EVIDENCES OF LIFE
[p. 61] EVIDENCES OF LIFE
Mark 5: 42; Luke 7: 15; John 12: 2
It is the glory of God to bring in life where death has been, so that in the place where death is, and in persons who have been under death, the power of life is made to appear. So there is something very special and distinctive about the three instances in which the Lord brought persons out of death. No doubt they were intended to set forth what God was doing, and going to do, in a spiritual way. The daughter of Jairus, the widow’s son, and Lazarus all lived by reason of the power of life which was in Christ. In none of the cases could there be any movement, or even any desire, on their part. Others might be concerned about them, but nothing could be initiated by them. The power of life is in Christ alone, and He brings into evidence that it is so, and it is in every case applied sovereignly. Life in a spiritual sense is always the result of a sovereign acting of God; it is a manifest proof that God has acted.
In the three different instances referred to, life manifests itself in three different ways. We read of the damsel that she “arose and walked”; of the young man at Nain that he “began to speak”; and of Lazarus that he “was one of those at table with him”. These are evidences of life which it is well to consider.
Three striking cases are put together by the Spirit of God in Mark 5; the man possessed by a legion of demons, the woman with the issue, and the dead damsel. In the first we see the power of the Lord to deliver from evil in extreme and violent forms. In the second we see how He can meet cases of long-continued exercise about sin in the flesh. But in the third we see a setting forth of the form which His gracious work often takes in the children of His people. Such have been brought up in an atmosphere of love, and shielded from much of the evil that is in the world, but their parents long to see in them the evidence of life.
It is noticeable that the testimony is largely passing into the hands of those who have been brought up in believing households where the truth is valued. We may gather from Paul’s choice of Timothy that it would be the Lord’s pleasure to identify His testimony with persons of that kind, and especially in the last days. Timothy had not gone through [p. 62] the tremendous experiences of Paul, nor of such men as the Philippian jailor, but he was clearly marked by evidences of life. In Christianity what we come into is much more important than the way in which we come into it; but the only thing that is of true value is life. The angel said to the apostles, “Go ye and stand and speak in the temple ... all the words of this life” (Acts 5: 20); and when the last days are in view Paul is “apostle ... according to promise of life”, 2 Timothy 1: 1.
One special feature of the Lord’s work in relation to His testimony today is that He is taking hold of the hand of the children, and speaking to them, so that they begin to move in life. The first movement in life is a wonderful thing — something done in relation to God and to His people that is spontaneous in the one who does it. It is good to do what one is told to do, but life has always spontaneous movements of its own. God has been pleased to let us know that there were such movements on the part of Jesus at the age of twelve, and the incident in Mark 5 would indicate that He is minded to initiate such movements in a child of twelve. “And having laid hold of the hand of the child, he says to her, Talitha koumi, which is, interpreted, Damsel, I say to thee, Arise”. It was all from His side. God refers to the covenant as a taking of the people by the hand, but, if He takes by the hand when there is nothing with us but death, the whole matter must be from His side. The soul has to understand this. The epistle to the Romans shows how God takes man by the hand when he has been proved to be under sin and death. When we were in that state, righteousness and life were ministered to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. The very spirit of all that is in God’s heart towards us has been expressed in Him, and it is brought into the heart of man by the gift of the Spirit. The saints are God’s called ones; they are the called of Jesus Christ; He has taken hold of them personally, and because of His personal touch and call the power of life comes into their souls. And all this is as true of a child of twelve who becomes the subject of divine working as it is of an older person.
Those around know what is going on, for the Lord loves to work in the presence of those who are sympathetic, and who are quick to perceive the evidences of life in a soul. He puts out the noisy crowd who only look at things from a natural standpoint. “The damsel arose and walked”. The Lord [p. 63] answered the affectionate and prayerful interest of Jairus, and He loved to have His disciples with Him to witness the acting of His power. We see here that the new life expressed itself in movement. How good it is when young people are seen moving in a way that is altogether different from what obtains in the world! A young soul whom Christ has taken by the hand may not have even read the sixth chapter of Romans, but he knows that there is nothing in common between the world and Christ. Death has been Christ’s portion here, but the Father’s glory has raised Him. When one has been laid hold of and spoken to by Christ, there is power in the soul to rise up from the life of the world, which is really death, and to walk in relation to Christ and to those who belong to Christ. In being identified with Him they are identified with them, and there are movements of which lookers-on can take account.
