FOLLOWING THE LORD
J. R. Surtees
John 21: 19–22; Luke 22: 7–13; Numbers 14: 24
It is in mind to say a brief, simple word, as to following the Lord. It is an individual thing and nobody here is outside of the exhortation the Lord makes which is recorded for us as we read
“Follow thou me”. It has been often noted, that of all the words recorded of the Lord Jesus, these would appear to be recorded last of all, as though there is something specially applying to us each one. We all feel the need, I am sure, of being able to say clearly whether or not we have followed the Lord. History would show that what the scripture says is true, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way”, Isaiah 53: 6. So it is not just that we slipped into something by mistake so to speak, “we have turned every one to his own way”.
These are solemn things because it means that we have exercised our own will. Nobody here, I believe, would take the ground that I have never exercised my own will. Mr. Darby has a lot to encourage us about, and one of the things which I like to refer to is that he says that deliverance is not thinking little of ourselves, it is not thinking of ourselves at all. Well that is the pathway of liberty, where there is no will of my own. The Lord Jesus did not exercise His own will here. He said, “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42.
Peter here needed a little more adjustment. All this, I think, is part of what is spoken of in the beginning of the chapter that He manifested Himself to them. The Lord Jesus did that, and in doing so He brought Peter in a special way into touch with Himself. So it comes about that the Lord says to Peter finally, “Follow thou me”. Where is the Lord going? Well, of course, He was going to the Father; He was about to ascend; He was about to be at the right hand of God, to be glorified and highly exalted of the Father. What a sphere of contemplation that is to think of the Lord Jesus along with the Father, now there in manhood, having accomplished redemption, having filled out the Father’s will and displayed divine love, having, as one of the hymns puts it.
‘Great the glory Thou art given,
And the glory Thou hast won’. (Hymn 181)
What contemplations these are to think of the Lord Jesus along with the Father.
He was going out of the world, and that is where we follow the Lord Jesus. We are not part of this world, it is not our world. It is not for us to build up the world, or indeed to be built up by it. The sentence upon this world is passed. God has proclaimed that it is worthy of nothing else but judgment, and judgment it will verily receive. Who can measure what the sufferings of men will be! God is righteous and will be righteous in meting out judgment to the world, because, as activated by Satan, it is that which put the Lord Jesus upon the cross, and it is that which has defiled the saints. We cannot be too clear about God’s judgment of the world; behind all the glamour and the excitement there is independence of God and hatred of Christ; that is the world.
So that Peter sees the disciple that Jesus loved following, and that leads to the Lord Jesus saying personally to Peter, almost as if there might be a special word of exhortation in it applying to each of us, “Follow thou me”. Much as I may love others, and much as I may love my brethren and exhort them to fulfil this word, the best way, and the only way really, is to be an example of it. There was a time when His face was set steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.
But then His word to them was about their names being written in the heavens (Luke 10: 20).
Our portion is heavenly. Do I encourage my brethren in that? Am I able to strengthen them and to pray for them in view of their entering into their heavenly portion for the heart of Christ because He is so worthy of it? Christendom, in which, of course, we all have a part, is not so much concerned about the heart of Christ, as it is concerned about the place of Christians in the world. Well that is not the full thought, the full thought is what is for the heart of Christ and for the pleasure of God. That is what really matters, that is what following the Lord Jesus will lead us to, to consider for what is for God.
I believe it would be right to say, that no one here, who can understand the words, is too young to understand the idea of following the Lord. It is very individual. You cannot have your eyes on somebody else who is following. Peter did that, he said, Well, what about this man? He looked sideways, so to speak, he was concerned about somebody else. The Lord is able to look after them. In this context, it is clearly and simply between my soul and Christ. It is for me to follow Him. Never mind about somebody else for the moment; you follow the Lord Jesus.
Now that may not always be as simple as it might appear. Following the Lord Jesus will never lead us into conflict with the saints who love the truth, it never will. This man who is spoken of in Luke’s gospel, had an earthen pitcher of water, and the Lord said they were to follow him. He did not lead to himself; he did not attract to himself. It does not say that he said anything to them; it does not give his name; he just appears for this purpose and immediately goes off the scene. The Lord may use somebody like that. He would be concerned for what is for Christ here in a practical way; how it may be maintained; how there may be a place furnished and ready for the heart of Christ that He may partake of the passover with His disciples. So the Lord says, “Behold, as ye enter into the city a man will meet you, carrying an earthen pitcher of water”. It was as though he was looking out for them. He had in his heart, I think, what was in Christ’s heart. He would have known, it would appear, that the disciples were to be directed where they were to prepare the place for the Lord Jesus to be with them. As we know from the teaching, it would speak of the formation of the Spirit. Paul says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”, 2 Corinthians 4: 7. What formation there was in the heart of Paul and others with him, such as Timotheus and Silas!
