KEPT ALIVE
[p. 318] KEPT ALIVE
Joshua 14: 6 - 15; Romans 5: 17
It is in mind to speak of being kept alive. Death is current all about us in a physical sense, and particularly in a moral sense, and so I have selected Caleb to illustrate this thought of being kept alive. He is a great personality in the book of Joshua, and indeed in the whole of Scripture, and especially in this matter of being kept alive. He says, “And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses”, Joshua 14: 10. He specially stresses the period that intervened from the time that Moses spoke to him until that day, the day in which he spoke to Joshua. Much had intervened in their history, but he stresses these forty-five years of promise, and the fact that Jehovah had kept him alive during the period.
No doubt most of us remember the other facts relative to Caleb and his daughter Achsah and how Othniel and she contribute to the thought of Christ and the assembly, is a subject which has become pronounced especially in recent times. According to Joshua 15, Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, asked him for the upper and the nether springs. These springs must be linked up with what is called “the expanse” in Genesis 1, for there the upper waters were separated from the lower waters. The Spirit of God would use these facts so as to link up with them what Achsah said to her father. She, in type, represents the assembly, and therefore she has a right thought in alluding to springs above and springs below. In alluding to her in this way I thus have in mind to enlarge on the thought of Caleb. He was a household man, such as the Lord speaks of: “every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder”, Matthew 13: 52. Caleb was a householder, and this fact enhances his history,
[p. 319] and then he was kept alive in view of coming into God’s promises. We are now, beloved, the children of promise, as Paul says in Galatians 4: 28. It is a matter of importance that we should think of the promises, and, above all now, of the Lord’s promises to Philadelphia. He said, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”, Revelation 3: 10. There is a terrible period coming to try those who are earth-dwellers. It is a matter of supreme importance, that we should not be earth-dwellers, but that in so far as we can, we may have part in heaven-dwelling, and what we have here today is the nearest approach to that; for we are dwelling together in nearness to heaven. The “expanse” clearly indicates the great sphere of divine operations. God is operating, and all is through Christ, the great Operator, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, it is important that we should be alive, kept alive by God in accord with His promises, whatever they may be. So Caleb has come into one’s mind as peculiarly fitting. Scripture is full of fitting things, if we have to deal with the things of God, and full of fitting persons too. Every person in the divine realm is fitted for it. Heaven will be full of persons who are fitted for it; they will be there, each filling his place; they are not too small nor too large to fill it. Here upon earth some are too small and some are too large to fill their place of responsibility, but, in the divine mind, everything fits, and now is the fitting time. I would say to the young people, Look out for the fitting time. See to it that you are in it, and that you are suitable to any particular time or age in which you may be. John would say to you, ‘If you are a little child spiritually, then be a little child’. If you fill that position you will find that there is a word for you as in it. John writes to the little children with a special message for them. Then, he has something to say to the young men. John wrote to the young men, saying, “Because ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you”. The word [p. 320] of God abiding in one is not exactly the Scriptures. It is not just used in that way; but it is a question of the mind of God, and its particular application to believers. Then again, John says, “I write unto you, fathers”. In that particular section there is nothing said about sisters or women, but John does not leave them out. He writes to one of them, whom he calls “the elect lady”, showing how he knew the sisters whom he addressed and to whom he ministered. How dignified they were in his mind! “The elect lady and her children”.
You may wonder why I bring all that in, in relation to what I have intimated, but it is to point out the things that marked Caleb. Firstly, he was a leader amongst his brethren. There is a great dearth of leaders in the true sense, but Caleb was a leader amongst his brethren. When a crisis arrived, he appeared with his brethren and addressed Joshua, and the first thing he mentions is that he was sent to spy out the land; he was under orders. Now I want to say to the young men and the young women here, that I know of nothing more important than that they should be under orders, not their own orders, nor their own resolutions simply, but under orders from above, even if it be only as high up as your elder brother or your elder sister. There is some authority there that is greater than yours. So Caleb was under orders to spy out the land, and he says, “I brought him word again as it was in my heart”. It was not in his mind, but in his heart, showing that he was a loyal person; he was a reliable brother. The spying out of the land of Canaan was a very important matter and Caleb was to be trusted. Not only was the land to be conquered, but the inhabitants were to be destroyed. In the ministry of Joshua we have the idea of the destruction of the inhabitants of the land. Under David it is the subjugation of the people, but under Joshua it is the destruction of the people, because the Canaanites were to be destroyed. This matter of spying out the land was therefore very important, from a military point of view,
[p. 321] and stresses the need that the report should be accurate. Caleb was a reliable man and says he brought word as it was in his heart; he told the truth. Let us be watchful about telling the truth in every matter; not simply the truth in the sense of the scriptural truth but the truth in itself. When matters have to be told, let the truth be told; let the whole matter be told. Let nothing be held back. Caleb was a man who told things as they were; he brought the word as it was in his heart. His heart was his trustworthy spot and he could be relied upon. If you had met him on the way, he would tell you the truth; the truth was in his heart, the whole truth, and nothing but it. Nothing is more important, dear brethren, than this matter of truth, and Caleb is an example of it. He not only searched out the land with the other eleven heads of the tribes, but he put the matter in his heart; he made it safe there. He would only tell it out where it would be right to do so. He would not scatter it abroad carelessly. It was important that the truth should be kept in a safe place, and his heart was the safest place he knew.
