MAKE ME THEREOF A LITTLE CAKE FIRST
G. W. Brown
Matthew 16: 13–18; 1 Kings 17: 10–18; 23–24
I want to add a word to what we have had as to Christ and the assembly. I am thinking of the way that we are brought vitally into the appreciation of the assembly. It must be by way of revelation. Of course, there is what precedes; there is the work of the Spirit of God, which is sovereign, according to John 3, in new birth. Apart from that, there would be no power to receive any feature of the truth. It is evident that, in Peter, that work had begun. God had sovereignly wrought in him the answer to this enquiry by the Lord, “But ye, who do ye say that I am?” It was a wonderful answer that Peter gave, and it witnesses to the work of God in him, and, in addition, to the Father’s revelation.
If we turn to Luke 1: 35, the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” Now Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”.
As we examine ourselves, are we conscious of having had such a revelation as to the Person, “The Christ, the Son of the living God”? The Lord recognises the Father’s movements in saying, “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father”. Have we faith for it—that we have been the subjects of divine service thus—the Spirit of God bringing about what is new in us, and the Father making this revelation as to His Son? How sovereign it is—how blessed! How infinitely favoured we are to be the subjects of the Father’s revelation concerning His Son! The Lord says to Peter, in answer to this, “And I also, I say unto thee”. There is a deliberateness about it which perhaps we have not always noticed. As if the Lord would say, I am going to say something. You have said something, Peter—something you could not have said without the Father’s revelation “and I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”.
Here we are, at the end of the dispensation, as we most assuredly believe, and we have been speaking together, in some measure intelligibly, about the assembly—speaking of it as a present, known, reality. We say thankfully to God that we know that it finds expression in this place where we are. In this small company, despised no doubt by the world, and it may be too by others who were formerly found here with them; but we are assured that there is in this place an expression of the assembly. May it please God to add to it, and above all, to sustain it, till the coming of the Lord, which may not be long.
Here, as in other places, outwardly so reduced, and so small, there is nevertheless an expression of the assembly, that which we have spoken of as connected with the prime thoughts and counsels of God in purpose for His own pleasure, that which has the privilege of setting forth what may be known of God in this very town. What a privilege it is! What a privilege for all of us in the places to which we belong to have part in the setting forth of God as He may be known by men. As the expression of the assembly is found in each place it is contributed to by each one of us.
There is something basic in this confession of Peter, “Thou art the Christ”. Think of the volume of Jewish history that looked forward—and does still, I suppose—to the coming of Christ, the centuries of history in which Christ had been expected, not by Gentiles, but by Jews. And here is a man addressing Jesus, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. I doubt whether the second statement was understood and looked forward to in the long history of Jewish faith and expectancy. I doubt whether it was known that the One who would answer to that official title would be the Son of the living God.
The Father had made it known to Peter, and the Lord says, I have something to say, “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly”—that is, on the knowledge of Himself as revealed by the Father in the hearts of men—in our hearts—“and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. Here, at the end of the dispensation, on the eve of the rapture, there is the expression of the assembly in so many places, despite the unfaithfulness that has marked us all; despite the divisions, alas, amongst the most favoured saints, who have been in the light of recovered truth for the past 150 years approximately. Now, on the eve of the rapture, the truth of the assembly is found in expression in smallness. How fitting it seems that it should be in smallness, in view of the failure on man’s side; but it is preserved in vitality and power by the Spirit of God and by the blessed Lord Himself.
I read from 1 Kings and it might be wondered how this connects with what we have been considering, but again it seems fitting that the person referred to should be in these circumstances of weakness and poverty, almost of desperation. The brethren no doubt recall ministry about it years ago, as to how well it might describe a local company. A widow woman was there gathering sticks. Her natural resource had gone. Her occupation was something very lowly, but the prophet comes to where she is. The prophet is he who represents God in His rights. We might say that he represents the Lord Jesus. The prophet makes request to the woman.
This is not the gospel. God is not requesting anything of man in the gospel—He is supplying it all. I hope we preach that! If you preach a gospel in which God is supplying everything, you will have grounds to invite men to repent so that they may receive all the blessing. But do present first the resources that are with God to save, and to deliver, man—all the resources that are in Christ. As I say, in the gospel God is not requiring anything from man; He is supplying it.
