EXTRACTS

In chapter 46: 4 (Isaiah) the principle of carrying extends to the old ones. Some older brethren here tonight may think they are here to support the gospel; rightly so, but every Christian should attend the gospel with an open mind feeling that he needs the gospel. I have often thought and said that the apostle Paul would be glad to sit down and listen to Peter. He might present a side of the gospel that Paul had not thought of, and vice versa; Peter would be glad to listen to Paul; and in fact it would be important that he should, for Paul spoke of “my glad tidings”; Peter never said that. Paul is the only one that said that. It means a particular gospel that every apostle and every saint should listen to; it is the gospel of place; it is the gospel of salvation, too, but it is the gospel of another place. It is the gospel the spies preached to Israel when they searched the land and brought back the grapes of Eshcol. That is the gospel, that God has another place. It is “the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ”, Ephesians 3: 8.

Now this verse, Isaiah 46: 4, as I said, is for the old people here, the grey-haired Christian. I do not use the expression ‘grey hairs’ as a matter of spiritual decay; that is not what is meant here. In other places it does, but here it is not that. In Isaiah 46 it is, “Even to old age, I am HE, and unto hoary hairs I will carry you—It is I that have made, and I will bear, and I will carry, and will deliver”. Now this is for old Christians.

The gospel is for the lamb, for the infants spiritually; the carrying love of Christ, the gathering love of Christ, the feeding love of Christ, no word about grey hairs there. But then there are not only lambs, but there are those with grey hairs, those who have old age, and heaven sympathises with them. Physical decay tends to weaken us even in our faith—as we pass to old age we are apt to become downcast and depressed. The thing is to be more in line.

We have to provide against it that Christians should be restful and bright in the apprehension of Christ, although in old age. He is conscious of our old age; it is the love of Christ for the old, the grey-haired. It is the saving love of Christ, for we need to be saved to the uttermost.

Salvation is not an historic thing; to many of us it is a continuous thing, and the gospel implies that in old age He will carry you. That is a thing to be cherished, for you need the Lord at the last. It is an exercise as we face these things and see how the gospel of the grace of God provides for every stage in Christianity, every gradation, and how the old are to see to it that they are appropriating what love provides for them, so that their minds may be clear and their faith unimpaired, that their interest in the testimony may go on, that they may contribute to their younger ones and not be a burden to them. They will not be a burden if they are bright spiritually, though old and decrepit. The spiritual regard them as assets and not liabilities. It is a very poor thing for a Christian to become a liability to his brethren. The Lord provides that it should not be; this verse provides for that, we should appropriate His provision of love for us, “Even to old age, I am HE”, meaning that He is unchanged, “and unto hoary hairs I will carry you—It is I that have made, and I will bear, and I will carry, and will deliver”. One like Moses could see and his force was unabated (Deuteronomy 34: 7). One desires to be found thus, so that he has an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

J. Taylor (Vol. 98, pp.392–394)

But, as to this, the Spirit of God has Phinehas specially in mind. The thought of the priesthood is exemplified in him at a critical time. It shines out in a crisis; it is what a man is in a crisis, not in the Bible reading, but when something has to be met and adjusted; that is where you get priesthood. It is strikingly seen in Phinehas.

Now, the Spirit of God gives us the genealogy of Israel in Exodus 6, and as you will all remember, He proceeds from Reuben to Levi, and stops; there is nothing about the remaining tribes. He takes up Levi, pursuing the line through Aaron until He comes to Phinehas—and no more; as much as to say, I have reached a man that exemplifies what I have in mind. What a great thing that is—God, at any time, saying I have reached the thought for the moment, a man that knows what is in My mind! You do not want to be out of that; it is open to us to be in it, and God can count and rest on one man or on more who understand what is in His mind.

That is Phinehas, and God says, I will make an everlasting covenant with that man, that he shall be a priest for ever. I believe that is what is alluded to in Malachi. Malachi is another prophet who deals with the priesthood, and he is worthy to be brought in here. The priesthood had broken down disastrously, and God charges them with this, and He calls attention to Levi—“My covenant was with him of life and peace” (Malachi 2: 5); but in truth that covenant was with Phinehas. You see how God’s mind rests on the man in whom the thing stood out in a crisis.

J. Taylor (Vol. 40, p.354)

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