THE SERVICE OF ELIJAH (4)
THE SERVICE OF ELIJAH (4)
JT I think we noted this morning that Elisha had come on the scene; the service of God required a man other than Elijah. God, however, would not reject Elijah. He would take him on and use him later, but at the Same time Elisha came on the scene and thus the work of God was carried on as needed. What we have spoken of already this morning ought to be further noted, that is the idea of faithfulness in the service of God, and that God will take on anyone who is faithful, not so much for his ability, but for his faithfulness. It says God is faithful. There is no doubt that the Scriptures are written not only to convey fully things that we should know but to fit us for service, fit us to do things rightly and to do them well. So that we have much enlargement at times to bring out thoughts, and to bring them into the experience of the servants of God, those who would serve Him. So that a thing should be done and done well.
ASB Is that seen in relation to Paul in regard to faithfulness? In 1 Corinthians 4, it says, “Let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here, further, it is sought in stewards, that a man be found faithful”.
JT Very good. I was somewhat slighting the idea of faithfulness at first, but I can see that that is the main thought in all of this, in fact we see constantly that things flow out from God Himself, or from the Lord Jesus, or from the Holy Spirit. So that God is faithful.
CCT Would what Paul says to Timothy in his second epistle in regard to entrusting the truth to faithful men be on that line?
JT [p. 361] Just so.
EJM Is that why Elijah went to mount Horeb where the faithfulness of God would come before him?
JT I think the faithfulness of God would come out in Beer-sheba too. Beer-sheba would be illustrative of the faithfulness of God. That came in earlier, in Genesis especially. At mount Horeb, of course, as we said this morning, he resigned his commission, and God took up another to take his place. God will not be taken without resource; He will have His men in due time.
VCL Is not one mark of the faithfulness of God seen in the kind of servants whom He puts in the assembly to serve it? Paul speaks of serving in Ephesus for three years night and day with tears. Is that not a practical evidence of God’s faithfulness through a servant?
JT And then this city. What is said about one of the thoughts in the passage that we are dealing with. And God Himself is faithful and the number of persons that He had: “I have much people in this city”.
SMcC Is it not interesting that in the transitional epistle, Colossians, Paul alludes to two faithful ministers? Epaphras a faithful minister at the beginning and Tychicus a faithful minister at the end. That is important, is it not?
JT Faithful ministers, yes.
RH In a time of recovery, in Nehemiah 7, it says, “I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the citadel, charge over Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man and feared God above many”.
JT Yes, that was a testimony that was sent out from Belfast regarding the death of our beloved brother Mr. J.G. It was borne witness to him, that he was a faithful man above many, the brother who called attention to it quoting this scripture. So that the Spirit of God makes comparisons.
AH [p. 362] Is this matter of faithfulness seen in this matter of Elisha? In the end of the previous chapter, he is making up the number twelve, he has nothing less than the whole idea before him, and then he boils the flesh as if he is consecrating himself definitely to the service.
JT He was with the twelfth, just so. The full number whatever it was in the sense of administration was there. He was with the twelfth.
AH Have you any thought as to why he boils the flesh? Does it link up with Leviticus 8, that he is really consecrating himself irrevocably in the service?
JT Very good. Boiling is not like frying or roasting, it is a question of what the word means in the cooking of food, how food is to be cooked. Have you any thought about that?
AH I was linking it in my mind — I hope you will put me right if I am wrong — with Leviticus 8: the thought of the consecration of the priest, persons in faithfulness devoting themselves to divine interests; they are going to serve God.
JT But what about the thought of cooking, how food is to be cooked, whether things are boiled, or roasted or fried? I am only raising the question as to how the brethren can help each other in this respect as to cooking food.
SMcC Ezekiel makes a lot of the boiling houses, as if the indirect action of the fire is stressed.
JT That is the word, indirect action of the fire in the service of cooking. That is just the idea, and, of course, that must be used in regard of spiritual food. How much must be used in cooking food, because we have to consider what the saints need and what we are to give them to eat. The indirect action as you say is quite instructive because it leads to the care that is used for the food that is cooked and given to the saints. Have you anything more to [p. 363] say. Mr. McC., because I think it is most important that we might have the idea of food and how to cook it properly?