Well, this man was carrying an earthen pitcher of water. Typically, he had appropriated the power of the Spirit. The Spirit would lead us to Christ; He would give us in our hearts an understanding of what is suitable
for the heart of Christ. He would give us a desire, and an understanding, for a place to be prepared here to which the Lord Jesus would be happy to come, and find His own place of rest. So there was this man, and they were told to “follow him into the house where he goes in”. He was giving a lead as to what was suitable to the heart of Christ. As I say, he was not leading to himself. There is no suggestion, as far as I can see from this scripture, that they were doing anything other than the word of the Lord in following the man with the pitcher of water. So the word is, “The Teacher says to thee, Where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished”. It is something above the level of what is here, the upper room would suggest that. It was not the mere profession of Jerusalem, it was not something ordinary, it was not something that could be found amongst the arrangements of men, it is something above that—“a large upper room furnished”. I wonder if our localities are like that.
I often think of how we assemble. It says in the Acts of the Lord assembling with them (see Acts 1: 4). As we come to our gatherings do we have the sense of the Lord being there, delighting to be there, happy to be there? It says, “there make ready. And having gone they found it as he had said to them; and they prepared the passover”. Our localities are what they are as the saints enter into the preparation of things. If I go along casually, expecting that others will bring what is needed to be brought, and say what is needed to be said, and pray when the time comes to pray, and so on, if I go to the meeting like that, it is hardly on the line of preparing. Here, they were to prepare, they found the room furnished, someone had gone before, and it was suitable. There would be conditions of rest and, I suppose, it would be in accordance with the dignity of the man in Jerusalem who had the pitcher of water. He would have to walk in a dignified way, would he not? I mean, just practically speaking, when carrying a pitcher of water, if it was to be preserved, he could not rush about or change his mind as to in which direction he was going, or anything like that; he would have to proceed in a dignified manner, and that is how the saints assemble. So, by the Lord’s direction, they were to follow this man to the house. Then he goes out of sight, another thing which we all need to take on. We need to be helped to know how to go out of sight. How easy it is to give undue prominence to somebody in a place at a certain time, perhaps someone with a gift or something like that; but this man was allowed to go out of sight. He serves in that way to provide for the gathering of the saints for the Lord’s heart and then he disappears; he becomes, I suppose, one of the company.
Now I refer to Caleb. Of course there are many others that could be referred to, but Caleb followed Jehovah in the most difficult of circumstances. Earlier, when there was criticism, it says that the people said that they should be stoned with stones (Numbers 14: 10). Joshua and Caleb brought back a true report of the land and they encouraged the people in relation to it; they were not marked by looking sideways. So the word of Jehovah as to him is, “But my servant Caleb, because he hath another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he came; and his seed shall possess it”. What a promise that was! Because he had followed Jehovah fully. I suppose that would mean that he had followed the cloud and went after the ark. You remember that the cloud comes in earlier in this book; they were to keep their eyes on the cloud, then they were all positioned around the tabernacle too, and they moved forward according to the order that God had directed. There were three tribes to the north, three to the south, three to the east and three to the west. When they actually moved Levi was amongst all of them. It shows that they could move in a way that enabled love to be practical and operative. They would have to have their eyes upon the cloud, and when the ark went ahead the people of Israel followed.
Now Caleb, it says, “hath followed me fully”. I suppose that means that his heart was in it. He was not just keeping in step because he would have some explaining to do if he did not; how poor that would be. But this is the divine comment because he had done that, and there was another spirit in him; he was not marked by the spirit of murmuring or discontent that belonged to the generality of the people. God said that he will enter into the land and his seed will possess it. Now that would be a link with what we were speaking of as to the generations. I feel this, dear brethren, however little time there may be available to us we do not know, but are we able to prepare things such that our seed, those whom God has given us in our localities, are able to possess it? Is my example such that persons will be able to enter in to what has been in my heart before the Lord, and what has been in my walk according to the Lord, so that they can enter into the land and possess it, and possess it fully? The children of Israel had to do two things, did they not? They had to enter into the land, that was one thing; and they had to take possession of it, that is a different thing, that involves exercise. It involved a lot of conflict, it involved a lot of overcoming.
The seed of Caleb possessed it, there were the upper springs and the lower springs that they possessed. Caleb gave it to them, and there was the field too, what they found amongst their brethren. So I think the Lord Jesus would help us, and the Spirit of God in a special way would help us, to follow the Lord in our hearts as well as in our walk. May it be so, in His precious name.
Address at Aberdeen. Scotland
3 June 1995