This is the Lord in His dealings, we may say, with a company. Maybe they are reduced to extremity; the position weak and despicable to the natural mind—a widow gathering sticks. But the prophet makes a request of her, “Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink”. Do we rise above our own weakness to think of the Lord? I think we do. We do, at least, once a week as we assemble for the Supper, thinking of the Lord—something for Him.
Then it says “she went to fetch it”—a very good feature that. In spite of her adversity she is obedient. Then he makes another request, “And he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand”. He does not ask for a lot—a morsel of bread. Then she says, I cannot do that. At the best I have just a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse. I have just got the bare necessities for this last meal for me and my son—we are giving up. The position is hopeless; we are about to give up. We are just going to use what little we have left for ourselves. We will survive until that has gone, and then all will be finished. Ever felt like that? Maybe—the Lord knows. “That I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die”.
Elijah said to her, “Fear not”. Maybe the Lord is Speaking to ourselves in this, “Fear not; go, do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first”—the emphasis is on first; “me … first”. If the position is weak, and we are getting desperate, dear brethren, the remedy is to think of the Lord first. The little cake is a reference, typically, to the assembly. The intention to use what little is left “for me and my son” as a last meal before finally giving up is what we are prone to, I think, as lacking in faith in the power of the Spirit and in the love of Christ.
I suppose many of us would confess to that, feeling that things are too much, that the end is in sight—not God’s end, but the end for unbelief. It is lack of faith in the Spirit and in the love of Christ.
However, the word of the prophet is sufficient and she follows it. “Bring it to me; and afterwards make for thee and for thy son”. Let us keep it before us, beloved brethren, however weak the position may be, that the Son of God who has been revealed to us is to be ministered to. He is to have something to drink; He is to have this little cake. We have enough for that; what is of Christ in us, and the power of the Spirit, in the oil—and the oil was in a cruse, in a vessel. What is causing the leakage, you see, is self; we are thinking of self—maybe self in all its weakness; Is the Son of the living God going to fail us? Is He going to desert us? Or are we going to consider, when in ourselves we are so deplorably weak, for Him, that He may drink—and that He may have what is represented in this little cake; something for Himself? He said to Peter, “I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. We might say that, typically, through the activity of the prophet here, he ensured that hades’ gates did not prevail, for it says that “she, and he, and her house, ate a whole year”. It suggests an extended period, until the Lord comes.
It is not the end of exercise because afterwards there is defection in the household, as there may be in a locality. There may be defection in any one of us. The best brother in the meeting may prove to be defective. If Paul said that he needed to buffet his body, and lead it captive, lest having preached to others he should be himself rejected (1 Corinthians 9: 27), surely there is no one amongst us who does not need to do it.
The son died; then she is cast back on herself. She says, “Art thou come to me to call mine iniquity to remembrance?” The Son of God does not go back, like we do. Thank God for that We are in danger of going back. The epistle to the Hebrews shows that. Do not let us say, That is just Hebrews; that is not us. God has provided in the word, and in the Spirit, for everything that might arise amongst us, and one of the things that might arise is a going back.
Let us face it. Let us not say, Not me! We have said that long enough. Whoever would have thought, how inconceivable it was, say twenty years ago, that things should have come to the pass they did publicly in the testimony—the shameful things amongst us. Do not let us say again, That is not us. Do not let anyone say, That is not me. How easily we go back, but for divine grace. I am not speaking about one’s final destiny—that is assured; nothing can shake it. I am thinking about the course of the testimony. How many mighty men have fallen; they are out of it; they have perished in the wilderness. What sort of people were they who perished in the wilderness? Well, they included princes—and princesses, I suppose—the last sort of people that you would have thought would perish, belonging to a nation as to which God had such purposes of blessing.
You would have said, Well, they will get through—they will surely get through. They perished in the wilderness! Many have done so in this dispensation. Many who have preached to others have themselves been rejected. I do not want to depress the brethren; I want to strengthen myself and my brethren in confidence in the Son of God and in the way that we shall be preserved in vitality as we change our outlook from self to God and to Christ.
However desperate the situation may seem to be, let us not be thinking of ourselves, but of what is of and for Christ, peculiarly what has the character of the assembly—“but make me … a little cake first”. The man of God was equal to the situation, and the moment came when he said to the widow; “See, thy son lives”. It is a matter, here in type, which has occurred and recurred, and it may be there will be more recurrence before the rapture in many localities. Christ is equal to the situation. Our salvation will be in considering not for ourselves, but for Him. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Southend-on-Sea
12 May 1973