SMcC I just thought it was instructive that in Ezekiel 46 there were the four courts in the four corners of the system, having boiling places, that is there is uniformity in the system as to this matter of the provision of food.
JT That is very good.
AH Does it refer to some peculiar application of the death of Christ, that is not the judicial side of His suffering under the hand of God for sin, but rather His suffering in love that the service of God might go on?
JT Just so. We have to learn everything either from Christ or from God. Everything must begin there, and even as to cooking. We must learn how to do it. God has everything in His hand, whether it be God the Father or Christ the Son, or the Spirit the Paraclete. It is a question of divine Persons, and it is a question of our learning who They are and how to speak of Them, how to address Them, and how to bring Them into the service of God, each one of Them.
JLF Is boiling an extended exercise?
JT It takes longer, I suppose, to boil. The pan or roasting would be quicker, I suppose, but it is certainly a prolonged idea.
JLF I was wondering if it would fit in with the thought of bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus.
JT Bearing it about in the body, just so, I would say there is something in that for us to learn.
RH Boiling would require the additional use of water, as against fire alone as with roasting, would it not?
JT Quite so. The roasting or frying is the rapid use of heat for cooking. As I was saying, we have to [p. 364] learn everything from divine Persons themselves, whether it be God or Christ. And we have to learn the old as well as the new because the Old Testament extends things. Things are much more extended necessarily than they are in the New.
SMcC The Lord’s supper affords the suggestion as to food, the result of the indirect action of the fire, to sustain us in relation to the service of God in a general way.
JT The Lord’s supper is the very beginning of the idea of food. There is not much in it in the way of quantity, but it is there to indicate how divine Persons do things, and at the Lord’s supper we have to enter into things in detail, and there is much that comes in for each one to do. It cannot be done for you, you have to do it yourself. The Lord’s supper is something that we have to partake of ourselves, but as to the actual cooking and preparation for food it has to be understood how it is to be done, and we have to learn from divine Persons.
Ques The passover was brought in in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, “For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; so that let us celebrate the feast”. What would you say about that?
JT Very good, there is a good thought in that, “with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. So these are words that have to be noted.
Ques The passover in Exodus was the direct action of the fire. You said chapter 11 was the indirect action, what is the difference between those two?
JT Let us come to Corinthians, if you will be kind enough to mention where the food is in mind, the action of fire in cooking the food. Tell us what you have in mind in allusion to the Lord’s supper.
Rem I was thinking first of chapter 5, “For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”, that was roast with fire; then our brother mentioned chapter [p. 365] 11, and suggested it was more the indirect action, what we can appropriate as the result of the death of Christ. It is not the judicial side, is it? The Lord’s supper would be the privilege side.
JT That is right, the privilege side.
JLF Would this matter of his taking time to cut up the oxen and boil them indicate that he was not prepared to rush into the service? He is taking his time, deliberately and thoughtfully, according to verse 21 of chapter 19.
JT He “took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate”. Now that is something that is well worth thinking over, what Elisha did, because as we were saying at the beginning of the reading, Elisha comes into evidence here as replacing Elijah. What he does must bear on his future service, and instead of Elijah now we have Elisha to consider, but still Elijah is not thrown aside altogether. He still comes into view and will be used as we shall see in the next book. What Elisha does is well worth thinking of. “He returned back from him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen”. That is to say, we have already alluded to the difference between boiling and frying and the like. We have to see what this may mean for us, what Elisha does in the sense of preparing food for others, and what it may mean for us. It clearly means that we should go slow, so to speak. He had been using the oxen in the field and now it says he took the yoke of oxen and killed them. He had been using them for other purposes, but now he takes them and kills them for food; he boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen and gave it to the people. That is to say, he has now changed his thought as to what he would do with the oxen, and uses them for [p. 366] food.