How happy it is when parents and disciples can see that a true desire to please the Lord is active in the children! Instead of unruliness there is now a spirit of subjection; instead of the Lord’s things being a bore they begin to be attractive; His people are loved and their company sought; it becomes a pleasure to render little acts of service; there is contentment without the pleasures of the world, and preparedness to bear a little reproach for the name of Jesus. All these things are evidences of a walk in newness of life which are not beyond the measure of a child of twelve.
The Lord “desired that something should be given her to eat”. When movements in life are seen it is most important to supply food to nourish the life that is there. Do not let us think that young people cannot appreciate the food of God’s house. They can appreciate it, and often they get its value more fully than some who are older. It is interesting to think of the age of twelve as a time when there may be definite movement of soul occasioned by personal exercise before God. I believe a child of that age may be competent to distinguish between what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit, and may have power in life to walk according to the Spirit and to refuse what is of the flesh.
Then when the Lord raised up the widow’s son at the gate of the city of Nain we are told that “the dead sat up and began to speak”. This is evidently life in a more developed sense than was set forth in Jairus’ daughter who “arose and walked”. Speaking is the exercise of a faculty by which [p. 64] intelligent expression is given to what is in the mind. The ability to speak distinguishes man from all the lower creation; it pertains to him as made in God’s image and after His likeness, for God is presented to us throughout Scripture as the great Speaker. What is in His mind and heart would never have been known if He had not spoken, and He intended that man should be like Him in being able to express what was in his mind. Speech is a very high faculty of an intelligent creature, lightly as men think of it. Since sin came into the world man has made a dreadful use of the power of speech; he has used it to express all the vileness that is in his heart as a fallen being. Scripture bears true witness when it says, “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps’ poison is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”, Romans 3: 13, 14.
But when life comes in by the touch and word of Jesus it is evidenced by speaking in a way which shows that divine power has operated. How do you think a man would speak who had come back by the word of Jesus from death’s domain? It is certain that the widow’s son did not begin to speak of worldly matters in the city, or of what men were doing there. He would speak, surely, as the people did afterwards, of how God had visited His people. He would speak as one in the light and experience of the great actings of God, having been himself the subject of them. How every word would come as balm to the heart of his mother! One who has felt the havoc of death can appreciate the comfort of a speaking which is evidence of life. And this kind of speaking is being heard today wherever the power of the name of Jesus is known. Life expressed itself in Peter and others in the early chapters of the Acts in the way they could speak. The assembly was characterised by this manifestation of life; it was the place where spiritual speaking was heard.
The Lord loves to hear speaking which is the evidence of life. Such speaking is referred to in Malachi 3: 16. “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare”. How delightful it is to heaven when the holy converse of the saints bears witness to the life-giving power of [p. 65] Jesus! There can only be holy speaking as the outcome of holy thinking. There needs to be more concern with us that our thinking shall be on the line of faith and love, and in the current of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking that is the evidence of life is the speaking of those who have the “spirit of faith, according to what is written, I have believed, therefore have I spoken; we also believe, therefore also we speak”, 2 Corinthians 4: 13. Speaking that is not of faith has no divine or spiritual value. We should be concerned that the marvellous faculty of speech is not used unworthily. We have it that it may become the vehicle through which faith shall find intelligent and intelligible expression. The good man has a good treasure, and he brings forth good things out of it by speaking of what is in his heart. What we have stored in our affections is to be brought forth in speech. This is the normal characteristic of “the good man”, and none of us would wish to have the character under the Lord’s eye of “the wicked man” who has only a “wicked treasure” out of which he brings forth “wicked things”, Matthew 12: 34, 35. How blessed that the heart of a saint can be a treasure-house of what is divinely and spiritually good out of which he constantly brings choice things in speech! This is a most precious evidence of life. The great nominal profession of Christianity around us has “a name to live”, but where are the evidences of life? Are hearts stored with the precious things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and are they habitually brought forth in holy speaking? Let us see to it that our conversation is really the evidence of life. There is no spiritual gratification in any other kind of speaking, nor does it afford any pleasure when we reflect upon it afterwards. Have we not often felt that a conversation without spiritual elements in it, however interesting it might be at the time, left a sense of regret? There was no evidence of life to bring permanent comfort and joy.
