LETTING DOWN
[p. 20] LETTING DOWN
Acts 9: 22 - 25; 1 Samuel 19:11, 12; Joshua 2: 15, 16; Acts 11: 4 - 10
These four scriptures are linked in the sense that they treat of the idea of persons being let down. They afford opportunity to say much because of the connections and persons involved, and particularly the spiritual import of the passages severally and together. It is this matter, of course, that is of value, for the mere historical records in themselves, could be easily considered and dismissed as mere incidents. Such incidents as persons let down over a wall have often happened, some, it may be, having an historical value, but these have much more than historical value. These scriptures, as I hope to show, afford instruction that applies to us now. The Scriptures bear on persons listening as they are being read, at any time, as we are now. The word of the Lord Jesus always applies, “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4: 21).
Thus, in taking up Acts 9 we have to place ourselves in the city of Damascus. Stress is laid on the city; in the other account given of this incident Paul refers to it as “the city of the Damascenes”. This implies its local character and carries the thought of what it was capable of. Each city has its own distinctive features. Although there was a christian assembly in Damascus, and although the Lord Jesus had been in it Himself, and about the environs too, it was now available to the governor, and shut up by him so that he might seize the Lord’s servant. The Lord of glory, the Maker of everything, God over all, blessed for ever, had deigned to move out from His place above to this city, or near it, so as to intercept him who was to be His servant, but [p. 21] then the sinner, Saul of Tarsus. This gave Damascus peculiar distinction. The movement was not to slay Saul, as would be the case were the Lord acting in a military way, as He will do presently, coming out of heaven with the armies of heaven following Him. The beast and the false prophet shall be arrayed with their armies against Him and He will have them taken alive and cast into the lake of fire. Such is the punitive power of Christ, but it is not so in this case, for He was on other lines, as He is today. He had appeared in grace to Peter who had denied Him, and, in grace now He is appearing to Saul; who had persecuted Him, in His saints, in the most ruthless manner. The Lord Jesus had it in mind to secure this young man in grace, and He did. He caused a great light to shine about Saul while he was travelling, I suppose, with a certain amount of pomp, and a company with him. He who made the sun and placed it in the heavens was now there, and He caused a light above its brightness to shine around this lawless, violent persecutor of Himself, and Saul fell to the ground. The Lord said to him “Saul, Saul”. Think of his name being mentioned twice by the holy lips of the Creator of the universe, nay, more than that — the Saviour of mankind, the Head of His body, the assembly. He says to this lawless man, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute thou me?” This happened outside of the city of Damascus. Saul was stricken down and led by the hand into Damascus, and the Lord went into Damascus, too, to prepare Ananias to receive Saul. Later the Lord went into the city of Corinth. How many cities He went into, who can say? He went into the city of Corinth and told this same Saul, now changed to Paul, “I have much people in this city” (Acts 18: 10). He was perfectly conversant with Corinth, too, and all in it,
[p. 22] but He would not be occupied with its learning or its worldliness. He would be occupied with His people there. Now He goes to Damascus to visit a brother, Ananias.
I refer to all this only to show what Damascus was in the eyes of the Lord. He went to Ananias and told him about the conversion of Saul and where he was; in a house in the street called Straight. The Lord knows all the houses of His people in a city. He says, “Seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus”. He knew where he was and He told Ananias what to do. It was necessary that Ananias should convey to Saul the spirit of the dispensation. He was to see and to know, that the Jesus who had appeared to him by the way had sent Ananias His servant to him. Ananias went and addressed him, saying, “Saul, brother”, and laid his hands upon him. I am referring to this because of the advantages Damascus had, and yet its inhabitants were such as would put Saul to death. Luke tells us that the Jews watched the gates day and night that they might kill Saul. These gates doubtless would have been opened to him, and he would have been received by the dignitaries of the city, had the Lord Jesus not intercepted him, and he would have carried on Satan’s work against the people of the Lord, as he had done in Jerusalem.
