THE FOURTH WATCH

Psalm 24: 1-10; 2 Samuel 7: 18-26; Numbers 23: 19-23

R.D.P. We are in the last watch of the night which Mark speaks of. He speaks of the disciples in the ship rowing about the fourth watch of the night (see chap 6: 48). It is a different watch from the others. I think we can see that the dispensation has had certain phases. If we look back to the beginning we see the powerful inauguration of things, a power which was unique. Since then the watches have passed, the great persecutions in the Middle Ages, and so on. These phases have gone and we are now in the last watch. The next event, dear brethren, is the dawn. Whilst it is obviously a time of great anticipation, it is also the time of the greatest weariness. I just wondered if we might see that during the last watch we get these appearances of the Lord on the water. "He comes to them", it says, "walking on the sea". I think Mr Coates refers to His extraordinary movements. That is what marks our day, the Lord is moving on the sea.

I read these scriptures that we might see that we need to be preserved in admiration and wonderment in relation to divine things. Things are not to become ordinary with us or to lose their edge. You may say that persons who are keeping the fourth watch have become connoisseurs of what is excellent spiritually. The repetition of things, even of the Lord's supper, has not made for ordinariness, it has made for distinctiveness. Looking forward to such occasions is growing with us and not dying with us. We might just look at the way in which these scriptures set out how what we have to do with is marked by distinctiveness. The hymn speaks of 'Thy grand conceived economy' (No. 242). Here we are today, just a few of us, in felt weakness, but we have part in this grand conceived economy. The Lord Jesus has entered into glory. I was affected by that this morning, that the gates of heaven were lifted up to receive Him. The question here in this psalm goes out: "Who is this King of glory? " Mr Taylor's hymn (No. 350) says,

Received in glory bright up there,

The Father's greetings, honours rare,

Are heaped upon His Son's blest brow;

He is the mighty Victor now.

Think of all the heavens, every created sphere, marvelling in wonderment at the glory of the One who had accomplished everything for God, and every gate was opened to Him.

In 2 Samuel 7 we have David. He faces disappointment but he does not lose sight of the glory of what God is doing. He says, as it were, I accept the disappointment from His hand. But what kind of man is it who is filling His vision? In Numbers 23 even the enemy, all the concerted power of the devil at the end of the day, has to stand back and admire God's handiwork. He says "What hath God wrought!".

A.A.B-n. Would there be in the last watch the anticipation of the dawn, the One who is the morning star (see Rev 22: 16). It has been said, has it not, that the darkest hour is just before the approach of dawn? Hence the necessity of our being in expectation and constantly stimulated in our affections for Christ Himself, the Supper having a great part in that.

R.D.P. Those who know about the sea will know that the night is divided into four watches. It was the fourth watch, the last watch. The next thing is the daybreak. They were in the boat, labouring in the rowing. You have to watch what you are doing when you are rowing, otherwise you do not make much progress. They were labouring, but what happened was that the Lord came to them on the sea. We may go on in the fellowship and come along to the meetings every Lord's day, and carry on together, and have our part in the rowing, but do not let us miss the fact that He is moving on the sea. That is what makes everything live. It is the distinctiveness of Jesus that makes things live. It is not even what is in a sense among the saints, precious as that is. It is His own distinctiveness. Heaven's glory is the presence of Christ, and what makes the testimony distinctive is as we apprehend Jesus in it.

A.McB. What does Mark mean when he says that He would have passed them by?

R.D.P. I wondered whether it is not the challenge of our day. It is a day when He is looking for those who desire Him, who love Him. His work has been done, done for God, and men have come into the blessing of that. I think the fourth watch is a peculiar time when He is looking for the answering affection from His own. He made as if he would have passed them by. It says in the scripture we read yesterday: "he made as though he would go farther", Luke 24: 28. He wanted them, in that sense, to detain Him. In Revelation He is standing at the door and knocking (see chap 3: 20); He is not opening the door. He could do it, but He is waiting for affection to open it to Him.

A.McB. I think that is helpful. It was not that He was not aware of them, because "immediately he spoke with them, and says to them, Be of good courage; it is I". How He loves to bring Himself before us!

