MICAH 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
MICAH 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC We need to see that a divine Person has come in to take charge of His flock. He came out of Bethlehem as the Offspring of David, but then He was also the Root of David. He was the eternal God coming into manhood to take up shepherd service, as we read in the beginning of Matthew. He was to shepherd God’s people Israel; so that the strength of Jehovah and the majesty of the name of Jehovah are brought into exercise in His service, which gives it an exalted character.
The ruling in verse 2 is ruling in shepherd character, it is so translated by the Spirit in Matthew 2. It was in the mind of Jehovah to bring all His care and blessing near to man in that character. So that they gained immensely by having such a One for Shepherd. He knew perfectly what God’s care was and could pass it on and make it available. Think of the wonderful influence that was among the disciples when the Lord was here, for there was One in their midst who knew perfectly Jehovah’s thoughts about them.
Ques Would the thought in shepherding be that they should learn God?
CAC Yes; we can learn from the Psalms what Jehovah was to Christ. Now, He brought that among His own in the gospels. There is now a further thought, the Father’s name enters into it. We have little idea what it meant to them when the disciples heard from His lips, “My Father”, “Your Father”. It must have been the most astonishing thing to them in the sermon on the mount. It had never been heard of or thought of before, and we ought to take it as the most blessed thing. There never had been a man on earth who [p. 446] knew God as Father till Jesus was here. So that the majesty and power of the Father’s name all enter into the shepherd care; it all enters into what He feeds His flock upon.
It was brought here in His Person. I think we need to move more to Christ’s side of things, forgetting our own side altogether, and think of what was here for Him, extended to His disciples — what rested on Him. Well, all that entered into His shepherd care. How much is needed to bring the flock into that. There is a divine product in the sheep, and they have necessities; and no one can meet the requirements of their nature but divine Persons. It is nature, not light. They are the Father’s first. The saints have certain necessities that attach to their very nature as subjects of the work of God, and the Shepherd ministers with divine skill to those necessities. “He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God”; and we of course now bring in the name of Father.
Ques Do we learn to know Christ and to know God by feeding? “This is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (John 17: 3).
CAC I think the sheep have to be fed into it. It is most important that we should be fed into these things, so that they become characteristic of us, part of ourselves.
Rem “I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10: 14, 15).
CAC The sheep take on His character that way.
Ques Would it be John 17?
CAC I think John 17 is the full product, what He would feed us up to, so that He would be able to refer to us as He does there (cf. verse 6). It has come to maturity, so to speak.
And it says, “They shall abide”, which is another link with John. “Abide” is a characteristic word in John’s gospel and epistles, showing how important the permanency of things is.
There is no ‘in and out’ is there? So there is no thought of perishing with it. It says, “They shall never perish”.
It is good to take account of the saints as the flock, not merely as those who have made confession of Christ; they are the flock of God. And the service is to go on on that footing. The Lord fed and preserved them from that standpoint, the thought of failure does not come in. It is most important that the Son of God coming here among His own brought all the value of what was in Himself upon them. They are detached from the world and attached to Him, and all the value of what is in Him is theirs. And all that makes Christ personally precious — our learning what has come in Him; it is the positive side.
Rem Peace is not an element, but He is it, He is Peace.
CAC That is most important; and He is great to the ends of the earth, showing that Israel is too small for Him. Some of His greatness has entered into this room tonight. What a large place and company we are in. And every saint is a vessel of the greatness of Christ. The poorest and most backward saint has some sense of the greatness of Christ, and if we do not think much of him, he is a very important person in the eyes of heaven. That is exactly what God is doing now, bringing the greatness of Christ into hearts. And it is in view of the power of the enemy, because it is the Assyrian. “This man shall be Peace”; it is after having said this that the Assyrian is mentioned. And it is not He makes peace, or gives peace, but He is Peace. How wonderful to be close to a Person with whom there is no unrest or misgiving, for no unrest or misgiving ever entered His heart.
Ques It says, “When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces; then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men”. Does that indicate that some will be raised up to meet this power, shepherds and princes?