SMcC Would it be right to think that following on the ministry of Elijah as emphasising the authority of God and the maintenance of His rights, Elisha is bringing in what grace would supply to meet conditions?
JT Very good, what grace would supply. I would think there is something in that. I wish you would enlarge on that — what grace would supply.
SMcC I thought what you said threw light on his future service, that he is marked at the beginning by supplying things, and in 2 Kings he is bringing in the answer to all the need that exists.
JT Yes.
CCT Is the thought with those who may be serving, that the people are also in mind? It says here that he killed the oxen and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen and gave to the people and they ate.
JT The people are in mind in both chapters. The people are used to slay the prophets of Baal. The idea evidently is that God will restore His people, and keep them in restoration that they might be used, and I think that is the thing for us. We must proceed to chapter 20. It says the “king of Syria assembled all his host; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said to him, Thus says Ben-hadad: Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have”. Now that is an abject surrender on the part of the king of Israel. We want to see how that works out and how Ahab is disposed of according to God. So the passage goes on to say, “My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have”. That is an abject surrender. That has to be understood in its application, its present application and then we have to begin to think over it and understand it. It says, “The Lord will give thee understanding in all things”. So it goes on to say, “Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; but tomorrow about this time I will send my servants to thee, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thy sight, they shall put in their hand and take away. And the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief”. Now the king of Israel is beginning to assert himself and God is taking him on, but then we shall have to proceed further to perceive the ultimate end of the king of Israel in all of this. That is to say, the enemy is attacking unreasonably and the king of Israel is giving up, but at the same time God is not giving him over altogether. He is still taking him on, and so it says, “the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. And all the elders and all the people said to him, Hearken not, nor consent. And he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. And Ben-hadad sent to him and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me!”. That is to say, the enemy is boasting of what he has got, the number of persons. “And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on boast himself as he that putteth off! And it came [p. 368] to pass when he heard this word, as he was drinking ...” Notice the enemy’s wretched defeat of himself, the condition he was in as drinking, giving room to the devil more and more, but still he is against the people of God, and now the question is how God is going to deal with this whole matter, because the chapter is long, but very, very interesting and we are to see the ultimate results. What is principally in mind now is to find out what is going to happen to the king of Israel. And so it says, “as he was drinking, he and the kings in the tents, that he said to his servants, Set yourselves. And they set themselves against the city”. Will you kindly read from verse 13 just to get to the end of this subject?
WC [Verses 13 to 30 read].
JT Well now, I think we ought to come back to what we have read and see the full result of this great victory that God has given to His people, because we have to transfer the thing to our own times whether we can connect what we are dealing with at a reading like this and make it fit in with what God is doing in our very midst. A great multitude on the enemy’s side but then what God is doing is with a few, seven thousand men. God is saying to them that He is on their side and He is going to give them victory. And so we want to consider how it applies to us at the present time, how God will give us victory over a great multitude. I would just ask the brethren to name the passages of scripture that would fit in to what we are dealing with. A great multitude against the people of God and only a few on the side of the people of God, but victory nevertheless on their side through the mercy and grace of God to His people. God is merciful to His people to be with us and give us victory.
SMcC We have the idea of five chasing a hundred, and a hundred putting ten thousand to flight (Leviticus 26: 8). That [p. 369] fits in?
JT The proportion increases.
AH Would Matthew 18 link on with this — two or three gathered together unto His name, and there in that position you have the Lord building His assembly as over against the gates of hades?
JT Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 certainly come into what we are dealing with, on the one hand a great number against the truth; on the other very few outwardly in favour of it. But nevertheless God is with His people.
RH Is it important to arrive at what the king arrived at, what we cannot do? “This thing I cannot do”. The servants in the Acts when they were told not to preach said they could not refrain from preaching.
JT Quite so.
RWS It is a question of the kingdom of Israel, Ahab and Samaria; it is not Judah is it? Would it allude to mixed conditions and how God comes in?
JT Just so. I think it is just like christendom. You cannot ignore christendom. The words ‘christian’ and ‘christendom’ have some force, but then we have to count on God nevertheless. The battle must be in the hands of God, the victory must come from God.