R.D.P. I wondered that. This was prompted by the remark made yesterday as to the truth being all out. We have to see that He is moving, and His movements are distinctive to those who love Him. It is those who love Him who will apprehend His movements.

J.S-r. Does the language that David uses in Psalm 103 fit into the present moment? He says "Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name! " (v 1).

R.D.P. That is very good: "all that is within me". At one point David danced with all his might before the ark (see 2 Sam 6: 14). His wife was disapproving. She said "How honourable did the king of Israel make himself'' (v 20). We are taught that that is just mere profession. David said, I am not content with mere profession, "I will make myself yet more vile than thus" (v 22). The ark was before him. What will give the saints distinction spiritually at the present time is to have Jesus before them. I think that the Lord's day is especially a day of stimulation, to see that what we have before us is glorious and distinctive.

J.M. Not only has the Lord been received into glory but He has been received up in glory. Do you think the last watch, the recovery in which we have our part, was due to that word "Behold the bridegroom", Matt 25: 6?

R.D.P. That is helpful; the last watch would be that. The Lord was on the mountain in Mark, and He compelled them into the boat. The testimony in that sense is compelled to go across to the other side without Him. The Lord is moving on the sea. "Behold the bridegroom" is that that Man is expected, not the event but the Person. What you find is that the last watch is the most taxing, but it is the most blessed.

R.S.R. The fourth watch, I understand, is from three o'clock to six o'clock in the morning, when we would be drowsy. I was thinking of the passage quoted: "Behold the bridegroom". We are inclined to slumber and sleep, but would the expectation of the imminence of the bridegroom keep us awake?

R.D.P. There are many scriptures that show that the common thing is sleep. The virgins "all grew heavy and slept", Matt 25: 5. When the cry went out they were all asleep. There are other references too. It speaks of watching and praying (see Matt 26: 41). That applies peculiarly today. At His appearing He will "appear to those that look for him the second time without sin for salvation", Heb 9: 28. We are not going to see Him if we are just content with what is ordinary. It is greater than that.

R.S.R. The title "King of glory" is something very majestic, is it not? Royalty and splendour.

R.D.P. The hymn-writer says

'Great the glory Thou art given,

And the glory Thou hast won' (No.181)

Think of heaven as it had contemplated Him, the Babe in the manger, the 'houseless, homeless Stranger' (hymn 188), and then His majestic movements even into death , and out of death. But He is coming to fill heaven - the King of glory. There is not a glory that is too great for such a One. He is the King of it.

H.F. When the psalmist gets that impression he cannot let it go; it comes into each verse from verse 7 onwards.

R.D.P. To me there is almost a suggestion of gate after gate of heaven - putting it into language we understand - opening up to receive Him, the King of glory. They say "Who is he... ?" "Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle". You contemplate all that Christ ha s accomplished. He has paid the price for my redemption. He has met the whole matter of sin as it had entered into the world. He has paid the price for the reconciliation of all things; it is just awaiting the day to come. The scripture says "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid", Isa 11: 6. All the pain and the suffering of creation will be gone, and the price has already been paid in the death of Christ, "mighty in battle". He has taken on the enemy and defeated him entirely. All these things would come into our hearts, I think, at the service as we get some impression of His glory, not only what He has done for me but what He has done for God. The great victory that has secured my blessing is the victory that has brought in many families and secured all things for God.

A.A.B-n. Should we be in accord with these gates? You speak of these gates and the Lord's great ascending movement. Paul speaks of "the third heaven", 2 Cor 12: 2. The Lord is of course unique, but Paul must have had some experience of this, so close was he to Christ.

R.D.P. He speaks of things "which it is not allowed to man to utter" (v 4). There had never been a man in heaven before. As Christ went in, those gates which had never opened to man were opened to Jesus. He goes in and I think you get a sense that heaven has set on the wonderment, and it is for us to be affected by it continually. Perhaps sometimes we allow ourselves to become humdrum in our expressions, in our response. I speak for myself. We are all made of dust, we are all weak, but I think the Spirit would encourage us to see that Christ has gone in. Everything for God and everything for man is secured entirely and for ever in that Man. Nothing can fail because it is all secured in Him.

