YOUTHFULNESS IN THE SAINTS
[p. 55] YOUTHFULNESS IN THE SAINTS
Genesis 37: 2 - 11; Genesis 39: 2, 3; Exodus 24: 5; Exodus 33: 11; Numbers 11: 27 - 29
My thought is to speak on youthfulness in the saints. Any feature of humanity that is worth calling attention to is found in the saints; in the Lord Jesus, of course, all was in infinite perfection, but I do not bring Him in here. I refer to humanity in creatures. Jesus Himself looked upon a young man, and loved him, calling attention, I suppose, to what there was before the introduction dispensationally of the new generation; it was in the probationary period. If He looks upon a young man now to love him, he is one of the saints. How often the Lord must have looked on the apostle John in a personal way! John must have been conscious of the Lord’s admiring look. The Spirit through him tells us that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved.
I venture to bring forward this subject, basing my thoughts and remarks on these passages in the Pentateuch — Genesis, Exodus and Numbers. Many corroborating scriptures could be produced, but for convenience I thought it well to restrict myself to these passages from Moses about youth. The book of Genesis may indeed be regarded as an old man’s book. With the exception of Joseph, little is made in the way of special reference to youth, but special reference is made to Joseph, such references as light up the whole book, directing the attention of faith to one young man.
The first mention of him is at his birth, and the suggestion is that he was spiritual — if not in any concrete way, certainly potentially — for Jacob, we are told, as Joseph was born, would leave Padan-Aram,
[p. 56] to which land he did not belong, and in which he had spent too much of his time. It was not the land of promise, and any other land must be foreign to faith, whatever its glory according to man. It was not the realm of faith, so Jacob significantly spoke of moving away as Rachel bore Joseph.
I refer to this as important, for youth, which is to develop to maturity and experience so as to be eligible for a crown, generally begins early to manifest the evidence of the divine work. In some sense God begins at the very earliest possible date in view of building up vessels such as I have mentioned. Even a Paul, although living a good period of his life in lawlessness, yet spoke about being separated from his infancy. God had done it. In Joseph the Spirit of God would direct our view to the spiritual side in him appearing in a dark scene; the darker the surroundings the more brilliant is the shining out of the work of God. Perhaps nobody but Jacob could discern what was there. Jacob certainly discerned something, and that something is enlarged upon as he proceeds with Joseph, for, as many of us know, Joseph is put before his mother in the display of Jacob’s family before Esau. Esau is the brother who proved false, but had every opportunity of recovering himself by the spiritual element in his brother’s family. If we have to do with Esau’s counterpart now, we shall not testify much to them by mere doctrine, or learning, but by spiritual power.
So the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one. Did Esau take notice of Joseph’s appearing before his mother? It is doubtful, but the testimony was there, and that is the irrefutable testimony, spirituality, which the natural man cannot compass. The history of Joseph is built up on [p. 57] those lines. In Genesis 37 he is seventeen years of age — just a youth. Having considerable ground to cover, one can only make a few remarks as to what marked him at this age. Verse 2 refers to “the generations of Jacob”, but mentions only Joseph; the Spirit of God brings Joseph before our eyes and would have us to retain him before our eyes throughout this book. He is Christ in type. He is seen feeding the flock with his brethren; it is a good occupation for a youth to be occupied with livestock, typically the saints; tending them. In this service he is associated with his brothers, whose conversation was not profitable, but the contrary. He brings an evil report of them to his father, not undertaking at his age to rebuke his brothers — that was his father’s province. Everything is perfect in this respect, the seemliness of youth. The apostle said to Timotheus, “Let no one despise thy youth”. If that injunction is heeded in the way in which we comport ourselves in youth, then no one can despise us. If it be the manner of a grown man, no one can despise that. Joseph brought tidings of his brothers to his father.
And then we have the record that his father loved Him above all his sons, Joseph being the son of his old age. He was loveable, and the sequel shows that he retained this affection throughout, it was not lost on him. Jacob made him a coat of many colours. All this distinction brought upon him persecution; his brethren hated him more and more. Such is the natural attitude as the spiritual shines. It is a very good test, for if we are free of persecution, we may well question our spirituality as to how much of it there is.