How different it is now! Saul is one of these persecuted followers of Jesus. We are told here that “Saul increased the more in power, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is the Christ” (Acts 9: 22). He was thoroughly in the work, a lover of Christ now, and Damascus did not want him. We are not to be deceived by appearances, by religious things, the allowance of cathedrals, preachings and Bibles.
[p. 23] Everything turns on whether Christ is respected and loved, or whether He is hated. The passage here shows that the city had turned against Christ, for they watched the gates day and night to kill Saul, but the Lord had means of getting him out other than through the gates. The people think that Saul could only get out through the gates, for “they watched the gates day and night to kill him”. That was the position. It was a changed Damascus, a changed world for Saul. The greatest lover and preacher of Christ in it, is now to be waylaid as he issues through the gates.
This brings out what saints can do for the Lord’s servants. They have been in dread of Saul, but now they are his servants. They have recourse to the wall of the city, that which, according to man would keep Saul in, or an enemy out. They let him down; “the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket”. That is what they did. It shows the resourcefulness of love, the love of the disciples, true love. Not that the love is mentioned, but the fact shows that it was there. True love is not only that we love God and Christ, but also that we love the brethren, particularly the servants who are outstanding and faithful in their service. David said, “By my God have I leaped over a wall” (2 Samuel 22: 30). They do not leap over it here. The Spirit of God had more in it than Saul’s escape. He shows us in this remarkable city how that a servant, being served by the brethren, may be let down by them. I hope to show later how ultimately all is caught up into heaven, so all the lettings down have in mind that we might be worthy of being caught up.
In Peter’s vision in Acts 11 everything was drawn up into heaven. That is the last movement. It is an ascending movement. In the meanwhile the servants and saints let each other down. The [p. 24] servants are often best served by the saints when they are let down. Instead of exalting him, instead of praising Saul for his remarkable ability in confounding the Jews, the circumstances now require that they should let him down. Not surely that they do not appreciate his remarkable ability to serve; it is said that “Saul increased the more in power, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is the Christ”. Young men are easily inflated, especially if successful in ministry. Here the saints did not premeditate such humiliating circumstances, but the circumstances are such that the saints serve Saul in the form of letting him down. They are not intending that he should stay down, nor is the Lord intending that. The time is coming when we shall all be taken up, when the power of the Lord will take us all up. In the meantime the lettings down are helping us, and the Lord is using His people to help, not that they have any animosity against anyone, but circumstances require it. Saul requires it to effect his escape from the Jews here. The attitude of the citizens of Damascus require it too, but still it was no accident that they had to let him down. They did it, and they did it well. They attest their skill; they used a basket and he tells us himself what we do not learn here, that it was through a window and through the wall. It is through or by the wall, the wall being instrumental, as much as to say that what men set up as barriers God uses for the good of His people here, for the deliverance of His servants. The disciples, and the window, and the basket, and the wall, are all used for the welfare of this great servant.
That is the first thought I had in mind to present, and it is wholesome for those who serve, and everyone should serve, for the Lord has given grace to [p. 25] everyone, all according to the measure of His gift. There are special servants who serve in a public way and they need this particularly. The saints do not devise the circumstances, the Lord brings them about, and the saints use them. They did what wisdom required. The servant is let down and he is a better man as he reaches the ground than he was before. There is the testimony to the care and wisdom of the saints in the way they did it. It was a downward movement, and they are doing it gently, as the basket would imply. They put it through a window, which was an outlet, and would perhaps imply that there is light in what is done. There are three things, the basket, the wall and the window, instruments by which things are done. The basket is the vessel in which the thing is done, and Paul is in the vessel. He would understand that. It is a very important thing to understand what the vessel signifies spiritually. He was himself a vessel, and now this vessel, rightly chosen, is used by the disciples to let him down. You say, you are putting thoughts into the passage that are not there. But why should the Spirit of God tell us all this? He could have confined the report to the fact that Saul escaped, but he tells us all this. He has to remind us in our service that circumstances come up in which the brethren are obliged in wisdom to let us down. Paul would never forget this experience. He records it in 2 Corinthians 11: 32, 33 later, changing the wording somewhat; he puts in “window” and leaves out “Jews”. He calls upon the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to assure them he was not lying. He was thus telling it because there was in the happening a lesson to all who should come after him. He was about to relate another experience, that he had been taken up to the third heaven. He did not have long to [p. 26] wait for the opposite movement of going up. If the Lord lets His servants down He will surely counterbalance it by lifting them up. He will not allow us to be long down. In 2 Corinthians 12, referring to his exaltation, Paul says he did not know whether he was in the body or out of it. It is a question of God’s power; Paul says that he was caught up to the third heaven and into paradise, 2 Corinthians 12: 3, 4. The counterbalance must follow, he was let down by a thorn for the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. Normally the brethren do not use flattery, but on the contrary if circumstances require it they let each other down. God can do many things, accomplish many results, by one action.