J.S. The double portion of the spirit which Elisha asked for was consequent on keeping his eye on Elijah. "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee", 2 Kings 2: 10.

R.D.P. That is good; it is the Man who has gone up who affects our hearts. It was the Man who had gone up who affected Paul. It was the Man who had gone up who affected Mr Darby and the others at the beginning of the revival, and it is the Man who has gone up who will hold our affections rightly today. We have to meet the sorrows and the joys of what is down here, but our eyes are higher.

A.A.B-n. You referred to what He has done for God. Would that be the answer of the gates? How far can we enter into that, what He has accomplished for God? What He has removed in its totality, what He has opened up in its totality for God!

R.D.P. It is not without point that in the recovery in Nehemiah there is so much detail given as to the gates as if to indicate the great interest that God has in this matter. The gates of heaven! Who could speak of it? Who could speak of the inner recesses of heaven except to say that Christ has gone through them all: "who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things", Eph 4: 10. As one writer says, There is nothing we need outside of Christ.

Jas.B. Would this question as to who He is come before the heart of each one of us each time we come together? What is He to me?

R.D.P. The Lord said to the woman at the well: "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink", John 4: 10. We need to develop in our knowledge of the Saviour, in our knowledge of Christ. The vastness of what is there! We often dwell upon the smallness of the compass into which the Lord came, but it also does us good to contemplate the vastness of what was there. Mr Taylor has two interesting addresses, one succeeding the other, one on the smallness of the ark of God, then the next one on the vastness of Noah's ark, the greatness of the ark as taking in every thought of God (see Vol.83, pp.46, 54). As well as thinking affectionately of the small conditions the Lord came into, we should think of the greatness that was there. It was there in John's gospel. The human veil was there too, but it shone through.

R.S.R. Do you think we could apply verse 7 to ourselves? There is to be no impediment to this glorious Person. Heads, gates lifted up, every facility granted, and the King of glory shall come in. It would start in our affections, would it not?

R.D.P. I think so. I suppose what underlies it would be what we are in the week. We cannot expect everything to fall into place if we have been careless as to how we have been through the week. I think what you say is helpful in that the gates move smoothly. You do not have to drag them open. The gate opens of itself; the mechanism is in order, you may say. I think the mechanism for us would be the moral side of things, so that when the time of His glory comes the gates open easily. There are no long pauses, there is no hesitation, there is no over-occupation with one another. The gates open and Christ becomes dominant.

Jas.B. Is our side in verses 3 and 4? "Who shall ascend... ? He that hath blameless hands and a pure heart". So conditions are suited for me to go in.

R.D.P. There is an interesting quotation in this month's magazine as to a pure heart. Mr Walkinshaw quotes Mr George Ware as saying, A pure heart is a heart that would not willingly hold any motive that is contrary to Christ. We may say, Can I ever say I have a pure heart? But a heart that would not willingly have any motive contrary to Christ, what a fine thing that is! Pure of heart: you could go through the week like that. You may say you often fail, but is your heart given to Christ? Does it feel the breakdown? We feel the way we often fail, but let us never alter our gaze upon the One who is coming for us. David had a great desire to improve the divine dwelling place. I hope that we all have that desire. We would like to think that in some way by our being here in Grangemouth or Birmingham, or wherever it is, the divine dwelling down here has been improved. That was David's great thought throughout his life to build a house for Jehovah, but in spite of the fulness of his thoughts and of his vision he is not allowed to build the house. It says "And king David went in". What happens, dear brethren, when we get disappointed, when things happen which cut across even our most genuine desires? Perhaps we thought we would like to bring the family up a certain way and we have suffered disappointment in it. Perhaps despite everything we have been able to do, persons have been lost in the local assembly. Disappointment can cut across things and spoil things, but it says of David that he "went in and sat before Jehovah", and he says "is this the manner of man, Lord Jehovah? " Are we like that whatever the disappointments of the day? Can we fill our gaze upon Christ and find that there is no disappointment there?

R.S.R. Do you think David just went in for the joy of being there?

