FATHERHOOD AND SONSHIP AS ENTERING INTO THE PRESENT TIME
W. McKillop
Philippians 2: 18–22; 1 Chronicles 28: 11–13, 20; Genesis 49: 22–26
What I would like to speak about, beloved brethren, is the thought of fatherhood and sonship as entering into the present time, and I have selected these persons, Paul and Timothy, and David and Solomon and Jacob and Joseph to set out these thoughts. It carries forward what we were speaking of in the previous meeting, for Paul and David and Jacob represent fathers, and Timothy and Solomon and Joseph represent sons, or as I might say in John’s words, young men—the other three would be in John’s words, fathers. And certain features stand out in these passages connected with them in their relations with one another. Paul speaks here of Timothy as one who cared with genuine feeling how the saints got on, and what characterised him as Paul’s child, as he says elsewhere, my beloved and true child, was that he was not among those who were seeking their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ. So Paul had great confidence in him and he said, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you shortly”. Paul was thinking about these believers in Philippi who really were mature persons and he is sending this younger man in order that he himself might be refreshed. It is a great feature that fathers have persons in whom they have confidence, and have confidence because those who are younger are marked by genuine feeling as to how the saints get on, and who are concerned about the things of Jesus Christ.
Then not only that but they know how to work with experienced persons, for he says, “ye know the proof of him”. That is, Timothy had been proved—he was, to use an ordinary expression, no flash in the pan, he was a person
who was proved, “ye know the proof of him”, and the proof was “that, as a child a father, he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings”. That is, Paul is saying Timothy was a child, he himself a father, but Timothy was not only occupied with the welfare of the saints and how they got on, he was not only seeking the things of Jesus Christ, but he was learning how to serve effectively with a view to abiding spiritual results as serving with Paul. So if we bring it down to ourselves, generally we would think and expect, and it would be right that brethren will understand that more experienced spiritual persons should be more prominent in the work of the Lord, than persons who are so to speak spiritual apprentices. It is not that they were not both sons, they were both sons by faith, they both had the Spirit of adoption, but there was this distinction that Paul had, what Timothy could not have, in the way of experience and the knowledge of God and spiritual understanding. And I am not thinking about the fact that Paul had a specific commission from the Lord as an elect vessel. No person today however experienced or spiritual would regard himself as an elect vessel in the sense that the apostle was. But he would be exercised that younger persons should be able to work along with him, as he says here, “he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings”. We would expect that those who are younger, and coming on in the truth and taking on service, would find it profitable to work with those who are more experienced and more gifted, so that they might learn how to work effectively and to bring about permanent results from their work.
You remember that Paul refers in Corinth to persons who build with hay, wood and stubble; clearly those persons were not learning from Paul. He says as a wise architect he had laid the foundation and that it could only be Jesus Christ. So there is a certain great advantage to those who are younger to work with those who are more experienced in order to bring into prominence this order of man, Jesus Christ, and that will lead to what is permanent and abiding. The apostle
says the fire shall try the work of each what it is (1 Corinthians 3: 13). And so I would encourage those who are younger to find persons that are spiritually more experienced, and may be in the Lord’s sovereignty more gifted, and to seek to work along with them so that the work is done well, and done permanently, and is free of defect, and if tried by the fire it stands because it involves Jesus Christ, that order of humanity. Ministry that does not bring that before the saints will not produce results in a permanent sense. I suppose building with wood, hay and stubble takes a lot less time and skill, than building with gold, silver and other precious metals which speak of Jesus Christ.
I would say affectionately to those who are younger, who are coming into the work, be prepared to find that the work is hard and requires skill. It is not something that you can just produce in a few minutes, not something that you can just think about briefly and then use a multitude of words to present. I am certain that not only Timothy but also Silas learned from Paul how to preach the Son of God; Paul says to the Corinthians as to Jesus Christ, Son of God, He who has been preached among you by me and Silvanus and Timotheus (2
Corinthians 1: 19). That is the blessed and only subject really of true ministry. And so we can be sure that Timothy would listen very attentively to Paul, and he would observe what Paul said and what scriptures he used, and I would just say in passing that when you minister you are ministering Christ, you need not read a multiplicity of scriptures. In fact the great servant I referred to in the meetings, Mr. James Taylor Sr., said in one address given in a meeting that used to exist in New Jersey, he said I confine myself to these three passages. I do not believe in reading yards of scripture. I think the point is that, as Mr. Darby said, in Scripture cream lies on the surface and you get the best with very few scriptures, and Scripture speaks through itself in a certain sense. Elsewhere it says, what says the Scripture? I do not want to exactly belabour this point, and in a way I am rather surprised I have been led to speak
about it this way, but the Lord must have something in mind in regard of it. At any rate we want to be persons, whether we are fathers or young men, to be able to work together and to do so in a way that will bring to pass permanent results in the saints. So he says, “he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings”.