Now the passage in Samuel corresponds somewhat. Michal is said to be a lover of David. She let him down too in very similar circumstances. Saul the king is set to murder his son-in-law, showing how little we can rely on natural relationships. In divine things there is nothing more unreliable than natural relationships. Michal is said to love David, and she shows that she did at this time. He is in his house and Saul sent his messengers to watch the house. Think of the murder in that man’s heart, and yet he is the king of Israel! This shows how official positions in the things of God are no guarantee against evil. But Michal was a relation of David, and in the most intimate relation too — she was his. Later she proves unworthy of such a husband. A certain religious organisation of today corresponds: to a point loyal to Christ, but later proved unworthy of Him. The Spirit of God occupies us with Michal’s love at this time. She is David’s wife here, but she replaces him by an image, which is rather suspicious as to her own state. Still she loved David, and the Spirit of God would warn [p. 27] anyone here who may be on the Michal line — loving Christ at the beginning and despising at the end.
This lover of David, in the place of wife, is later a despiser when he dances before the ark. How sorrowful! We are to watch our hearts. The apostle says, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11: 2). In the espousal the best is looked for. There is great antagonism to Christ at the present time, therefore the need of guarding Him is great, and it is within the range of everyone of us to guard the Lord against the murderer. The Lord is beyond it personally, but He is here in testimony in the assembly which He speaks of as Himself (Acts 9: 4, 5). As thus here the enemy attacks Him, and hence the need of loyal protection. Are we in this wifely position in which love is normal, and in which the very best should be forthcoming? Are we yielding the very best in a military position: guarding the Lord and His people from the murder that is current? It is a very great matter to stand up loyally for Christ, in the household, in the office, in the school, not putting an image in His place to deceive people. Michal let him down by the wall through the window, and in this she served well. She is in keeping with Rahab, who let the spies down by a cord through a window. It is a line of truth running through Scripture, and she is in keeping with it, for she lets him down through the window, and he escapes. David escapes, so that he is yet alive, yet in the testimony, yet ready for kingship; Michal has done well. I am speaking now to the young, particularly to sisters here, as to how far we carry this service, and as to whether we are ready for it. As to the image or teraphim, covered with a net of goat’s hair, the Spirit of God has mentioned it no doubt that we might fully understand [p. 28] Michal, especially in her typical significance. She has it in the house and uses it, it implies an idolatrous state; it is the image. Still she let David down through the window, so that he escaped. She had love for David.
In the book of Joshua we have a more exalted case perhaps than these as regards the letting down. She is Rahab, a great sinner, but later a saved one: hence the more valuable as a witness of divine grace. Saul, too, was a great sinner and hence also a greater monument of grace. He enlarges on this in 1 Timothy 1: 16, saying, “Mercy was shewn me ... for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”. The more one repents, the more one judges himself before God, the more one magnifies the grace of the Saviour, the greater the testimony he bears to the grace that saves. Rahab was a sinner, but now she is a changed person. The Spirit of God enlightens us as to her particularly in James where she is said to have sent the spies out by another way. She learnt the other way rapidly. She not only let the spies down through the window, but there is much said of the cord used. It is not a basket. It was no doubt the product of flax, for Rahab had flax in her house. She does not use a basket, or vessel of any kind, she uses a cord strong enough to let down two men through the window. She was evidently a skilful person. Skill always goes with spirituality, as we see elsewhere; not only understanding, but skill in understanding. There is much that is very slipshod in our understandings as christians. Many have very little shamefacedness in acknowledging their ignorance of things that they should know. Gabriel told Daniel that he had come to make him skilful in understanding.