R.D.P. Yes; that would be a fine thing. I think it is Mr Stoney who says that we are more occupied with usefulness than devotedness. David did not go in to serve, he just went in to contemplate. You cannot put a measure on devotedness. If someone serves, you say that they served well or they did not serve so well because you can put human measures to it but devotedness is only measured by divine Persons.'

R.S.R. I remember an old brother asking me, Have you ever gone into the presence of God for the sheer joy of being there?

R.D.P. And there is no greater time to do it than when something has come in which, if it is allowed to lie there, might bring bitterness into my heart. We all know that things come into our lives and, if we do not resort to His presence, bitterness might come in. The presence of God will resolve and disperse all bitterness because Jesus is there. So David says "Who am I, Lord Jehovah... ?" He becomes conscious of the greatness of God and the smallness of himself as an object in such a sphere. "Thou hast brought me hitherto. And yet this hath been a small thing in thy sight... And is this the manner of man". You could almost say that he has had a glimpse of Christ.

J.M. Would this be the normal result of going in and sitting before Jehovah? There are seven different names of God mentioned in this section. We all know what you say about disappointment; being found in the divine presence these difficulties clear away.

R.D.P. I think it is very important that, if we feel aggrieved about something or that perhaps things are not just as they might be, we should take it into the presence of God. Do not seek out someone who thinks the same as you because as you talk it over with them it may get worse. Take it into the presence of God; talk it over with Him. David goes in and sits there and says, Who am I anyway? It is almost us though he sits down in the thankfulness of having a place there and then God puts Christ before him. We do need that, dear brethren, because we all have to face disappointment, perhaps things not working out as we would like. Yet God has a place. He says to Moses "Behold, there is a place by me" (Exod 33: 21) and it is a place we can go to.

J.M. We have the same idea in Numbers, have we not? Moses went in to speak to God, but it says He spoke to him. God took advantage of Moses going in.

R.D.P. As was said, he did not go in there to serve. That is a testing thing. Perhaps we only go when we are going to serve. Perhaps we only go into God's presence in a routine way, pray to God at night, the same prayer that we pray every night. Or perhaps if you are going to preach you speak to God. But how often do we just go in to adore? As the hymn-writer says, 'There only to adore'. I think it would make us more substantial. If we were more occupied with greatness instead of smallness we would not be quite so 'scratchy' as we get sometimes. Little things test us and we may snap back at someone. Someone else says something and you wonder what he means by saying that, and all this kind of thing. But in the presence of God you would be impressed by 'Thy grand conceived economy' (hymn 242).

R.S.R. Is this what we call the holiest? And is not that for contemplation because Christ is there, the ark is there?

R.D.P. I think as we look back we would have to say that we have not contemplated enough. We might have acquired a certain amount of knowledge and a certain impression, and we have tried to eke it out too far instead of constantly contemplating. John says "which we contemplated, and our hands handled", 1 John 1: 1. That was distinctive to the apostles' day, but the principle is there, and John is the man for the last days. He is a man who basks in the greatness of things, and the difficulties of the day somehow recede and are not so dominant.

A.A.B-n. Does David expand in the presence of God? He goes on "And who is like thy people, like Israel".

R.D.P. That is why I read part of the rest of the passage. It is not exactly formal service; it is the outpouring of a heart that is affected by what God has done - "to redeem... a people to himself, and to make himself a name". I would encourage especially those who are younger to ask the Spirit to help you to see the greatness of things, to see more than just the outward. Even though Naomi was, as she says, an embittered woman because of all she had gone through, yet there was something inward that Ruth was able to see. We need to be able to see beyond the outward.

R.S.R. Is it not so that, as we go into the divine presence, we get an impression of the greatness of God, the greatness of Christ, and then the greatness of the saints? "Who is like thy people... ?”

R.D.P. David speaks of God redeeming them; then he says, Who is like them. David had known something of receiving things at their hands. At one time they were ready to stone him. He says "Who is like thy people... ?” Then he says "let thy name be magnified for ever". The greatest disappointment that I could ever experience is small compared to God's name being magnified for ever.

J.S. Would the knowledge of what Christ has done for God establish us in the thought of His purpose?

