is a man with a measuring line. This is most important for everyone of us. Because one knows in oneself in the things of God that one is casual and the idea of things being optional comes into the mind, whereas this man is doing business. He is a man of measure, and he is acting on the prophet, even on the prophet.
So that it is a question of each of us, even the most spiritual, “and he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters: the waters were to the ankles”. He did it. One speaks of oneself in this, and I hope it will appeal to everyone of us in this way. It is a matter not only of what I am doing, what I am taking up in my leisure, and when I have time to look into the Scriptures and take in things; but this man with the measuring line is doing things. He would do it with everyone of us now; laying it upon us. He would do the measuring, and cause you to go through. It is experience. I want you to have this experience. It is a measured matter; it is not an optional matter. This man is in business. He wants you to go through this thing; to have experience with God. Depths of experience, that is the thing. And so he measures another thousand — there are four different thousands — and it is to the loins. Well now you see depths. Of course it all depends upon the height of Ezekiel, whether he was a tall man or a short man; but it makes no difference to him, the loins are the loins whether I am tall or short. In my experience it is the same whether I am a foot taller or a foot shorter. The point is I am entering deeper and deeper into the experience of the grace of God. That is the idea, christianity is the real thing. It is a matter of a holy walk, but it is the grace of God. This man with the measuring line wants you to go through this. It is not optional, it is an imperative matter that I go through these things. You say, I have not time; but it must be so, it is a divine requirement. Everything must give way to the divine requirements in my soul, nothing must interfere. You say you do not know my circumstances, but God knows them and He brings it in here. First you have the ankles, then you have the knees, and the third measurement is the loins, and then the fourth measurement is the waters [p. 547] to swim in. I omitted speaking of the knees, but it is just passing over one point. The loins refer to the lower affections, the feeling side, that I have come to this experimentally in my feelings, in my deep affections. Knees refer to — anatomy enters into this — you know how Peter fell at Jesus’ knees and how Elijah put his face between his knees. Think of the experience of that, the exercise, the profound exercise. “I bow my knees”, says the apostle. I apprehend when it comes to the knees it includes prayer. The ankles are joints too, that is, agility in walk. The ankle bones of the man were made strong and he walked and leaped and praised God. The knees you need for leaping, but the Spirit of God stresses the knees in the matter of prayer and not only verbal prayer but real prayer, bowing your knees. How am I going to get into these things? Pray. Yes, pray, and pray again. Paul says do it all the time, night and day, whenever you are awake at night do it. Pray without ceasing, because it is so urgent that I get into the experience of the grace of God, into the depths. Then the waters to swim in, that is, the arms are used as well as the legs, it means the whole man is merged in this wonderful thing. One can give himself up wholly to this great matter. How partial we are, dear brethren, taking on a little of christianity as a side line! God abhors that, not that He will not take on any interest you have, but the man who is swimming is wholly absorbed in it. That is what I would call depth. He does not give the depth of the river, in fact he intimates that you cannot find it. It must be really infinite, because it is God. The more you get down in that river, the nearer you get to God, and so Ezekiel says, “I could not pass through”. Indeed it cannot be passed over. Not simply that “I could not pass through”, but nobody could. Paul could not, Peter could not, nobody could. It is the depths of God, it is infinite. It is a [p. 548] question of experience. Think of this experience, think of it being open to us! It is a question of being brought, as the passage says, “And he caused me to pass through the waters: the waters were to the knees ... to the loins”, and then “it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through”. It does not say he brought him through that. I suppose he went in. I am in it entirely now; but then Ezekiel does say in the next verse “He led me, and brought me back to the bank of the river”. He had gone away. If Ezekiel were telling you this, as doubtless he did tell the captives in Babylon, he would say, after all this he brought me back again. That is a very important thing for even the most spiritual of us. You come to the infinitude of the thing, then something else comes in, but the man brings me again to the same point, to the bank, not into it, to the bank, and I see something I never saw before. That is how we get on. It is Ezekiel who has gone these four different thousands. It is experience, and now the man brings him back again as he says, “He led me, and brought me back to the bank of the river. When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other” (verses 6, 7). I think it is a lot of brethren. He sees a lot of brethren. He saw himself before — the prophet Ezekiel. When you return you do not think yourself the only brother. If you do, you will be misled. “And he led me, and brought me back to the bank of the river. When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other”.
This river is very fruitful, God never commits Himself to any one man. He committed Himself to Christ of course, but He is not to be compared with any other man; but I am speaking of creatures. There are very many trees on the one side and on [p. 549] the other. You see there is growth, they are growing. Where did they grow? They grew up as I did, as Ezekiel did. God is not confined to anyone. He has plenty and they are all coming from the same source. But then, if I do not come back the second time I may go away with the idea that I am the only one that has gone through this. When the man brings him back to the river he sees the other brethren. It is a question, dear brethren, of experience in the things of God and the more we go through this the more we are ready for depths and results of depths, that is, there are growths on the banks of the river and there is the second visit to see all this, so there is continual learning and seeing what God is doing, different ones that are coming up here and there, I delight to see them if I go through this experience. It is a question of what God is and of God’s love and what God can produce for His testimony. That is what I was thinking of. May God bless it to us!