I read as to David and Solomon. David is not in this scripture presented as he is in Kings; in Kings he is weak and decrepit, but here he is in spiritual power, he is a true father. And we could say of him as John says, he has known Him that is from the beginning typically. “And David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch”. You notice how this word pattern runs through this section. It would indicate that David was concerned that the house as typifying the assembly should be clearly opened out to Solomon his son and the means that he used, as it says, “the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit”. And so that raises an exercise of course with fathers whether what they are presenting to those who are younger is by the Spirit. I think it is a critical matter because it is by the Spirit that the word becomes effective in us. So David gave to Solomon his son the pattern. Affection would enter into that, Solomon his son. So there is a bond of affection between the fathers and the young men and it affords liberty for both; the fathers can open up things according to the pattern by the Spirit and the young men, the sons, can take it on by the Spirit and therefore the thought of pattern is maintained. I think it is essential, as we were saying in the reading, that we have the mind that there is one assembly. We are in local assemblies for the working out of the truth, and to learn how to love one another, and to minister to one another, whether it be in comfort or exhortation, but the assembly is one and we want to keep the pattern clearly before us in our meetings together, and in whatever links fathers have with young men, and it is clear from what is said here that the only safe way to convey the pattern is by the Spirit. If we rely on mentality or wordiness or something like that the pattern will not be
rightly presented.
So you notice that it says, “the pattern of the porch, and of its houses ... and of its upper chambers”; these are beautiful thoughts, “its upper chambers”, that would be Ephesians I would think typically, and its inner chambers, that is another wonderful thought. You might say the upper chambers are in Ephesians 1 and 2; the inner chambers are in chapter 3 of Ephesians, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts” (Ephesians 3: 17). The inner chambers and the upper chambers are in the saints; they are not abstract or theoretical.
We know that God on the second day made the expanse to provide plenty of room for His work and for our work, but here we have specific things that are mentioned, and I would think that the father would love to say to a younger man, the upper chambers are there in Ephesians 1 and 2, “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ” (Ephesians 1: 3), and also, “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 2: 6), and then in chapter 3 the Christ dwelling through faith in our hearts, and then the full thought of God’s house eternally, the assembly in Christ Jesus.
You notice that David does not start merely with the structural side but he goes on to the courses of the priests. That would be the service of God. And you get those really in its fulness in Ephesians 3, “glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 3: 21. The father would want the younger man who is also a son to see what this leads to; the structural side is needed but it is a spiritual structure so it is in function Godward in the power of the Holy Spirit. So he says that the Father may give you to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man.
So David goes on and he stresses all the work of the service of the house of Jehovah and all the instruments of service in the house of Jehovah, that is, he has God before him. And I think fatherly persons can do no greater service in a way than to bring God before those who are younger
because God is the great ultimate in all that is proceeding. I think we should have in mind that ultimately it is that God may be all in all. “And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and courageous, and do it”. That is, David is expecting to depart the scene of service, and some of us who are older, we know not when we may depart the scene of service. God knows, but we want those that have companied with us, and who perhaps have learned to serve a little better by working with us to be able to carry on. “And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and courageous, and do it”. There is to be no hiatus, no period in which nothing is going on in the way of spiritual activity, and he says, “fear not nor be dismayed”. I suppose those of us who are older have known persons who have been marked by fear and they have said, What is going to become of the testimony? We are few and there have been divisions and the like, I think the answer to that is, “Fear not nor be dismayed”. Paul says to the Corinthians that they should labour knowing that their toil is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15: 58). So whatever service it is, whether small or large, we should be encouraged that it is not in vain; if by the Spirit and according to Paul’s pattern of service we are labouring, it will stand and it will go right on until the Lord comes.