R.D.P. I think so. I have often said we need bigger maps. It is a quotation from Sir Winston Churchill. He said, I like to use big maps. If you use big maps you can see the whole campaign. On a little map you may figure largely, but on a large map it is God's planning that is seen. When God unrolls the canvas: would that we could see the expanse of the canvas more and less of the stitches! We need bigger maps so that we can see that God is operating not on a small scale but on a vast scale. It involves the whole of His purpose in time, the whole of its working out through Christ. There will be one hundred per cent success in what He is doing.

J.S. In Matthew 11 it is the time of the Lord's great disappointment with the cities which rejected Him. It says "At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father" (v 25). It is just to confirm what you are saying. At a time when there would be natural disappointment the Lord turned to His Father. The Lord would be a pattern in that, do you think?

R.D.P. I think so. In the same chapter John the baptist says "Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?" (v 3). There had been no apparent result from his work. It is almost as though the Lord turns and faces the accusers. He says "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed moved about by the wind?" Think of the glory of the Lord as He turns and faces all that! What you say is important; we need this refuge. If we are honest we like to harbour some of the unworthy thoughts that come into our minds. We let them grow, we let them breed, and suddenly there is bitterness there and you find that Christ is shut out.

R.S.R. At one time in Jacob's history he says "All these things are against me", Gen 42: 36. But was not that the making of a man who died as a worshipper?

R.D.P. It is remarkable that so much of the content of the first book of the Bible should be taken up with one man, a weak and failing man as most of us are, yet at the end, as you say, he comes to be a worshipper, morally great. He comes into the presence of Pharaoh and blesses him. All the trivialities of the day mean nothing to Jacob. He is great in God's sight.

J.M-l. Would you say something as to verse 21: "For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness". David seems to get a view of God working for His own glory.

R.D.P. That is good. There are some remarkable passages of scripture in this part of Samuel. God says to David at one point, "I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle" (v.6). You think of the local assembly. He says "I went about" with them. It was not the straight line that we read of in Timothy (see 2 Tim 2: 15). Where they went He went. He was content to dwell with them. "According to thine own heart": the heart of God is really behind it; behind His hand is His heart. It is as we understand that that we are helped as to things down here.

In the scripture in Numbers 23 we see that the gathering up of evil has to give way ultimately and acknowledge the greatness of what God had done. The conflict between Balaam and God was not known by the people. It was above them. It is like the powers of wickedness in the heavenlies (see Eph 6: 12). It was not conducted in their presence. But Balaam has to say at the end: "At this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!" The devil says, as it were, I will take you to where you will see them at their worst, to the extremities of the camp where the stragglers are, those who do not feel so good, those who are ready to give up, I will take you there to the place where Amalek gets them, and curse them there. He goes there but he has to say at the end: "What hath God wrought!". It is a very fine thing to contemplate that God is over all, and not to think too much of my importance but to see that God is working things out according to the counsel of His own will.

W.H. In the fourth watch of the night we may feel weak. Is that where we are today?

R.D.P. As things go on we tend to feel our weakness. Naturally speaking as life goes on we feel our weakness towards the end. The enemy would attack then. It is at the end of the fourth watch of the night, not at the end of the inauguration, that he says "What hath God wrought!". He might have done it at Pentecost when three thousand were converted in one day, he could have said - then "What hath God wrought!". But no, this is after the dark ages, after the reformation, after the death of the martyrs, after the great declension in Christendom, it is after the revival and it is despite the great character of apostasy that is sweeping in at the present day. At the end of all that he says, "What hath God wrought!". You find that God has brought out of it in completion everything that He has looked for in man.

R.S.R. Do you think it is because of who God is that it will be so? This is 'El' meaning 'the Mighty'. It is good to see that nothing that has been in the divine mind has failed.

R.D.P. That is important, nothing has failed. We look around today and we see failure everywhere, but nothing will fail of all that God has purposed; He has and will carry it right through. I think what we overlook is that He is going to complete the work and not me. What grace began, grace shall crown. You look at the building and you think, I would love to finish that building. But no, 'Till grace, what grace began, shall crown! ' (hymn 138). The finishing will be God's.

W.W. Jacob's history takes up a good deal of the book of Genesis and there is a whole book devoted to Job. At the end of it Job says "I know... that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine'' chap 42: 2.