HB The word in Luke 12 is, “Fear not, little flock, for it has been the good pleasure of your Father to give you the kingdom”.
JT Very good.
RWS Would it bear then upon what God might do in the public body as well as among ourselves?
JT That is what I was thinking, that we cannot wholly ignore what christendom is, but as soon as the apostasy sets in then it is all over. You might say the apostasy will be the finish.
RWS Of course, Elijah and Elisha do not appear in this chapter. It is “a prophet” and “the prophet” and “sons of the prophets” as if it is less distinguished persons.
JT Quite so. I thought of that, it is not Ahab and Elijah so much as inferior persons, the sons of the prophets, less important people. But nevertheless God is on the side of the right, what He has committed Himself to. I was speaking of christendom, but it is very poor, it is a mixed condition. The word ‘christian’ refers to believers, real christians, but christendom is a mixed condition — it may be nothing or it may be something in the sense of being for God.
SMcC So that we can see the principle of abject surrender on the one hand, but then the thought of the reasserting of things in relation to the revival, do we not?
JT I think that is right, there is something there that God can approve, but which is at the same time very unreliable. I think christendom is a most unreliable thing, and yet we cannot say that it is just heathendom, it is not just what is in China, for instance. Christendom is not real, but at the same time there is something in it that is real, but when the apostasy comes the unreality will come into evidence and the whole dispensation will be finished, and God will begin another.
AH Does Amos 3 help in working out this matter? It has been remarked as to the faithful ones that they would be centred in the prophets, would they not? Amos tells us, “The Lord Jehovah will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”. This victory seems to be secured through the service of these faithful men.
JT That is the way I look at it.
S I was thinking on the line of what Mr. H. was saying. Would this unnamed prophet continue the thought of faithfulness in the midst of general departure? I was wondering if there might be [p. 371] some correspondence with the faithful men in 2 Timothy days.
JT You are bound to recognise this prophet. He is not named but he has the character of a prophet and God is evidently supporting him.
HAG I was thinking of Judges 7; God seems to be showing His power in the few — three hundred were chosen and the rest of the ten thousand put aside.
JT Just so, say a little more about the three hundred.
HAG I was thinking there seemed to be a great many available, but those who were selected were the three hundred.
JT Just so. The smaller number relatively, but God can identify Himself with it.
JWD I was wondering whether this conflict would enter into our prayer meetings. We should discriminate between our attitude towards Jezebel, and the support of this kind of conflict that is connected with Ahab and the overthrow of the Syrians.
JT There is not very much to say in favour of either. Take Rome and take Germany, what Protestantism has become, and there is not much to be said in favour of either; that is to say, the king of Syria is the open enemy, but then Ahab is not much either. He is not to be relied upon. Presently God will deal with him too. There is not much between Rome and Protestantism, because in between you have Russia, that is, you have communism. There is not much to decide in favour of between those elements. There is actual christianity and we have to go on with that wherever we find it, and we are going on with it, and that is what these meetings mean that God is giving us something by which we can accomplish something for Him.
JWD You suggested that there was a real victory gained in this setting for the people of God, did you [p. 372] not?
JT Yes, that is right, but then we make allowance for Elisha coming in to take God’s side of the whole matter. And we can always count on that.
JMcK Does what Abijah says in relation to Jehovah in 2 Chronicles 13 apply? “We have God with us at our head, and his priests, and the loud-sounding trumpets to sound an alarm”. He was facing overwhelming odds against Jeroboam, and God gave him the victory.
JT Just so, a very good example of what we are speaking of.
EJM What is the import of the prophet’s answer to Ahab in verse 14, “By whom? And he said, Thus saith Jehovah: By the servants of the princes of the provinces”?
JT Who is to lead in the actual conflict, and it is to be Ahab.
EJM Yes, he is to lead, but it says, “I will deliver it into thy hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith Jehovah: By the servants of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he said, Thou”. I was wondering what the significance is.
