THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST MANIFESTED IN SUFFERING
J. Mitchell
Psalm 105: 17–19; Acts: 16: 16–33
What is in mind, beloved brethren, in reading these two passages, is to say a little about suffering, and suffering as manifesting in the sufferers the Spirit of Christ. From one point of view I hesitate to bring it forward, recognising how little one is formatively in the gain of it, and recognising too, as far as the western world is concerned, that suffering is not so common in the present age as it sometimes has been. The materialistic world in which we are does not provide the atmosphere for suffering for the truth, and yet suffering is unquestionably a feature of the truth and a feature of the dispensation. We have also to bear in mind that, in recent times, there has been a good deal of suffering in the spirits of the saints through the break up of families caused by the sad divisions we have experienced. Where we have read in the Acts shows the character of suffering, and indeed the book of the Acts is full of suffering; there is hardly a page that you turn over without it referring to suffering. But then think of what has come down in the dispensation, how much suffering there has been for the maintenance of the truth. We sometimes speak of the Dark Ages, and we may think that we have more light today than they had at that time, but let us never think ill of that time because there was suffering there; the martyrs, you can read about them. I do not generally encourage persons to be reading books apart altogether from the Scriptures and the accredited ministry, but I commend to our young people it is well worth reading about the martyrs and what they suffered for the maintenance of the truth. The truth has come down to us in our day, it has come down at great cost; the cost of the lives of many.
I was struck the other day reading a touch of Mr Taylor, where he said that Joseph, of whom we have read, was more than a type of Christ. That rather surprised me because I had always seen clearly that he was a type of Christ, and that is what I thought he was; but he said he is more than that, the Spirit of Christ is seen in him. That is a remarkable thing, and it led me to think of a verse in the first epistle of Peter that has always puzzled me, where Peter speaks about the prophets of old who “sought out and searched out; searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these”, 1 Peter 1: 10, 11. I can see, in the light of that remark by Mr Taylor, that the Spirit of Christ stretched right back to Joseph’s day, and before that even to Abel. Think of what was for the pleasure of God in the sufferings of Joseph; not only typically the sufferings of Christ, great as that is, but also the Spirit of Christ coming out actually in him. It sheds light on the whole of the Old Testament, God’s operations in the dispensation that has gone. It sheds very much light on what was for the divine pleasure in that dispensation.
Think of the beauty of it, the Spirit of Christ coming out in the sufferings of those men of old, and coming out so beautifully in a man like Joseph. Joseph was introduced to suffering at a very young age, seventeen years of age. The young people here today might think that these things are beyond them, but there was a young lad of seventeen years and he began his history in suffering. It says of him that his brothers hated him; you might say, Well there was not much brotherly relations in the house of Jacob, but nevertheless they were his brothers and they hated him. It reminds us of course of what the Lord had to say that “They hated me without a cause”, John 15: 25. There was no cause in Joseph to be hated; there was nothing whatsoever in Joseph in his conduct or, as far as I understand, in his person that would raise the matter of hatred; there was everything in him that was most attractive, and yet it says that they hated him.
But one thing I was struck with in Joseph, in the first dream that he had, he says, “Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields”, Genesis 37: 7. I think it is a very important matter, that he was binding sheaves in the fields, and if you go through the history of Joseph you find that that was his objective all the way through. He was not scattering; the enemy’s system is hades’ gates, a great administration of evil, and I say this, beloved brethren, without a shadow of doubt, that what the enemy is at at the present time is scattering. But think of a man like Joseph who was binding sheaves, and he says, “my sheaf rose up, and remained standing”, Genesis 37: 7. I am not so concerned about that, that has its own application, but just the fact that he was binding sheaves and that was the mission of Joseph all the way through, but it was a way of suffering. The way in which the twelve could be gathered together and held together involved the sufferings of Joseph. So, right at the beginning, his father sent him out to look after the welfare of his brethren, and the welfare of the flock. That, you might say, was a wonderful commission, that a young lad of seventeen years of age was given, to be concerned about the welfare of his brethren and the welfare of the flock.