So he says, “for Jehovah Elohim” (that is the full title of God in the Old Testament), “my God, will be with thee”. He is speaking about his own experience with God, “my God”. Paul says, “my God shall abundantly supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 4: 19. So I would encourage those who are younger to go on in the confidence that He will not leave thee neither forsake thee, and notice this, until all the work of the service of the house of Jehovah is finished. Regardless of what fathers may disappear from the scene through the Lord taking them, those who remain are to go right on because you are in the finishing time. I think I would love to be here at the finishing time and that of course would be when the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven—I would love to be in the finishing time in that sense, but God knows, and others here who are older would say the same as I do. God knows, but think of the privilege that those who are younger, if we are not here you will be here, and you may very well be here at the finishing time, until all the work for the service of the house of Jehovah is finished.
I refer now to Jacob and Joseph. Joseph from one standpoint is a remarkable type of Christ but I want to refer to him as a type of the believer and Jacob as a type of a father who has known Him that is from the beginning. Jacob arrived at that through many exercises, for in some ways he was difficult when he was younger, but God dealt tenderly with him formatively so that Jacob is able to say, “the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day”, Genesis 48: 15. So the fathers can speak like that; if you cannot speak like that you are probably not spiritually a father. But fathers can refer to what God is to them and what He has been to them and they want to convey that to those who are younger. So he says, “Joseph is a fruitful bough”; that is, Joseph is not presented here as a tree, he is a bough, he is dependent on the divine system and he is dependent in this book, in the previous chapter, on the experience and knowledge of Israel his father. So a word I think that comes to us from that is the fathers are more experienced, they understand the mind and purpose of God better.
So I would encourage those who are younger to draw upon that and maybe see what they have to say is better than what you were thinking. You notice in the previous chapter when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim it was evil in his eyes.
Spiritual man that Joseph was he was not equal to Jacob in spiritual perception and understanding. And I was struck to note recently that Mr. James Taylor Sr. said an altercation developed between Jacob and Joseph (J. Taylor Vol. 53, p.469). Think of something like that happening; Joseph thought that he knew better than his father and he had to accept adjustment. And so I think the word is that we need always to be ready for adjustment by more spiritual, more experienced persons. But that does not interfere when the adjustment is accepted with the blessing that comes from Jacob as to Joseph.
So Joseph is a fruitful bough; a fruitful bough by a well. That is, his position is fixed in relation to the Spirit, and he is drawing on the Spirit. He is now adjusted, he is happily in the acceptance of what his father has done as to Ephraim and Manasseh, and so Jacob goes on to speak here, he says, “By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob”. The Mighty One of Jacob of course was God Himself, but he is assuring Joseph that as conflict for the testimony continues, God in that sense is going to strengthen those who are coming into the testimony and into service, so that things are maintained on the level of the Spirit of truth, in themselves, in their households and in their localities. And he says, “From the God of thy father, and he will help thee; And from the Almighty, and he will bless thee”. Think of how Jacob as one of John’s fathers typically brings God in, “the God of thy father”, but then the Almighty, I think it is a great matter to understand that things are going on and continuing in the power of God. There is no other power to maintain the testimony and the service of God.
So I want to finish with what he says in verse 26, “The blessings of thy father surpass the blessings of my ancestors”. That is a most interesting verse to me, that Jacob could say that what he was blessing Joseph and the other sons with, but especially Joseph, was greater than what Isaac blessed him with, greater than what Abraham blessed Isaac with. So the finishing time I spoke of involves what is surpassing, both in the sense of power, as Paul says, “that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4: 7), but I think it means in the quality of the blessing that God would confer upon those who are here at the finishing time. The quality will exceed what there has been before. That might seem doubtful when we think of what we have had, but here it is in Scripture, “The blessings of thy father surpass the blessings of my ancestors”.
Beloved brethren, that is pretty much what I felt led to say at this time and I trust it will prove profitable, especially for those we love, the younger brethren, who are going to carry things on in the finishing time, because that is what we are in, and God will be with them. We hope we will too; as I said I would like to be here at the finishing time with all the saints, but God knows. But my desire, and I am sure the desire of every true spiritual father, would be that you should come in for the very best, and find that what you are coming into surpasses, in quality and in richness of experience, what the saints may have enjoyed before. Not that it surpasses in knowledge, that is not the point, it is a question of spiritual experience. So I commit the word to the Lord and to the brethren, for their acceptance and for their prayers, that these things may work out among us universally, in view of the finish of things because that is the time we are in, and I think the Lord will confirm the word in some way, that you are going to come in for what is richer and what is surpassing in the way of spiritual experience. May God bless the word.
Address at New York
21 March 2009