JT I think God is putting the matter where it should be. He is giving Ahab credit for being the leader of Israel up to that time, but God is really not very free about it. He was ready to use Ahab if he was equal to it; Jehovah said, Thou. He is to lead in the conflict. God is not casting him off altogether, He is just giving him the place that Israel ought to have. I think God is still respecting Israel in spite of the weakness that is existent. I think there is much at the present time that God is respecting that is not really of Him, and we can go on with that so long as the right principles are allowed in [p. 373] any measure.
EJM I wondered if that was why he said, “By the servants of the princes of the provinces”, not much respected, but there is the power lying there.
JT Just so.
ASB In relation to Judges 7, there were actually three companies, the original thirty-two thousand, twenty-two thousand of whom were timid and went back, and then ten thousand and in the final reduction three hundred. I wondered if there was something in our chapter that would apply in that way in relation to the great profession and then what has come to light recently in regard to Rome; it has been opposed by certain heads in so-called churches, which we would recognise as the ten thousand possibly, but then the three hundred would be connected with our chapter in relation to the prophet.
JT I think there is a good deal in that, because what Rome is asserting is repudiated by the Church of England, and we would say we are glad they are going so far at least. The Church of England is not much, but at the same time if it is saying what is right so far we just leave it at that and thank God for it. We would rather that they would be doing that than becoming apostate.
ASB That is exactly what I had in mind.
HAP There is something positive even in Sardis: it says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, which are about to die”.
JT Just so, there are some names even in Sardis, a few names.
Rem There are a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments.
JT Quite so. The Lord recognises that; what He can He recognises, until the apostasy comes; then the matter is over. It has not come yet, but it is in principle around us.
LES The seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal would be in all this, would they not?
JT [p. 374] I would regard them as real ones whom we can approve, whom God approves, and I believe that, is just what exists at the present time. There are those we can go with so far, take men like Moody and Sankey and people that really get converts, that is to say those who go on with the truth in any measure, God approves them. So God approved the seven thousand, He says to Elijah, “Yet I have left myself seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal”. They have not done it, they are genuine persons. But when the apostasy comes in we cannot own anything, the whole matter is rejected. That is a most solemn thing to consider, that when the apostasy comes that is the finish, there is nothing left. I think we ought to read that again to have it clearly in our mind; just read again the part that refers to the apostasy.
WC 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, “Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because it will not be unless the apostasy ...”
JT Now that is the thing, just stop there for the moment, we can enlarge on that; “unless the apostasy”, let us rest on the idea of the word ‘apostasy’. I thought we might see clearly what the apostasy is going to be. It is going to be the finish of this dispensation, that God is going to reject it finally. That is most solemn to think of.
JMcK Would you say a little more on how that apostasy will develop. I think it would be helpful for us.
JT Well, it is going to be gradual as far as I see. It has been gradual since the Reformation, going on ever since and getting worse and worse.
SMcC Would you look at the apostasy as not only developing in christendom in relation to christendom itself, but the governments also giving up things?
[p. 375] JT Just so. What has occurred in France has now occurred in Germany and now in Russia. Russia was nominally christian at one time too, not very long since either, but it is going entirely against the truth, although there are some real christians yet in Russia. But the apostasy has been going on since the Reformation, all the time, but God is mercifully coming in in the revival, as we speak of it, through Mr. Darby and this same work has been going on in which we are now this very day. It is a wonderful thing that we are able to speak of it in that way. The real thing God is still supporting and we might say together we are with that.
VCL Has the development of the truth in the last hundred and fifty years, tended to retard the apostasy while the completing of the assembly takes place?
JT I think so. So that until He be taken out of the way, that which hinders will hinder. That is the Spirit of God. That is the right thought of christianity; it is hindering the apostasy. The apostasy is only gradual and is not any very great outward thing. I do not think we are going to have anything like that. It will be somewhat of a private nature, not recognised in the world at all. We just have to accept that.
VCL I was thinking of the necessity, if we have come within the range of the truth, to manifest the spirit of grace that continues to this very day, so that those in what is apostate around us might be saved if possible.