I take that home to myself as to how much I am concerned about the welfare of my brethren and the welfare of the flock. It is a service that is sorely needed, beloved, to be concerned about, not only their spiritual welfare, but their physical welfare. There are persons amongst us who are suffering for the truth at the present time. Do you realise that? Is that a surprise to you? But there are, there are persons amongst us that are actually suffering for the truth, and they should be in our prayers constantly. Thank God that they have been preserved and the truth is being preserved. I think, as we shall see, the truth has come down to us at cost, at great cost, the cost of suffering. Not only are there persons suffering for the truth but alongside that there is a good deal of physical suffering, and thank God that body feelings come into expression as we think of that; it is the divine way to pass persons through physical suffering for our good, for the gain of us all, that we might take on this spirit of suffering in the present time.
So, Joseph was a sufferer. He went to find his brethren to see after the welfare of the flock, and where he was sent to they were not there. That was a good excuse to go home and to tell his father that he did not find them, but Joseph goes and seeks them until he finds them. That was the character of a lad of seventeen years of age, a man who was suffering in his spirit, a young man, a youth suffering in his spirit, but nevertheless the Spirit of Christ was there; he was bent on seeing after the welfare of his brethren and the welfare of the flock. And what did they do when they saw him? It says they saw him a long way off; they discussed to kill him; think of the awfulness of it, what an answer to what was in that young lad’s heart, on that young lad’s spirit, the way that the Spirit of Christ was seen in him. They sought to kill him, think of the awfulness of it; as it happened they did not kill him, they put him down in the pit. I never forget a little touch of Mr Darby’s; he says when they put Joseph down in the pit, the next thing the scripture says is that they sat down to eat bread. Think of the utter callousness of the human heart to put a lad of that age down into the pit, one who had come to seek after their welfare, and seek after the welfare of the flock, and they could just sit down and eat bread as though everything was normal. Think of the awfulness of the human heart, well it is in my heart and your heart; the human heart without Christ, what it can do. Joseph was in that pit and they sold him.
Think of his suffering at an early age, but then it was not by any means over, it was just starting. He was sold into the house of Potiphar, and in that house the moral character of Joseph comes to light, how wonderful it was; but in the fulfilment of righteousness he ended up in the prison house. He says to the butler that he did nothing to justify being in
that prison house. His master was unjustly wroth with him and he put him there. That is what it says in Psalm 105 that “They afflicted his feet with fetters”, that was a physical thing. You can see the strong connection with what you have in Acts 16 as Paul and Silas were put in the stocks, that was actual suffering that they went through. And Joseph went through actual suffering. If you read the narrative in Genesis you might not think it was quite so bad, because Jehovah prospered him; he prospered in the place of suffering. You see the Spirit of Christ there. There was nothing that would hinder his prospering, and he was available in service to the persons that were there. Think of Joseph with all he had suffered, it not only says they put his feet in fetters but “his soul came into irons”. I think that is the inward side; that is far more than his feet being in fetters, what he felt inwardly. Think of that time in the prison, what it was for Joseph, “his soul came into irons”.
In Gethsemane, the Lord says, “My soul is full of grief”, Mark 14: 34. Think of what entered into the inwards of Jesus as He went through that suffering time in Gethsemane, in the anticipation of what it was to be made sin, the horror of it. It was right that He should feel it, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners. Think of what it was to Him to anticipate going through what was before Him, and it came into his soul, it was no light matter. When I was much younger I used to think that because of who He was things were not so severe for Him; but He went through these sufferings as a Man, as a feeling Man, a Man who had a heart, a Man who had a soul, that is what it really meant for Him. He says, “My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death”, Matthew 26: 38. And He said to these disciples to watch with Him, they were not able to watch with Him, but who would have been? It brings out the glory of His uniqueness, what He went through He went through Himself. He went through Gethsemane with His God and Father. When it came to the cross, He went through it absolutely alone; no ray of light, no ray of sympathy ever penetrated that darkness, it was absolute darkness for Jesus, that holy sufferer what He bore then in those three hours on Calvary’s cross. It has been said that a whole eternity of banishment from the presence of God was concentrated into those three hours, and that is what Jesus suffered; He suffered for my sins and for your sins, dear friends.