The young man was not cowed by their hatred, and the next thing is that he has the mind of God; he is trustworthy. The mind of God is given to [p. 58] reliable persons; and it is not obtained even by reading: although it is most important to read the Bible and books that are helpful — those who do not, suffer loss, and everyone knows it who knows them — but it is not that here, it is a dream, which is one of God’s ways of conveying His mind, and Joseph was capable of this. He got light as regards the house of Jacob. His brethren are first told, the persons immediately concerned, he told his brothers what referred to them, and told his father what referred to him, which is another important thing. If you have anything to tell, tell it to the persons involved, because they are the ones to be told. The result here was that “they hated him yet the more”. What a terrible feeling to be hated more and more, the tide of envy and hatred rising against one! Joseph experienced it in his youth, and according to the record, there was no unseemly resentment on his part, none at all, in fact — he is a wonderful type of Him who was led as a sheep to the slaughter and opened not His mouth.
We are told in chapter 39 that Jehovah was with him; and I may say here, there is nothing more important to say to young men and women than what I am calling attention to now. We see beautiful progress here; Jehovah was with him, and not just occasionally. This always marks those whom God approves. The time comes in the history of a person when God is with him. Jehovah was with Joseph. He was now a slave, but Jehovah was with him, and that fact appears in whatever he is doing, even the most menial thing would bring it out. If he were to clean his master’s boots, he would do it well, God was with him. Then, we are told, he was a prosperous man; that is increase. That is the divine way, for spirituality means increase more and more. Chapter 37 does not say [p. 59] Joseph was prosperous, but here in persecution, in captivity, he is increasing.
What I have said about him suffices just now; one could say much more, for he is one of the most striking types of Christ in the book of Genesis. In fact the whole of the Pentateuch is lit up by the account the Spirit of God gives of this young man. I am mentioning these particular traits and incidents because without some understanding of them we shall never acquire an elder’s crown; we may aspire to it, but never attain it. We must build from the bottom. There are no short cuts in divine things. The Psalms tell us about this young man, how the word came that he was to say, that is, his ministry, and how the word of the Lord tried him. Here he is a prosperous man, and that speaks much.
I now come to Exodus to bring out another thing in regard to youth, in chapter 24, but shall comment very briefly on this passage. Having built up the foundation in Genesis for ministry in young men, we have youths here sent by Moses to do priestly work. I want to call attention to the fact that God, before naming a thing, would bring out that it exists, that it is functioning. That is one point I seek to make clear from this passage. Many of us in our youth have desired to be known as teachers or evangelists before the needed ability marked us, whereas, God’s thought is, let the thing shine before naming it, let it be there unquestionably. Even Paul was not sent out formally for a considerable time; yet he was able to preach and to pray, he was a priest, for the Lord said to Ananias, “Behold, he is praying”. A great feature in a young man is that he is marked by prayer; indeed it is the public testimony to priesthood. We are told to pray always. The Lord in Luke is seen about ten times [p. 60] in prayer. So ability for service should be in evidence before it is formally named. It is very pleasing to God that one humbly goes on with any work he can do. Let somebody else name it, not oneself, not the person involved. It is to be noted that we are not told who these young men mentioned in Exodus 24 were, not a word as to this, but that they are young men and that Moses sent them. He would know them, of course, but they are not called priests; their service, however, was priestly.
I now go on to Joshua. He is not called a young man when first introduced to us in Exodus 17, but he is in the passage I read in Exodus 33. He is a military man as introduced to us, a trustworthy man too, who did well in breaking the power of Amalek by the edge of the sword, but now he is said to be a young man and not departing from the tabernacle; not simply that he is there, but he is not leaving the position — that is the idea. You might be there and your mind elsewhere, but his mind is there. That is his determination, which is a very good thing in young people, that is determination in the things that are right, but not determination to carry out one’s own will, which is often seen in young people to their ruin, but Joshua is in a position in connection with God’s will, and he is not departing from it — “from within the tent”. Moses went into the camp, but this young man did not depart from within the tabernacle. It is a fine trait in a young person when you know that a certain attitude or position is right, that it is of God, to resolve to continue in it. We are told in Romans 7 of an almost unspeakable experience or analysis, but the Holy Spirit enabled the servant who went through it to write it down for us, so that we may understand how he comes out triumphantly with the power of [p. 61] determination; and I urge this on young people, to resolve to do what is right at all cost. “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. That is a resolve, and he who made it was used of God, more than any believer.
