GARRISONS

James Renton

2 Samuel 8: 5,6; 13,14; 2 Chronicles 17: 1,2

I desire to say a few words about garrisons. In chapter 8 of 2 Samuel David is establishing his kingdom which involved the subjugation of certain elements. We have in this chapter the whole extent of the kingdom under David, going to the Euphrates, over which Solomon his son reigned afterwards. At the end of the chapter we have David's cabinet; he "reigned over all Israel: and David executed judgment and justice to all his people", and his officers in the kingdom are named. In the next chapter we have the demonstration of grace. The kingdom is protective and is based on righteousness, but the mode of operation is grace. David said, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul" (v 1), and there was Mephibosheth. Grace on the part of David was appreciated by Mephibosheth, and he came into the value of David's kingdom. In the corresponding passage in 1 Chronicles 18 we have the same kind of subjugation taking place, David's cabinet established and David reigning over all Israel, and there was the going out of grace towards the new king of the children of Ammon, but that overture of grace was despised. The fact that the kingdom of God is established at the present time is of great benefit to men. The Lord Jesus sitting with His Father on His throne is a position of favour for men because of the going out of the glad tidings. Mephishobeth appreciated and came into the joy of sonship, eating at the king's table, but in 1 Chronicles 19 the same grace goes out, the same compassion and sympathy, but they are not appreciated. That is the setting at the present time.

I desire, however, to speak about garrisons. Garrisons are put in Syria of Damascus and in Edom. These are the only two places in this chapter where there are garrisons. After the putting of the garrisons in these places it says, twice over, "Jehovah preserved David whithersoever he went". The idea of a garrison is a very important matter. We have first of all to garrison ourselves, to guard ourselves individually. In Philippians 4 we read: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness" - or your moderation - "be known of all men. The Lord is near. Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard" - or as in the Authorised Version 'shall garrison' - "your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus" (vv 4-7). Individually we should know what a garrison is, how to guard ourselves. "Be careful about nothing" means do not be overcareful about anything, “but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving". Prayer would be a general idea of the expression of dependence, and supplication would be a humble attitude taken regarding any specific matter that may arise in our lives. "In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard", or garrison, "your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus". Oh, how important it is to garrison our hearts and our thoughts. The enemy can get in by means of our hearts and our thoughts. Let us know what a garrison is, to guard our hearts and our thoughts by the peace of God which surpasses all understanding". Oh, I would like to know something of this kind of garrison.

Then there is need for garrisons in our localities, guarding what is local for the pleasure of God. We have first of all a garrison in Syria of Damascus. The first mention of the Syrian was Laban. In Genesis three times we have reference to Laban the Syrian; therefore we can see early in Laban the feature of the Syrian. The Syrians actually became enemies of God's people throughout the books of Kings, and they are enemies of the Jews right to the present time. I understand that in the last days Ammon, Moab and Edom will come to light, but Syria is there now. It shows how persistent the Syrians are in opposition. Laban the Syrian was a man who was looking for self-promotion, selfish advantage. When the servant was responded to by Rebecca in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis it is written of Laban, in verse 30, that he saw the ring and the bracelets on her hand. Laban the Syrian was a politician looking for self-importance and self-promotion, and that, dear brethren, let us face it, is in every one of our hearts. If anyone says, I am not like that, he does not know his own heart. It is in every one of our hearts and needs to be subjugated and garrisoned. It says, "David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David". Oh, it searches us, dear brethren; with these Syrian propensities can we become servants to the true David? "The Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And Jehovah preserved David whithersoever he went". The feature of self-promotion can upset a locality. Have we not seen it? Maybe we have had part in some self-promotion, some importance; how subtle it is! The same element that seeks promotion in politics or in business can be active in the locality and spoil what is for Christ. David personally was not in Syria, but the garrison was there, and the garrison represented David in Syria, just as our Lord Jesus Christ is absent and is looking for persons in our localities who are subdued, who become serviceable to Him in His absence maintaining by self-judgment what is for the pleasure of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The other place where there was a garrison was in Edom. "He put garrisons in Edom: throughout Edom did he put garrisons". The feature of Edom was that he forsook the brotherly covenant. Have we not seen that working in localities? Have we not seen brotherly relations breaking down, distance coming in? What havoc it has worked! These two elements; self-promotion, and the breakdown of brotherly relationships, have happened in localities. Do we not therefore need garrisons? There is the danger of falling out with our brethren when we get a distance from them. We were reading 1 Peter recently: chapter 2 begins, "Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings". These things are elements that come to light in our relations with one another. The fact is, dear brethren, in our working with our brethren locally, we have to judge features that we would not know existed unless we were working with brethren. Anyone alone on a desert island would not have occasion to be marked by malice or evil speakings or envy. It is in our working things out together that these features arise, hence the need of the garrison. "He put garrisons in Edom; throughout Edom did he put garrisons and all they of Edom became servants to David". How needful is the element of the garrison, maintaining a continual guarding, not just now and again, but continually. David was not there but his garrisons were there, and they represented the tastes and desires of David. In Syria and in Edom there were garrisons.

