FOLLOWING THE LORD TO BETHEL, JERICHO AND THROUGH JORDAN

FOLLOWING THE LORD TO BETHEL, JERICHO AND THROUGH JORDAN

John 2: 13-17; Luke 18: 35-43; Luke 19: 1-7; John 11: 1-16

I desire, dear brethren, with the Lord’s help to speak of Elijah’s visits to Bethel, to Jericho, and to Jordan, and to point out how they portray the movements of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord chose the disciples that they might be with Him, that He might send them forth, but firstly, that they might be with Him. As Elisha was with Elijah, so the Lord chose His own to be with Him, moving from position to position with Him, so that they might see how He did things, that they might see the power that was resident in Him, and the grace of which He was full. I desire to call attention to the Lord as in relation to those three positions.

In John 2, the Lord comes into the temple, He speaks of it as “my Father’s house,” and thus regards it in the light of the house of God which Bethel stands for; and He acts there in accordance with the house of God, and maintains the holiness of that house; as it is said “holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever.” The Lord coming into the temple and the disciples with Him, sees a corrupt condition of things, He sees God’s house turned into a house of merchandise, men trading in the things of God for gain, and it says, “He made a scourge of small cords and drove them all out,” and the disciples remembered that it was written of Him, “The zeal of thy house hath devoured me.” His action there cast light upon the scripture for them, so that they “remembered” what was written as to Him in Psalm 69. What impressions would come into the hearts of the disciples as they saw the Lord act thus, so fittingly. They understood the zeal of the Lord for the house of God, a zeal that later was to mark them.

As recorded in Matthew and Mark, He followed His action with speaking and teaching; and Mark tells us, “He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?” Mark 11: 17. They were being educated as to these features of the house of God so that when the Lord left them here, they would know how to behave. Who could hear the Lord pray as the disciples did in Luke 11, without getting a deep impression of what it is to draw near to God? Luke says that the Lord was praying in a certain place — that was setting forth what was proper to the house of God. In one sense, wherever He was, there was the house of God. He said, “Destroy this temple” — He was the temple Himself. “As he was praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said, Lord teach us to pray.” We are not told what He said on that occasion, but they were impressed, and wanted to know how to pray. In John 17, we are told what He said, so that we can, as it were, to this day, stand in the house of God and understand the greatness of the service of prayer as set forth in the Lord Jesus. What fragrance there is in that prayer as the Lord “lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come.” The disciples heard that and would learn much from it. They learned in the company of the Lord thus how to act in Bethel, and they learned it effectually.

In the beginning of the Acts after receiving the Spirit, as those who saw Him go up, they acted as He acted. When an attempt is made to bring merchandise into the house of God, when Ananias and Sapphira in principle come to trade in the house of God, and to buy a reputation for themselves where the Spirit of God is, Peter at once challenges them and says, “Why has Satan put it into thy heart to lie against the Holy Ghost?” There is no grace, no mercy for them, for they were trading in the temple. In Mark, it says, the Lord “would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple,” Mark 11: 16. Ananias comes with such a thing, something covered and hidden, not brought into the light, and not in keeping with the light of the house of God, and Peter who had learned in the company of Christ, is now able to meet this condition with a zeal that was in keeping with the house of God. He says to Ananias, “Why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit?” To Sapphira, who comes in later, he says, “Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? and she said, Yea, for so much.” Peter said, “Why is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Lo, the feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.”

Where is the grace, you may say? There is none. “They shall carry thee out.” An absolute statement of judgment upon such as turn the house of God into a house of merchandise; such as bring secret packages into the temple. The Lord with a whip of small cords, drove them out, and in His Spirit, Peter does the same. On the other hand, how blessed to hear the disciples pray! The service of God is threatened by the elders of the Jews, and the disciples are commanded not to preach in the name of Christ, but they answer by resorting to prayer, and we are told what they pray. They say, “Lord, thou art the God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them ... give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word.” God answered that by a fresh evidence of power, and the scripture says, the house “was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,” Acts 4: 31.

