(iii) DYING TOGETHER, LIVING TOGETHER

Richard Brown

2 Corinthians 7: 3, John 12: 1-3

One of the things that is a comfort to us on an occasion like this is to consider the present portion of our brother, and we know that it is not his final portion; his final portion of course will be actually to see Christ and to enjoy His blessed presence with the saints. It was necessary for that that he should pass through death, and now he is with Christ, precious matter, his spirit is with Jesus awaiting that moment when the saints also will be with Christ and we shall be forever, as the scripture says, with the Lord. But what we can see from that is that in a very literal sense death preceded the experience of life, and I wondered whether it would be all right to suggest that this finds its parallel in a moral and spiritual sense to us even now, that before we can enter into the experience of life together there must be the experience of death together. It is the order in which Paul the apostle introduces it here. He says, “ye are in our hearts, to die together, and live together”. I would like to bring this principle, if I could, before the dear saints, that it is seems to me there is this blessed area of life together. Elsewhere the apostle speaks of living together with Him, that is with Jesus, but here he does not go quite so far as that, but he refers to this circle which I believe can be experienced even now which is referred to as “life together”, and I would like to suggest on the basis of this verse that the only way into it, dear brethren, the only way into the practical experience of it is by dying together. I want to emphasise that, that it is dying together. I suppose in the teaching of it the dying would connect with the present application to our souls of the cross of Christ, and the teaching as to that is gone into in other sections of the New Testament, as we know. But what I simply wanted to draw attention to was this, that the only way into the experience of life together is by dying together. I think the “together” in this verse would be Paul and the Corinthians, that Paul as it were, was not going to retain his own integrity but he was going to die. In fact in one place he says, “Die I daily”. 1 Cor 15: 13. He was going to die, and he wanted to die in a moral sense with these Corinthian saints so that he with them might enter into the experience of life together.

Now I wondered whether this little circle at Bethany would be a practical illustration for us, a little picture of how this principle works in practice. What I would like to suggest is that in chapter 11 of John’s gospel the Lord passed this little company at Bethany through the experience of death together, and that in chapter 12 what we see is the circle of life together. We have often drawn attention to it, the way the Lord does not act immediately, the way that He waited two days. And, dear brethren, if we think of our own experiences, especially in this place, we know that the Lord did not intervene immediately. In His infinite wisdom things were allowed to be prolonged, but then He acted, and as we see with Lazarus, the Lord allowed things to go a certain course. We know what was in His heart to produce in the saints because it says in verse 2 that it was the Mary who anointed the Lord. We know the end that was in His heart to reach with these beloved saints at Bethany, and in His infinite wisdom He allowed things to go a certain way before He intervened Himself. And I wondered, dear brethren, whether it would be fair to suggest both as to our exercises locally and as to questions which have perplexed the saints for a long time, whether it would be permissible to suggest that the way forward might be if the saints could be encouraged to die together. I just bring that simply before the saints, the question of dying together. It is not a question of this side or that side, or anyone standing in his own integrity, but if the saints could be encouraged to die together we might find opened up to us even in the days such as we are in the blessed experience of life together. And what we see in chapter 11 of John is how one by one the Lord leads each of these beloved saints into the experience of death together. We know that literally it was Lazarus who had died, but we see in His gracious ways with them the Lord brings them all into it, one by one brings them all into it, and that is what I am pleading for, dear brethren, that maybe we might find the way forward as to the reality of this area of this life together if we accepted the present bearing in our souls of death together. What we see is a circle of saints gathered round the Lord with a simple desire to make much of Him. What a blessed possibility, dear brethren, is held out to us, a circle of saints whose simple desire is to distinguish Him. There is no disunity here. We know that there had been, we know that there had been friction in this circle, but there is nothing like that here. No one is out of their place. Everyone is there, and it is Him they made a supper for. They were providing for Him. And one person comes forward, it was Mary, and we know that characteristically she was more spiritual than the others, but you almost get the impression that it could have been any one of them, but one of them comes forward and everything is perfectly suitable, everything is in perfect harmony. What we see, I think, is souls who having passed through the experience of death together, there is nothing left before their souls but Christ as the object of their hearts. What a possibility, dear brethren! What a possibility. What I would desire is that we might be so drawn, so attracted by the prospect of life together that we might in our own exercises be prepared for the experience of death together. I believe it is possible, dear brethren, in days such as we are in of smallness and brokenness, I believe this experience of life together is possible, but there is only one way into it, and it is by death together. I would suggest it to my beloved local brethren, and to us all, that we might find even in these days that such an experience is opened up to us, the true experience of Christian fellowship, a circle where Christ is supreme and everyone is held in their right relation to Him. May the Lord greatly encourage our hearts in relation to this blessed possibility, for His Name’s sake.

EAST FINCHLEY

18 December 2003

Burial of John Harvey