Well, in Joseph there is something of the Spirit of Christ. I often think of what it must have been to heaven; the concentration of heaven upon that prison house, and who was in there, and what was there of the fragrance of Christ, in the midst of the terrible suffering, arising to the nostrils of God. What it meant to God, Joseph was there, and the manifestation of the Spirit of Jesus; I think it is very beautiful. Think of the beautiful spirit that marked him in the way in which he served these two men; no complaint whatsoever, no rancour, no bitterness, just the pure Spirit of Christ, that is what was there. As he thought of the grapes pressed into Pharaoh’s cup it was reminiscent of himself and what he was going through, what suffering it was, but as it says here, “Until the time when what he said came about—the word of Jehovah tried him”. Well, so much for Joseph, the way of securing the twelve, the way of binding the sheaf was the way of sorrow, the way of suffering, but it was the way of achieving what was in the divine mind. While he suffered, thank God he was glorified, so much a type of Christ but he is achieving his end in the way he took upon himself all that really belonged to his brethren. All that belonged to his ten brethren he took upon himself and he was the sufferer; how much like Jesus.
We come now to Acts, I think this section is very important at the present time. We often speak of it as the gospel coming into Europe, that is blessedly true, it was the gospel coming into Europe, but it was more than that, it was the great truth of the assembly coming into Europe. That was the issue there. You remember what Paul saw in the vision was a Macedonian man saying, Come over and help us. That was answered in the Spirit of Jesus, they made haste to go there, as understanding that was the call. They could not maybe explain it all, but nevertheless it was there. They went and Paul comes in touch with Lydia (there is not time to go into the detail) and Lydia must have been a great comfort to Paul, but there was no Macedonian man. Where we have read it says, “And it came to pass as we were going to prayer”. We have been exhorted to persevere in prayer, and I feel the need of it for myself; the need of constant prayer, and not only constant prayer but the great need of patience. The vision of the Macedonian man, Paul could have said, Where is he? The company with whom he was might have said, There is no Macedonian man, not so far as we hear. The scripture says about this woman with a spirit of Python, “And this she did many days”. That in a certain sense is a link with Joseph.
Remember when Joseph was in Potiphar’s house and he was enticed by Potiphar’s wife to corruption, it says “day by day”, Genesis 39: 10. Think of the enemy as active, day by day. Sometimes we give up, we are ready to give up, but the enemy never gives up, he persists day by day; let us be on our guard, beloved.
So, it says here, “a certain female slave, having a spirit of Python, met us, who brought much profit”, and so on, but “She, having followed Paul and us, cried saying, These men are bondmen of the Most High God”. Well, you might have thought Paul would have been thankful, grateful for that, but I believe there is one thing that is needed, beloved, more than anything else, and that is spiritual, holy discrimination. Paul would not have consented to any help from Satan, the work that he had was going to be a pure work, and what was established at Philippi was a pure assembly, it was entirely of divine making. That is something that we should carry in our spirits, that the assembly owed nothing whatsoever to this world, to the environment of it, or to the earth; it owes nothing to man, it is entirely outside of that whole range of things, it is a divine operation, it belongs to God, and it bears the features of God, the features of Christ and the testimony
of God. Paul, therefore is careful as to that. It says, “this she did many days”. I think there was his patience, going on; that is said to Philadelphia, “thou hast kept the word of my patience”, Revelation 3: 10. I often think of that, “the word of my patience”. I suppose there was nothing very outstanding in the way of exploits in Philadelphia, but there were those who went on, day by day, in the truth. That has a bearing upon us at the present time. We might think that we are small in number, very much reduced, there is nothing outstanding in a public way about the company with whom we are connected, nothing that would attract man after the flesh in any way at all, but then there is what is of God. We need to go on keeping the word of His patience.
That reminds you of the oxen; when Elijah found Elisha he was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen and he was with the twelfth, that is a steady plod. I remember many years ago a word by beloved Mr Lyon. I cannot repeat it in the beautiful language that he would use, but what he said is, Do not let us be like the great racehorse, all is flash and all is vigour, but let us be like the faithful carthorse pulling at love’s load. Think of the steady tread of the oxen, day by day, in the truth, and I believe that has a particular bearing in the present day. We need to be going on day by day in the truth, in the steady movements of it, in the steady pursuit of it. It is not a day for great exploits; there will be a great exploit in a day that is very soon to come, when the Lord comes to take us out of this scene altogether, but in the meantime what is to mark us is the patience of the Christ. So, that is what marked Paul here, but he suffered for it, you can see that he suffered in his spirit, it says he was distressed at the activities of the enemy day by day; no sign yet of the Macedonian man, and Paul going on day after day. You might have thought he might have said some evening, Well, we have tried hard, but it is time to give up, but there is no giving up, beloved. Let us go on day by day, steadily and patiently in the truth.