In moving on to Numbers 11, we come to Joshua again, but now, alas, in a very different role. He is still a youth — one of Moses’ young men. In this connection there is one thing I cannot omit saying, that this young man, who became a great servant of God, at one time had bad hearing, not physical hearing, but spiritual hearing, which is a very dangerous thing in the house of God. It is a great disadvantage to people who are seeking to listen to what the Spirit of God is saying if they cannot hear physically, but it has to be accepted, or overcome as far as may be, but when there is poor hearing in a spiritual sense, that person is dangerous. He will misconstrue things that are said, he will report them wrongly, he will give out what he thinks is the sense instead of giving the words used. I am referring to Exodus 32. Moses and Joshua were coming down from the mountain, an old and a young brother together, and the young one says, “There is a shout of war in the camp”. Moses says, “It is the noise of alternate singing I hear”. Suppose Moses and Joshua have to give evidence as to what they heard, what would be the result? The young man says, ‘The voice of war’, which would be favourable to the idolaters and would seem to vindicate them. Moses says, ‘The voice of mirth’, which would not vindicate them, but indicate idolatry; you will thus see the position. Suppose one says, ‘To whom are we to listen?’ I should say the old man, the brother of experience. Joshua would bring in a false report that time if called upon, had he not been corrected by Moses. When spying out the land, he brought [p. 62] no false report, but now he would tend to vindicate his brethren, when they are not to be vindicated; they are idolatrous. Moses will condemn them, he will tell the facts, his experienced ear knew it was the voice of mirth. Paul brings it down to our dispensation, 1 Corinthians 10: 7, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”. That was what Moses heard, and he knew it, and he condemned Israel.
I now return to the book of Numbers, where we still have Joshua, who is said to be “Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses, one of his young men”. Watch the last phrase; I think it is the first time we get it. We hear also of Joab’s men, and the men of other leaders. They are apt to be partisans — a dangerous thing — and sometimes seen in young brothers. Now Joshua says, as he learned that two others were prophesying in the camp, “My lord Moses, forbid them!” Forbid what God is doing! See how easily we get into a false position. This is a most estimable young man, a servant of Moses, one of Moses’ young men; there are others, and that is where the danger lies with young men in the things of God. It is a remarkable statement here that he was one of his young men, being also his attendant, and having been on the mount with him. Another young man here observed that these men were prophesying in the camp, and he came and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp”. You cannot blame this young man. He had something important to speak about, information that Moses should have, but here is Joshua, who ought to know better, saying, “My lord Moses, forbid them!” Others might say that as Joshua said this, it must be right, but it is not right, Joshua is not saying the right thing, honourable as he is. I am speaking of this to show what we all are liable to. “My lord Moses” — no man like him, Jehovah said later; he is worthy of Joshua’s allegiance, worthy of his loyalty, but Joshua has no license for telling Moses what to do. Abishai said to David that Shimei should be put to death, but David refused, asserting that he knew he was king of Israel. It is a question of the dispensation and Moses represents this here. Why should any one say to him, “My lord Moses, forbid them”? Forbid what? God gave Eldad and Medad the Spirit, not Moses. It was taken by Jehovah from Moses, and given to these men. It was to some extent reducing Moses’ importance, and Moses accepted it most beautifully.
We do well to observe that partisanship even in relation to Moses, an honoured servant, is to be repudiated. “My lord Moses”! Who deserved such respect more? But Moses says, “Enviest thou for my sake?” He did not want that. He says to Joshua, “Enviest thou for my sake? would that all Jehovah’s people were prophets and that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them!” Partisanship in favour of a servant rather limits God, and shuts out His sovereignty, and we must always make room for this. Joshua failed in that, great servant though he was.
So these scriptures in the Pentateuch, specially these ministerial books, adjust us. They are written for our learning that we might see our tendencies and forestall them, and resolve to do the will of God. “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. I could say more in regard to Moses himself from Exodus to bring out youth as maturing; his history is alongside Joseph’s and David’s; from an infant he is before us. Stephen says that when Moses was full forty years old “it came into his heart to look upon his brethren”. He identified himself [p. 64] with his brethren who were slaves. He elected to suffer with them, valuing the reproach of Christ, and identifying himself with the Hebrew slaves as his brethren. In his advanced years Moses was commended by Jehovah, saying, “He is faithful in all my house” (Numbers 12: 7).