In 2 Chronicles Jehoshaphat put garrisons in what had been acquired by his father Asa. Like Asa, several kings of Judah had a very bright beginning and failed in the end. Let those of us who are older be garrisoned, no matter how the Lord may have helped previously. Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Hezekiah and even Josiah, were good kings, and they failed at the end of their lives. Jehoshaphat "set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had taken". That was something recovered; we need to guard what has been recovered, what has been acquired in the exercises of what we speak of as the recovery or the revival of the truth. The importance of this feature in our localities was seen in Paul in Ephesus for three years as he describes it in Acts 20. He certainly was a garrison there. He said "for three years, night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one of you with tears" (v 31). "These hands have ministered to my wants, and to those who were with me" (v 34). He had not shrunk from announcing to them all the counsel of God (see v 27). The full light of Christianity, the full light of what has been recovered in this time in which we are, has to be garrisoned. He showed to the overseers his hands and he appealed to them; he told them what could happen, and what did happen, in his absence. He said "Wherefore watch, remembering that for three years, night and day I ceased not admonishing each one of you with tears". What an overseer Paul was! He leaves his example with the overseers in the locality. There is a great need in localities of overseers. In Paul's day overseers were appointed; Paul chose elders in each assembly (see Acts 14: 23). He chose elders, they were selected men. They are not chosen today, they are not official, but the element of overseership is most important in our localities, to be a garrison, to represent the tastes and what suits our absent Lord down here in local settings. It involves labour - "for three years night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one of' you with tears". He speaks earlier: "I held back nothing of what is profitable, so as not to announce it to you, and to teach you publicly and in every house" (v 20).

There is a need for more household visiting. If we see one another only in the meeting it can be formal. There is a need for household visiting, not only being invited for a meal which Peter encourages - " hospitable one to another", 1 Pet 4: 9. Paul would not wait to be invited for a meal, he would call on each house; he knew where each brother and sister lived and he would call and teach in every house. This used to be done in earlier days. In my young days there used to be more visiting in households, just calling on one another, and thus young people get to know the brothers, not only in meetings but they know them in a friendly household way and all this builds up and promotes brotherly and sisterly relations; it promotes the element of family life.

Great care was taken about Ephesus, for Ephesus represents the fulness of assembly light which has to be garrisoned. Paul spent three years there; then he called the overseers over especially to instruct them as he was going away. We need to be concerned, dear brethren, about the maintenance of the fulness of what has been recovered because the level tends to lower. The recovery began brightly with fulness of devotion to the Lord and exercise to provide what is suitable to Him. There must be such exercise represented in our localities. Paul wrote to Timothy: "Even as I begged thee to remain in Ephesus, when I was going to Macedonia, that thou mightest enjoin some not to teach other doctrines", 1 Tim 1: 3. He was to be a garrison to protect what was so precious. We have or ought to have the full light of Ephesians and it needs to be garrisoned. Paul felt happier about Ephesus leaving Timothy there; his true child in faith was left to represent Paul, represent Christ in His absence. How important this matter of garrison is! It applies to the great subject of overseership.

Paul also sent Timothy to Corinth. He speaks of the Corinthians as "my beloved children"; he speaks of Timothy as "my beloved and faithful child". His beloved and faithful child was sent amongst his beloved children who were not behaving well. In Corinth there was the house of Chloe, not prominent, but she felt the condition of things. There was something of a garrison there; she could inform Paul as to what the conditions were. There was also the house of Stephanas in Corinth, which Paul commends in the last chapter of 1 Corinthians. He says, "I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the saints for service,) that ye should also be subject to such, and to every one joined in the work and labouring. But I rejoice in the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus; because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: own therefore such", 1 Cor 16: 15-18. Such persons were at Corinth, maybe they were not able to do very much because there was a strong party element there, but at least they represented something like a garrison in that locality. Paul wrote to the Colossians who, like most of us, had made some progress but were in danger, but in the locality at Colosse there was Epaphras, a local brother, who had the same desires as Paul. Paul speaks in Colossians about "what combat I have for you" (chap 2: 1), and Epaphras at the end of the epistle is commended because he prayed the same way as Paul prayed; he combated the same way as Paul combated. "Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus, salutes you, always, combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God", chap 4: 12. Such a man was a fine garrison in Colosse; would they not prosper with a man like that there?

May the Lord encourage us to see the need to garrison ourselves, our hearts and our thoughts, and be exercised that there might be this element of protecting what is so valuable to the Lord in our local settings. It is incumbent upon us. The Lord is not here, the Lord is absent, but there are to be persons in localities to represent what is in the Lord's mind for us for the pleasure of God. There were garrisons in Syria and in Edom and in what was acquired by Asa, and so we need to protect and guard what there is in our localities. We have a great desire for additions, especially in localities where there are few, but there is something as important if not more important, and that is to guard what we have especially if we have numbers because some have been lost. Let our first exercise be to guard what we have, to promote what is for the Lord's pleasure, to protect persons and maintain the level of what is for the pleasure and glory of God. At least some have to. If no persons in the locality have this feature, conditions will definitely deteriorate. But the Lord is looking to those available to garrison what is so pleasing to Him. We were speaking about the angel of the various assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3 where the Lord appeals to the responsible element. We are all responsible, but some are more responsible than others. Shepherds are more responsible than sheep. We are not all shepherds, some are sheep who have to be cared for, and the Lord expects shepherds to care for the sheep. The Lord holds shepherds and overseers responsible for conditions in localities. May the Lord encourage us and help us. Think of the privilege these garrisons had in David's time to represent the absent David. What a privilege we have to garrison our hearts and our thoughts, and to protect what is so precious to the Lord in our local settings. May the Lord help us to take it on, for His Name's sake.

TORONTO

20 May 1989