So, they did that until the time came when Paul had to act, and he acted and what did it involve? It landed them in prison, but before they went to prison it says, “the praetors, having torn off their clothes, commanded to scourge them. And having laid many stripes upon them they cast them into prison”. Think of that, the cruelty of man, they laid many stripes upon them, the suffering of Paul and Silas in view of the gospel and the truth of the assembly coming into Europe, which has come down to our day. Let our young people understand that the truth has come down to us at great cost; it has not been secured easily, it has been secured through the suffering of men such as these, and what I have referred to, even the martyrs throughout the dispensation.
Let us value it then, beloved, let us cherish it, and let us stand by firmly in it. I do not want to occupy us with negatives, but I can sense that there is a tendency to drift away from the truth of Christ and the assembly; indeed it was said, not very long ago, in a public meeting, that persons are obsessed with the assembly. Think of what a thing to be said! Someone told me that on the two occasions that Mr Raven went to the United States, a brother on each occasion said to him, ‘Mr Raven, you are always talking about the assembly’, and his answer was,
‘Well, what else is there to talk about?’ Anyway, he said, if you talk about the assembly you are talking about Christ. Let us bear that in mind. I would not like anyone here, in any sense, to speak in any derogatory way about the assembly; it was the greatest thought in the divine mind from before the world was, and it has come into expression and it has come down to us.
You might say, Why me? I often say that to myself, there is no reason on my account that it should be me, it is divine sovereignty. He has brought us into the area where the truth is. If He has not brought us into the truth itself (and I trust that He has brought us at least in some measure into the truth) He has brought us into the area at any rate, where the truth is.
Let us value it; it has been costly, and these men, with their feet in the stocks, there in the prison, and at midnight when humanity is at its lowest ebb, the Spirit of Christ was manifested in these men. It says, “And at midnight Paul and Silas, in praying, were praising God with singing, and the prisoners listened to them”. We have spoken about the prison where Joseph was, what it meant to heaven; think of what this prison meant to heaven. Think of the joy in heaven there would be as these holy songs would arise there, from men in extreme suffering, but overcoming that suffering. It has been said that when Peter was in prison earlier on in the Acts, he experienced the power of the kingdom of the heavens. It took him out of prison. When Paul and Silas were in the prison it was the power of the kingdom of God, and what was in their spirits rising above it all, and what was ascending up, to heaven, not considering for themselves but engaged in the praises of God. It says they were praying, and no doubt they were praying earnestly, but the praises of God were ascending heavenward; what a joy, what a thing for heaven to take account of; I do not believe there has ever been singing like what came out of that prison in Philippi that night, and ascended for the ears of God in heaven. How wonderful it was!
The result was, of course, God had to answer that. God is a righteous God. God, being a righteous God had to raise Jesus. He had to bring in this earthquake here, because of what was ascending to heaven, what was so precious to heaven, so precious to the divine ears from these suffering saints. The Spirit of Christ in them was welling up above all the sufferings, and ascending to God in the way of what was pleasing the ears of God. Well, we know the outcome of it, blessed outcome, the Spirit of Christ manifested in Paul and Silas as this jailor bursts in, and there were the prisoners still there; escape from prison was not in their minds, but the effect of such a thing upon the jailor himself is that he says, “Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?”. They had not been ‘sirs’ before that, he had not had much regard for them when he was putting them in the stocks in the inner prison, but think of the respect that he had after for these men, “Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?” And there is the immediate answer, think of the Spirit of Christ shining out in Paul and Silas, and the result is that the jailor is converted, “he and all his straightway”.
Not only did they secure the Macedonian man, but they secured his household. What impresses me, the more I look into the Scriptures and the more I read the ministry of the revival, is what is immediately connected with the preaching is the truth of the assembly.
Remember that first preaching in the beginning of the Acts, and it is a sample for us, what is first in scripture is always of import and the result is that there are three thousand saved in one day. But immediately you get the working out of the assembly, the working out of the body. Think of the wonder of that! That is what happens here, it is not only the gospel coming into Europe, but it is the gospel and the assembly coming into Europe. You know, beloved, I say this, because other things have been said, God has never changed His mind; it is still the time of Europe. You might say, How terrible the condition is there now, but that is neither here nor there in that respect, God is still towards Europe. What one has said has been said feebly, but may it have an entrance into our hearts, and may it strengthen us in the glory of what God is securing through suffering, for His name’s sake.
Address at Dundee
13 August 2005