Spiritual speaking will always be prompted by love. Without love there might be all the eloquence of men, and even angels, but the one who utters it will only become “sounding brass or a clanging cymbal”. Even scriptural truth may be picked up in a mental way, and not held and spoken of in the power of love. The flesh can use even the truth for its own glory, but there is no breath of life in this. May such speaking as this be abhorred by every one of us!
[p. 66] 1 Corinthians 14 is a great treatise on the kind of speaking that is suitable in the assembly, or whenever saints are together. Speaking is mentioned about twenty-five times in the chapter. All the speaking there must be such as is evidence of life; it is to make manifest that God is there, and He is the living God. Everything is to be in the fresh spiritual power of life. The more accustomed any one may be to taking part in meetings the more he needs to be exercised to be in the current of divine movements on each particular occasion. If there is not the present vital power of love in intelligent exercise there will be no evidence of life.
The apostle speaks of “even lifeless things giving a sound”, but he evidently has in mind that speaking in the assembly must be very different from this. Spiritual thoughts are to be intelligently expressed there so that the assembly may be edified. The mind of God is to come out through human vessels in suitability to each particular occasion so as to make manifest that God is indeed amongst His people. There is no reason why this should not be as distinctly known today as it could be known at Corinth. I feel sure that speaking as the evidence of life was intended to continue. We read of the young man that he “began to speak”, intimating that he would continue to speak. If this was the outcome of the Lord’s compassion for one who represented the sorrowing remnant of that day, may we not confidently look that the life which He gives will express itself in such speaking as will comfort the feeble and sorrowing remnant of today? I believe that vigorous spiritual life will express itself in the way of speaking, and such speaking as will be a comfort to those who love God amid the feeble conditions of the last days. The revival amongst the saints of such meetings as are contemplated in 1 Corinthians 14 is a God-given opportunity for such speaking as will be the evidence of life.
We may be assured that the speaking of the Spirit to the assemblies will not cease so long as the assemblies are here, but I have no doubt it goes on through human vessels who are in the power of spiritual life. Satan will do what he can to silence the divine speaking, or to turn men’s ears away from listening to it; hence there is an urgent word from the Lord, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”.
Then in the third case we read that “Lazarus was one of those at table with him”. The scene at Bethany in John 12:1-3 follows upon Jesus being known as the resurrection and the life, and His raising Lazarus from among the dead, so that it is distinctly on resurrection ground. Lazarus, the raised man, is presented to us as the pattern man of the company at table. He was “one of those at table with him”, suggesting a company of persons of that kind. So that the company at table with Jesus represents the saints viewed in the Colossian aspect as risen with Christ and quickened together with Him (Colossians 2: 12, 13). When Jesus brings the dead to life He has in mind that they shall not only walk and speak, but that they shall know what it is to be in association with Him entirely outside the life of this world.
What an education the disciples had during the forty days in which He presented Himself living to them as risen from among the dead! They found they could be with Him as risen; they could have part in the things He was occupied with. They needed the promise of the Father before they could enter fully into the things of which He spoke, but as He assembled with them they were in presence of the reality of it all in Himself. And I believe He did for them in a special way while He was with them in resurrection what the Holy Spirit gave them the permanent consciousness of after He came. All that belonged to the kingdom of God, as known to Christ risen, and all that with which they were associated in the thought and purpose of God, was verified to them in Him. He served them in a wondrous way to remove every shade of unbelief and distance from their hearts. The close of each gospel shows how He would be with them, and have them with Him in His own blessed thoughts and in the Father’s thoughts too. They were truly “at table with him”.
But now the divine thought is brought to completion through the promise of the Father being fulfilled. Saints as risen with Christ, and quickened together with Him, can know association with Him in a region that is entirely beyond the range and power of death. What an evidence of life this is! The scene around us here is full of the evidence of death; its dread power overshadows everything, but a new world has been opened up by the resurrection of Christ, and He is the life of those who have heard His quickening voice. They can even now, while still in mortal bodies, know what it is to live spiritually in association with One who is risen. I do not say that even this is the limit of God’s thought for them, for they are also brethren of Christ in His heavenly exaltation as ascended to the Father.
I commend to your attention the three evidences of life which have come before us. They are presented to us that we may understand how life manifests itself in those who have heard the quickening voice of the Son of God.