JT Just so. But it will not be saved because God is not going to save it. He is giving it up, He is gradually giving it up.
RWS I believe you have suggested that what has come under the range of the truth in Mr. Darby’s day, and departed from it in the various divisions, will become part of the apostate [p. 376] system.
JT Quite so, I am sure it will. What has been false to the revival, open brethrenism (I do not like to use the word), is really not the truth at all.
AH The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4 says, “But the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall apostatise from the faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy, cauterised as to their own conscience ...”
JT Apostasy has therefore set in. But it is slow, it is not a great or outward thing, it has set in and we have to notice it. But at the same time carry on with what is right according to God, what we believe is actually right and go on with that, and we are doing it, thank God. God is helping us, and He has helped us in England in the last two or three months. God is greatly helping the brethren and He is doing it here in America at the same time. It is just as well to be simple and say what is true.
PW As to our prayers, are we to continue praying for these men in authority and kings?
JT The truth in that sense stands, the truth of Scripture stands.
PW I was thinking about Europe, can we pray for those men too in authority there?
JT We are enjoined to do that.
PW I mean the Russians.
JT Oh, but we are not thinking of Russia when we say Europe. Russia it by itself, it goes beyond Europe.
HB In the scripture in Matthew 13 the Lord speaks of the kingdom of the heavens being like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until it had all been leavened.
JT God is very patient. We can count on that. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come [p. 377] to repentance.
RH I was wondering as to this subsequent section where Ahab is tolerant with Ben-hadad and calls him “my brother”, whether that would be something like Bethesda, which we must resist.
JT That is just the sort of thing Bethesda is. It cannot be relied upon; it is a thorough mixture, although there are some real christians in it, of course. Mr. Darby repudiated it from the very start.
SMcC It seems interesting that John’s ministry deals with what is antichrist, whereas Paul seems to deal with what is anti-God. Is there something in that?
JT I think there is.
SMcC In Thessalonians the person who is viewed there as being manifested, the man of sin, sets himself up as God, and takes the place of God. In John’s references to the antichrist he mentions those who did not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh.
JT Christ, come in flesh, just so. But I would like to hear a little more about what is anti-God, as it is in your mind, Mr. McC.
SMcC I thought it linked with the first beast in Revelation 13, the one who really is in the place of being God and how the revelation of God is opposed in that way in this great matter of the apostasy.
JT What is anti-God is probably what has come in in christendom, not Protestantism, but something in the East that is taking the place of christianity. I am trying to show what we have to deal with in the last days. Mohammedanism is not open heathendom but it is contrary to christianity and contrary to the truth of the assembly.
SMcC Mr. Darby points out in the ‘protracted’ interpretation of the Revelation the place that the Saracen hordes had in invading Europe; this was really a forerunner of what is to come in the way of being anti-God. It was really the forerunner of what will ultimately come in as a terrible [p. 378] scourge.
JT Just so, really the apostasy, that is what that is.
ADS In regard to apostasy would you make it a little clearer what is actually apostasy? There are apostate systems, and there are believers in whom there may be a work of God linked with them, and we have to recognise the true character of that with which they are identified, and yet we know the Lord knows those that are His.
JT The mohammedan element is not an entire denial of christianity; there is some pretence to recognise something of Christ or christianity or judaism. Something of that kind is retained in it. That is the character of apostasy that we have to deal with. It is a Saracen element which is recognised in the East largely, and Russia has espoused it, but that does not mean that Russia has wholly given up everything that is of God because there are many real christians in Russia still and in all eastern Asia. At the same time Russia is very near mohammedanism, but Russia is still by itself; it has always had a peculiar distinctiveness by itself. The British a hundred years ago were greatly afraid of Russia coming down from the north, like the king of the north in Daniel. That would ultimately culminate in Russia’s attack on India and on the whole British Commonwealth. That would be in accord with what God is doing, what He is finding in the British Commonwealth all over the world, because there is always an open door in the British Commonwealth for something of God. And I am sure God recognises it governmentally. But the time will come when it will be wholly cast off, as of no more value than heathendom.