“A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM”
E. C. Muggleton1
Luke 9: 43–48; 22: 24–27; Matthew 18: 1–3; Isaiah 11: 5, 6
In reading these passages I am concerned as to how we are getting on together in our local settings. It must be the burden of all of us that we should be dwelling together in unity, as we have often been reminded, for “there hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”, that is, eternal life. We would all credit one another with the desire to promote these conditions in our local settings, as we have it in Isaiah, “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted beast together”. He refers, of course, to the millennial day; but such conditions are to be enjoyed now in the assembly.
It may be the Lord has something to rebuke, as He says in connection with Laodicea, “I rebuke and discipline as many as I love”. We must be prepared to be searched by the word of God, because the word of God is said to be “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. This passage in Luke 9 is very exercising because it immediately follows the mount of transfiguration where the glory of Jesus had shone so resplendently before the disciples. Yet, as coming down from the mount, there was a great lack of power to deal with things. The Lord may be testing us as to this very matter. But behind all that there lies what only He could detect, that was this reasoning. He said to His disciples—and we must be prepared for the Lord to say something to us—Why was it, there was, .a lack of power to cast out the spirit and heal the child? “Do ye let these words sink into your ears”. Then, “a reasoning came in amongst them, who should be the greatest of them”. How very sorrowful, as following this glory scene, that such a thing should take place—a reasoning who should be the greatest! “And Jesus, seeing the reasoning of their heart”—that is where it begins, in the heart. We have to search our hearts. The very thoughts and intents of the heart are discerned by the word of God; and the Lord detected this kind of thing that was going on in their heart.
He meets it by taking a little child—“having taken a little child set it by him”—alongside the Lord of glory! Think of a little child by Jesus! Any of us may be such that the Lord can set by Him. A little child manifests the Spirit of Christ, and takes character from Him; it is a model, and the Lord is the great Model in Luke’s gospel, Had the disciples been engaged with the glory on the mount there would have been no reasoning in their heart who should be the greatest. There is only One glorious Person to be great. In this very gospel it says, “he shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Highest”. The Spirit of God would bring before us the greatness of Jesus and the glory of His Person and it should affect us, as it says, “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory”—a moral change in us as affected by the glory.
Now in Luke 22 there was a strife (not a reasoning), “which of them should be held to be the greatest”. This does not follow the mount of transfiguration, it takes place following the Supper. We may sit down and break bread together, but what about after the Supper? Do we get on during the week? Is there strife amongst us? It is not a reasoning here, but a strife. The Lord Jesus meets it, not with a rebuke of severity, but in a gentle priestly way, bringing Himself before their hearts, as He says here, “for which is greater, he that is at table or he that serves?
Is not he that is at table? But I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”. What a touch, dear brethren!
If we were appropriating the loaf on the table, and understanding what it really means to drink into the cup, we should be spiritually adjusted and desire to be in accord with the loaf and the cup. It would help us inwardly so that we would judge ourselves, and there would be no strife amongst us. If we do not judge the reasoning in the heart it will result in strife, and it is very sorrowful that strife should come in amongst us at any time. But the Lord rebukes it gently and in a positive way by saying, “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”, the One who has gone to the lowest point, even into death itself. We can never take the lowest place, the Lord Jesus has taken that; but it is for all of us to take the low place. The apostle says, “to me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given”. But the Lord Jesus has taken the lead, as He says, “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”. We must be prepared for rebuke. May the Lord help us in this matter so that His own greatness and glory may be before us! Nothing on the line of self-importance manifesting itself is to go on unjudged. It is only the glory of Jesus that will help us.
Then in Matthew’s gospel, the administrative gospel, it says in chapter 18, “the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of the heavens?” It is not a question of greatness in the kingdom, but whether we can enter into it. “And Jesus having called a little child to him, set it in their midst, and said, Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. This little child is available to the Lord—He can take it. That is what He wants to do in our localities. He rebukes the thought of greatness here by calling the little child to Him and setting it in their midst. The little child had taken character from Jesus—what a rebuke to the disciples! How we should get on in the care-meeting, how things would be lifted to a more spiritual level, if we had this little child set in the midst! Sometimes there is lack of power to go forward, there is some underlying moral matter to be adjusted.
The Lord calls a little child and sets it in their midst, saying, “Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. You say, That belongs to the preaching. It belongs also to the ministry meeting, for most of us need more than one conversion, and the ministry meeting may rebuke us as to whether there is a spirit of rivalry in our heart. If there is, I need to be converted. “Unless ye are converted and become as little children”—the Lord appreciates that kind of spirit; it will promote what is pleasing to Him in our localities, so valuable in the sight of heaven.
Now in Isaiah we have the wolf and the lamb dwelling together. Perhaps there is much of the wolf character about us. But if we are really converted there would be no difficulty to get on together. The wolf and the lamb are dwelling together. Think of Saul of Tarsus and Ananias dwelling together! Saul had been a ravening wolf, but what a brother he became! God brought about that change. It would not be difficult to dwell together after such a conversion. Then there is the leopard and the kid, and the calf and the young lion, and the fatted beast. But all are lying together—a beautiful restful state. Then it says, “a little child shall lead them”. We often speak about leadership, but it is the little child by the side of Jesus that is to lead; it is the spirit of Jesus, the One who is morally great. The Lord says of the little child, one like Himself, “he is great”.
May the Lord help us to promote this kind of spirit in view of dwelling conditions, where we can lie down together, where we can enjoy eternal life! He may have to rebuke us if we have rivalry in our heart, but we must bear the word. The Lord rebukes us in a positive way by saying, “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”.
Croydon
8 October 1957