RETAINING IMPRESSSIONS
Ron D Plant
It
is just a simple word that came to me as our brother spoke earlier today about
this scripture in Luke, beloved brethren, where as to Simeon it says that “he
received him into his arms”.
Scripture does not record that he ever let Him go. It never records, as far as I know, that he
gave the Child back. Now we know of
course as a matter of fact that he must have done because of subsequent
history, but Scripture is very careful, especially Luke who writes with method
and accuracy. He speaks about
that. It just struck me, beloved
brethren, what an important thing it is that, if in some way you have received
such an impression of Christ, and I would think that everyone here has received
an impression of Christ, it is a vital thing that you never let it go. Simeon was not an official priest; it speaks
of him as “a man in Jerusalem”. It is
almost as if the official priest never came into sight at all because Simeon,
who is “a man in Jerusalem”, is there and it gives his qualifications, the fact
that “he came in the Spirit”, and that he was “just and pious, .... and the
Holy Spirit was upon him”. This man was
in that condition as he came into the temple here. It is as if he supersedes the whole official system here, and he
receives "the child Jesus" in his arms, and Scripture does not record
that he let him go. My simple
impression, beloved brethren, and it may seem very simple, is that.
There
were others in Scripture who received a divinely given impression in their day
that remained with them through the whole of their life. Moses was a man who, after dwelling behind
the wilderness for forty years, where he looked after his father-in-law's
sheep, received an impression as God appeared to him in the desert at the bush
that was on fire and was not consumed.
He turns aside to see it, and God spoke to him out of the bush, “loose
thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground”, Ex 3: 5. The impression that
remained with Moses all his life was a sense of the divine committal to the
people. He never forgot it. And you may remember that when the people
had sinned so grievously by building the golden calf and Jehovah's anger was
burning against them, that Moses intercedes with God. Such was his impression that he had received at the bush, that
God was in the midst of His people and He was not consuming them, that he
stands before God there in the breach that their sin had created. The psalmist very beautifully says, speaking
of Jehovah, “And he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses, his chosen,
stood before him in the breach”, Ps 106: 23.
He says, “blot me ... out”, Ex 32: 32; the impression that he received
at the beginning of his active spiritual life remained with him.
What
was your impression, beloved? I believe
that everyone here when they first had an impression of Christ had something
that is distinctive to them. Every one
has something that is a little different, it may be very different, but at
least a little different from every other believer so that the glories of
Christ are magnified everywhere. Here
is Simeon and, as I say, he received the Child in his arms, and it is almost as
though he never let Him go. Have you
let impressions go, beloved? The enemy
will be at you continually day in, day out in order to tempt you and persuade
you to give up your impression of Christ; but, beloved, seek God's help that
you might be preserved in it. It goes
on to speak about what this Child would be, “a light for revelation of the
Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”.
You could imagine Simeon holding the Child there. He speaks of what "this child"
would be. The Gentiles were going to
come into the full shining of God, and we are here tonight, beloved, as a
result of what came out in this Child, the full blessing of God has come out to
the Gentiles, “and the glory of thy people Israel”; the fulness of that awaits
a time still to come. You may say,
'These are wonderful thoughts', and he is still holding the Child in his arms
when he says, “this child is set for the fall and rising up of many in
Israel”. This brings out that there is
the testing, moral side to the reception of the Lord Jesus but everything that
God has is in Christ. So my simple word
is, if you receive an impression of Christ, and perhaps you have received one
today, seek God's help that you never let it go.
I
read in John. This is slightly
different but I was just impressed with this reference to “the disciple whom
Jesus loved”. John the writer never
refers to himself by name. He refers to
“that disciple whom Jesus loved” (v 7) and various variations of that, and so
it is here, “the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned at supper
on his breast” ... Peter, seeing him, says to
Jesus, Lord, and what of this man?” I do
not go into what lay behind Peter's question here, but Jesus says, “If I will
that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”, and immediately the word goes out that the Lord
had said that he did not die, but Scripture carefully says that He did not say
that. What He says is, “If I will that
he abide until I come”, that is not simply John, that is the character of man
who was loved by Jesus, and that was John's impression which he cherished. My point in this is that if I want to be preserved
as loving Christ I shall need to be preserved in a sense of being loved by
Christ. The one who is going to be
preserved to the end, who is going to hold things to the end is not one who
becomes overly occupied with his own love for Christ, but one who has the sense
of being loved by Christ. That is just
my impression there, beloved. He did
not say that John would abide until He came, but I do believe that when the Lord
Jesus comes there will be persons on earth who have been loved by Christ, and there
will be a place on earth where He has been loved, and I would like to be part
of that; I would like to hold on to that.
Now,
just finally as to that scripture in Revelation recorded by John as to
Philadelphia, where the Lord speaks about setting before them "an opened
door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my
word, and hast not denied my name.
Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan ...” and so on; “and shall
know that I have loved thee".
We were speaking recently about Rebecca in Sarah's tent and the time
that we are in. It has been set on when
in the type Rebecca comes to Isaac. The
assembly typically fills the place that properly belonged to another, as
Rebecca enters the tent that had been vacated following Sarah's death. We may say that it speaks of Israel's
passing, and the assembly entering into an area of things in testimony which is
not properly her own, because the assembly is a heavenly vessel. She enters into an area of things in the
testimony that should have been filled by Israel, in response to Christ. She fills the position gloriously which
belonged to another. It says of
Rebecca, “and she became his wife, and he loved her”, Gen 24: 67. That is a lovely touch. But what strikes me about this scripture is
here, right at the end, where He says “and shall know that I have loved
thee”. I believe, beloved brethren,
that we need to be preserved not in concentration upon our love for Christ,
that will follow, but in the blessedness of Christ's love for us. I think that is where the secret to not
letting go lies. I think that the
departure of Ephesus from first love was not exactly their love for Christ but
their sense of His love for them. I
think that was the departure at Ephesus.
But what I also wanted to draw attention to here is that it says,
“because thou hast a little power ... and hast not denied my name”. It does not say, 'because you had a
little power'; it does not say, 'because you did not deny my name', but
“hast not”. It is as if the whole thing
was carried right through. Now, beloved
brother or sister, if you have found the grace to care for the testimony and
for Christ at the present time, seek God's help that you might be maintained in
it. It may only be a little, but it
will be “a little power”, and it will be an element in which you will still
find a little grace not to deny His Name.
It may be at school, maybe at work, maybe in the local meeting; wherever
it is, you will find grace not to deny His Name here. You may feel weak in it, you may be conscious of the difficulties
of the day, but if you have been given grace for it so far, seek His grace that
you might be maintained in it and do not let it go.
I
suggest these things to the brethren;, iIt is just an impression that it does
not say of Simeon that he let the Child go; it does not say of Caleb that he
ever died; it does not say of Daniel, who continued right the way through the
captivity to the end, that he ever died.
That is how these things are presented in the Scriptures. It is as if these things are mentioned in
the way they are that we might be encouraged to see that it is not only a
question of where we are now but of being sustained to the end. For His Name's sake.
Glasgow
3rd August 2010