“THIS THING IS FROM ME”
A. B. Parker
The Lord Jesus, in the final days of His ministry, when opposition was building up with intensity, was challenged as to His authority. There were those who demanded by what authority. He did the things in which He was engaged (Luke 20: 2). Jesus answered, “I also will ask you one thing, and tell me—The baptism of John, was it of heaven or of men?”.
They would have liked Him to say, ‘Of men’, but they feared the people, for all took John for a prophet, so they said, We cannot tell. The Lord then said, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things”. At that time the enemy brought to bear the greatest intelligences that existed in Israel; the chief priests and scribes, the Herodians, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. All were silenced and dared ask no more questions. I have in mind particularly that the Lord Jesus raised the question of what is “of heaven” and what is “of men”. It is important that we judge whether a matter is of heaven.
In the scripture I have read, God had acted in anger—He was angered by Solomon’s departure from the path of His will. Great heights had been reached in Israel under David and furthered under Solomon—indeed it was typical of what the Lord would reach through Paul in Ephesus. Bringing it down to our day, we remember the heights reached through the ministries of Mr. Raven and Mr. Taylor,
but what departure came in! God has been angry with us as He was with Solomon and has scattered us. Ten tribes went to Jeroboam and two tribes were preserved as a lamp for David’s sake. God valued the faithfulness of David and gave him the pattern for the house which Solomon built. The glory filled it. But departure came in, as we have said, and so with us. Rehoboam would have fought to reunite Israel, but Jehovah sent a prophet to say, “This thing is from me”, 1 Kings 12: 24. This scripture has been used in meetings for prophetic ministry and on other occasions; we accepted the fact that God’s hand had been in the scattering—“This thing is from me”.
As time went on, in Judah’s history, that word was forgotten. The glory of Jehoshaphat’s good reign was tarnished by his affiliations with Ahab and Israel, bringing down God’s rebuke through a prophet on two occasions (2 Chronicles 19: 2; 20: 37). He joined himself with Ahab in battle, saying, “I am as thou, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses”, 1 Kings 22: 4. Again, he joined with Ahab’s son to fight Moab, using the same excuse, “I am as thou, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses”, 2 Kings 3: 7. Finally, when his own son, who had married into Ahab’s family, came to the throne of Judah, “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel”, 2 Kings 8: 18.
I have referred to Jehoshaphat’s history to indicate that if we disregard the word of God and forget that “This thing is from me”, becoming loose in our associations, so that we fraternise with persons from whom we have had to separate, there can only be decline amongst us. If the divisions which have taken place have been allowed of God, let us accept the shame of it, but seek to honour what is “of heaven” and glorify God in it. Although
separate, we can still hold many in our affections and prayers, waiting upon God for their recovery. He is able for this. Our part is to be faithful and true to the path in which the Sanctifier and those sanctified are all of one, and He is not ashamed to call us brethren.
Word in meeting for ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y.
11 January 1977