Rahab evidently had this cord. It is called a line when she sets it up in the window; there [p. 29] it is a matter of testimony. But as a cord it is a question of strength. It represents something the Lord looks for in us as helping His servants in a spiritual way. Hence she lets them down; a covenant having been made between her and the two spies. The cord is now called a line, and is set up in the window as a token; it is to be seen. The word scarlet is put in, a colour that catches the eye. It is a testimony to what happened in that house. It is a testimony of a covenant, one of the most important things in Scripture. It is not only that the spies were let down, but they were told what to do afterwards. It is not always that servants are told what to do by the saints. The servants usually tell the saints what to do, but here is a woman who served these men. Potentially they are to be her saviours, and they were when Jericho was taken, but now she is telling them what to do. Let us not be too shy to tell a brother who lives amongst us what he should do. Even Paul is amenable to advice from the brethren. Rahab tells the spies to go to the mountains, meaning spiritually another way from the ordinary. That is the provision for these servants of God, as to their way. You may wonder why I am stressing this. It is because God would have us reciprocal. Reciprocation among the people of God saves from clericalism. Even as the king of Israel was to be from among the brethren, so the greatest servant is one of the brethren, and he loves to be one of them. He is happier and safer as he maintains this attitude. The principle of reciprocation is most necessary and indeed essential to our mutual salvation. Rahab understands Israel and what God has been doing for Israel, and hence was spiritual, and so she sent the spies out another way. At times, if you can get a brother to go another way to that which he intends to take,
[p. 30] you have gained a victory. The spies, as guided by Rahab, were saved from their pursuers.
The last scripture is to show that all these lettings down are in view of ascension. These servants must have felt it, having to take orders from a woman. Balak took orders from Deborah. Even David was helped by Abigail and saved from blood shedding. All these down-goings are most helpful and wholesome, and establish mutual feelings amongst the brethren, binding them all together in the great spiritual organism in which God has set us. They all have their glorious finish in the up-going which Peter speaks of in Acts 11. It is a well-known passage so I will not go into it. He says, “And again all was drawn up into heaven”. The saints all belong to heaven. It is what comes down from heaven that goes back into it. Our origin spiritually is heaven. Christians are heavenly. The vessel was let down. Peter says descending from heaven, a dignified word: he saw “a certain vessel descending” (verse 11), not falling, but being let down by the four corners. There is dignity in the descending, but, too, there is the care of heaven in binding the sheet by the four corners. Four indicates universality, and the sheet is perfectly intact; it is secure. The Lord says that, “hades’ gates shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16: 18). Such is the great heavenly vessel that has come down. The assembly is in mind. It contains humanity, as you might say, but cleansed of God. The creatures are identified by Peter, “all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven”, and the voice is about what is in that sheet: “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common” (Acts 10: 12, 15). The contents are the subjects of the work of God. The great incident happened thrice, as if God would indelibly impress His great servant with it. “The vessel was straightway taken up into heaven;” like the Lord Himself (Acts 1: 11).
Thus we may well accept the down-lettings. The saints, too, should be alive to this service to the servants of God, and to each other in a general way. They do not make the circumstances, they do not contrive to get a brother into a tight place and to let him down. That is not love. We are to respect one another, and to show honour to one another; “to whom honour, honour” (Romans 13: 7); “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves” (Philippians 2: 3). The saints in Damascus did not make the circumstances we have been considering, God did. He makes all these circumstances, and they are used rightly for the promotion of healthy formation and profitable service amongst us in holy, happy reciprocation of love with all. Work is always going on in the saints in this sense, so that we may be fitted to ascend. All were taken up into heaven. We belong there. We come down here in principle to serve, to be taken up again to be with Christ for ever. What a glorious prospect this is, all to be taken up again into heaven!