R.D.P. And the place to find that out is in His presence, in contemplation. You go in to God with all your worries and your disappointments and you find He is not worried at all. You find that in the face of the greatest disappointment you might have, He is going on with His purposes. He would say, Are you disappointed in man? I never expected anything from him anyway.

R.S.R. Job says "I know that thou canst do everything" - everything. It is the whole scope.

R.D.P. That is good. Balaam was a man who was employed by the devil to say the worst he could. God says, I will show you what it is to be. Balaam says "I have received mission to bless... and I cannot reverse it". God's people were going through the wilderness in weakness, yet despite all the adverse conditions that attached to them he says, I have to bless them.

A.A.B-n. Both Jacob and Israel are mentioned. It is not simply the objective view but it is in Jacob.

R.D.P. So not only what is true of us in purpose will go through but there will be a subjective answer. At the end of the day, after all the devil's efforts, it will be the Spirit and the bride who will say, Come. There will be a subjective answer to what is done. "There is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel". When you think of all the things that are against the saints it is small wonder that we feel the pressure. It is the fourth watch and the devil has very little time; he is concentrating every effort to destroy what is for God.

W.H. Jacob speaks of "the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day", Gen 48: 15. Jacob says that, not Israel.

R.D.P. So it is not the initial carrying of the sheep on His shoulder (that is the gospel), but it is shepherding me every day. It is the use of the rod and the staff and the crook, and the Shepherd's distinctive call. It is the day by day way in which God has been with us. You look back and say, If I had gone another day in that direction it would have been disastrous. But He did not let us go.

H.F. Stephen speaks of the God of Jacob (see Acts 7: 46). David wished to prepare Him a tabernacle, but it goes on to say, "where is the place of my rest?" (v 49), whereas Stephen was going on to be stoned. He seemed to keep the objective before him and God saw to it that he saw the God of glory.

R.D.P. Stephen was only a few minutes from death but he sees something of the God of Jacob. What he sees really is that things are going through subjectively, even though he is going off the scene. We need to see that God is going through. I may have a small part to play here, and if I keep with God and with the Lord and with the Spirit, I will be helped to fill out what He has in mind for me. But the 'grand conceived economy' involves that He is going through every generation securing a subjective answer. "What hath God wrought!"; not exactly what He has purposed but what He has wrought.

A.McB. "The shout of a king is in his midst". Would that involve a subjective work?

R.D.P. It is royal, is it not? I think the Supper is the celebration of the royal rights of Christ. Soon He is coming in His glory and His glory will fill the earth, but at the present time I think the kingly rights of the Lord Jesus are celebrated at the Supper. That is what we mean when we say that if the world knew what was happening they would not allow it. His royal rights are celebrated. As He went into Jerusalem, in the midst of the Roman occupation of the country, everything had to stop while the King went in mounted upon an ass. They kept on strewing the branches before Him. That is like the Supper today. You stand upon your feet and you make your contribution so that He can pass.

W H. The children sang His praises in Matthew (see chap 21: 15).

R.D P. You cut down a branch and strew it on the way, that is you get the impression of Him coming and you stand up and speak to Him and it makes way for Him. It is not dry and dusty, not last week's response. They kept cutting them down, something of the living stock was cut down. There are a lot of young people and we know how they feel about taking part; it is not easy for most of them. But it is a wonderful thing to get a vision of Christ. You say, I cannot do much, but I will cut that down and lay it before Him. In one passage there are an ass and a colt and He is sitting on both of them (see Matt 21: 7). In your spirit you are conveying what it will be when He comes in in His glory. We do not have to make long thanksgivings at the Supper; we could give thanks very briefly and perhaps take part more than once.

R.S.R. I was impressed when I was in Cape Town in 1974. Mr Richmond said, I do not get up and pray for everything; I pray for one thing and sit down; then I get up again.

R.D.P. There is something in that. You cut it down; you maintain your interest in the movements of Christ right through the service and if you take part again, well you take part again, and again! Maybe we could be briefer and it would be all the fresher for it. Perhaps we have said enough to encourage us to be maintained in admiration in relation to Christ.

 

GRANGEMOUTH

21 September 1980