The next point of education is Jericho, the disciples had been there with the Lord — that lawless, self-willed city, a monument of the defiance of the human heart to God. Jesus comes near that city — into the city where darkness reigned, where pride manifested itself, where man was in utter destitution and need. The condition of Jericho, morally, was expressed in the blind beggar — darkness, poverty, wretchedness, and the Lord goes there and brings to that city, the grace of heaven; the blind beggar received it, but that grace was for the city. Though He was despised there and regarded as Jesus the Nazarene, yet He passed through the city, carrying into the midst of such wickedness, the grace of heaven. He entered and passed through Jericho, and finds there a rich man, Zacchaeus. He wanted to see Jesus, who He was, so he climbed a tree. He had a good motive, but he had to learn that climbing, which is characteristic of Jericho, will not help him; he must come down. The Lord says to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house.” He does not rebuke him nor ignore him. He looked up and saw Zacchaeus. Think of the Lord having to look up at anyone, what a position! The Lord says in effect, I have come down; indeed He was descending to death at that moment, to Jerusalem where He would be insulted and spit upon and crucified. He would descend even to the lower parts of the earth. So Zacchaeus “made haste and came down.” It is never right to climb; “he that exalteth himself shall be abased.” The Lord in coming into Jericho was on the road down to death. “He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” Philippians 2: 8. It was thus that He brought the grace of heaven to man.

The disciples having learned how to act at Jericho, go as recorded in the early part of the Acts, to Jerusalem. Morally, it had become as Jericho. The Lord was crucified in Jerusalem, and Peter says to the people of that city, You have been the betrayers and murderers of Christ. In answer to his charge, they say, “What shall we do?” He says, “Repent and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins.” He brings to that wicked city, that lawless city, the grace of God, the grace of heaven. “Repent and be baptised each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Such is to be our attitude in the midst of the increasing wickedness of this world, it is to be one of grace.

In the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel, the Lord is approaching Jordan; He is about to deal with death in regard to its power over one of those whom He loved — Lazarus. He is drawing near the banks of Jordan. He said, “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes I was not there, to the intent ye may believe,” John 11: 14-15. If He had been there, they would not have seen the glory of God in the way the Son of God could take out of the Jordan — that is, out of death — one whom He loved. Thomas says, “Let us also go that we may die with him.” They realise He is approaching death, yes, that if He went to Judea, He must face death. They were to learn that He had power to meet death, first, in regard of His loved ones, and finally, in His own Person to break its power. So they go and see Him deal with the power of Jordan, not in regard to Himself yet — they see that soon after — but in regard to Lazarus, dead, and buried, and corrupt; dead four days. They see that blessed One by the power of His own word, bring Lazarus out of death. What lessons they were learning. You see Peter in the Acts in the gain of it, when as far as he knew, he himself was right on the banks of the Jordan, about to be put to death, as James had been, by Herod. It says, “Peter was sleeping between two soldiers” — even if he had to face death, he was at rest. The Jordan held no terrors for Peter. He had seen the Lord break the power of death over Lazarus, yea, he had seen the true Elijah cross over when the Lord went into death and overthrew it. Peter sleeps in the calm confidence of one who knows how to face death.

You see this in all its beauty in Stephen, a man with an object for his heart in heaven, and his moral being was filled, his vessel was full of the Holy Spirit. He suggests one who knows how to behave himself in the house of God; as he speaks to his accusers with irresistible power and wisdom, he says, “O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit,” Acts 7: 51. Then, “he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” Acts 7: 55. As representing a true priest in the house of God, he brings out the glory that is to fill the house. It is while he thus serves that he kneels down and prays — his behaviour in the house of God is entirely in keeping with Christ, as in Luke 23. He acts in keeping with the Lord at Jericho, and though they rushed at him and gnashed on him with their teeth, though they stoned him, yet the grace of heaven to lawless man finds its expression in his prayer, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And then, dear brethren, in the consciousness of the power of Christ in meeting death — in the crossing of the Jordan — he prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Having said this, he fell asleep.

May we be encouraged to be with the Lord in these ways. If we are to be brought into the testimony, it is essential we must be with Him, that He might send us forth. What causes weakness and spiritual poverty with us is that in the secret of our lives we know but little of what it is to be with Him, and see Him in every position which He adorns so blessedly, and in this way learn from Him how to move in the various situations we have to meet.