CAC That is very good, because the Assyrian is the violent power. Assyria is the last enemy; the false religion of [p. 448] corruption has been destroyed before Assyria comes up. What a fortification in which to be set up. “This man shall be Peace”. So the Lord says to the disciples, “These things have I spoken to you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage: I have overcome the world”. And it was just after saying they would be killed. ‘Well’, He says, ‘In me ye shall have peace’. As we draw near the end I am satisfied that violence will have more and more place in this world; there will be active opposition and cruelty. So we find in Revelation and in Daniel the little horn makes war with the saints. I do not say the assembly will have the worst of it, but it may have a little touch. So at the present time God is using the violence for purifying. It is no use trying to get above it, you must go under it to get the blessing. But you start with, “This man shall be Peace”.
Rem When the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, Jesus comes into the midst and speaks peace to them.
CAC And so the apostles do not show any sign of fear in Acts 4. They say, “Now, Lord, look upon their threatenings”; and if some are shaken up and distressed, we have the privilege of reporting what is happening.
Rem And they say, Give thy servants boldness.
CAC It is the atheists and those opposed to God that would crush God’s people — Babylon is not in the ascendant now, it is the Assyrian. But He gives His people power to meet even the Assyrian. I do think we need to pray as to these things, so that what we have in Christ and in His Person is more to us than anything else in heaven or earth.
Ques Is this the thought of those who take up rule and oversight and princes who give a lead in dignity?
CAC We want shepherds and princes, that is how the Assyrian is met, not by soldiers. So that the hostile power will go down before those shepherds and princes who are in the dignity of the anointing. Now the thing is to go on with that. God has His own. No one would have thought that God would have silenced the enemy and the avenger by praise out [p. 449] of the mouths of babes and sucklings; it comes out in Psalm 8. So the praises of the saints can do that; they can hold back the power of evil. We may not think so, but it is true.
Ques What about the numbers, seven and eight?
CAC We can understand seven, the perfection of the thing — for the earth. We want more of the shepherd spirit to meet the energy of evil round us, and then also the moral dignity of the princes. Eight is connected with eternity. We can see there is a beautiful moral order in this. It is a most instructive part of Scripture.
Rem It says the remnant of Jacob shall be as the dew, and then as a lion in judgment.
CAC Then the remnant of Jacob gets an extended mission, and becomes a shower of dew far and wide. It is wonderful to think it will all be literally carried out after the Lord has taken up His throne in Jerusalem. It will take place historically. The Assyrian (the king of the north in Daniel) will come up, and he will be destroyed, and there will be a spreading abroad of the knowledge of God, and Judah will move about like the dew to bring it about. It is the persons, not the doctrine here. Moses said, “My doctrine ... shall flow down as dew” (Deuteronomy 32: 2). Here it is what they are; they bring an impression of God wherever they go. Certain persons are going to treat them kindly, and because they do so, not because they believe the gospel, they will come into eternal life; and it is simply because they have done something they were unaware of. The Lord says, ‘You were kind to Me’. And the saints are surely a blessing on earth by what they are, or they ought to go to heaven at once. Two people were blessed through merely watching two sisters pass frequently in one direction. They wanted to find the attraction, so one day they followed and came to the meeting, and were converted on the spot.
If the dew is refused, there is nothing but judgment, and the saints will execute judgment on those that refuse grace. It is remarkable that the Psalms finish almost on that note in the midst of all the praises. “To execute upon them the judgment written. This honour have all his saints” (Psalm 149: 9). But it is a solemn honour.
The closing section is important because it shows God will not have any natural power in His service. He will have no natural means used in His conflicts. He has been teaching us all along what His great power is and He says, ‘Now I am going to destroy every element in you that is not suitable to divine service’.
The chapter comes back to a serious word for all in the divine conflict, and we all are to be in it. Paul says, “The arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ” (2 Corinthians 10: 5). Well, I take it that was in himself. I once heard J.N.D. say he did not see why the assembly should be the only place on earth where the lawless will of man could go unrestrained. You and I should see that there should be nothing with us that God cannot connect with Himself, otherwise wonderful as the things I say or do may be, they are nothing, because God cannot connect Himself with them.