Now in connection with that, he refers to the promise made to him, that Moses swore to him that he would have the land on which he had trodden in the spying enterprise. He was under orders from Moses as a true military man under orders from his general, but he was also under orders from Jehovah; he says, “I wholly followed Jehovah”. He was reliable in that sense, that his discipleship, his following, was entire. It was a full and complete matter. He wholly followed the Lord. Then, as I said, he had the promise and an oath, and the oath was by Moses; it was not by Joshua, for it was earlier than Joshua’s leadership. He is referring to past history, and all of us who are in the Lord’s service in any way, we have past history. We are not of much account if we have not, but let that history be marked by heart matters, holding things in the heart, and holding them securely. Then if they have to be told, tell all the [p. 322] truth, the whole truth. Caleb did that; he kept the report in his heart, and it was told accordingly.
Well now, I just refer to those details so as to enhance the thought of being kept alive. Caleb was thinking of literal death, as it had occurred in the wilderness for forty years. Perhaps literal death has been more prevalent during recent wars than at any time in our histories, but then there is moral death. The military leaders, political leaders, social leaders, and the industrial leaders, may be morally dead, and to have to do with them means, if we are Nazarites unto God, that we may be defiled by them. Now this is a widespread suggestion, because, as you think of the population of the world, the dead are certainly more numerous than the living. I mean the morally dead people, and they cause defilement. Hence the necessity of keeping apart. We are so apt to be thrown into touch with them and, in many senses, it is unavoidable. What is legal and right may be allowed and continued in, but if we go beyond that, then we are touching persons who are dead morally, and they defile us. The world is full of them, and that is why I am stressing the thought of life and of our being kept alive. Caleb would have held himself as alive from the dead. There were six hundred thousand in Israel at that time, and they all died in the wilderness. Caleb and Joshua alone of those who came out of Egypt went into the land; the others all died. Terrible thought! The wilderness was strewn with their bones. In the great cities of the world today we see these defiling things; things that are pitiable to look at; people moving into wicked places of so-called amusement; they are on “the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death”. “The dead are there”. Solomon tells us these things. I am speaking to the young particularly; if you ignore what I am saying, you will be defiled and become entangled in the world. You will be disqualified for a place among God’s people. The world is strewn with dead bones, with persons morally dead.
[p. 323] It may be that they excel among men in their natural pursuits, the football game, or whatever they may choose, but they are morally dead, and thus defiling. Hence the importance of Caleb’s example when he says, “Jehovah has kept me alive”. There is no thought that he was defiled by the dead, for he kept himself alive.
Now the scripture in Romans builds up the question of life in connection with the gospel, and in it there is the thought of reigning in life, both at the present time, and in the future. The millennium will be particularly and literally the time of reigning in life, yet there is such a thing as reigning in life at the present time, and those living thus are immune from moral death. There are various means of being kept alive. The meetings we have had today are meetings of life. They afford the means of life and of our being kept alive and being rendered immune from the death that is all round us, the dead bones that are strewn around us. All the gatherings of the saints, one might say, serve to this important end. We are thus kept alive by God. Then there is the idea of keeping ourselves alive too, as we have in Jude, “praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”, Jude 20, 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God. But how? By “praying in the Holy Spirit”. It is not simply, formal prayers, but prayers in the Holy Spirit, and that brings out, beloved, the fact that the Holy Spirit down here is the power of service, and the power of worship and of prayer. Whatever it is that is due to God, in the sense of service, it is to be in the power of the Spirit. It is not a mere formal matter, but in power. There is a remarkable word in 1 Corinthians, “no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 12: 3. You might say, ‘Well, anyone can use the words’. Yes; but the words, in themselves, have no power. It is a question who uses them, and the power in which they are used, so that they go up to God as a sweet savour. As [p. 324] Stephen yielded up his breath, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, Acts 7: 59. What a word that was! How it went up to heaven in the sweet savour of Christ! How the Lord was delighted with that! It just indicates beloved, what I am saying, and the idea of being kept alive by God. Whatever number of years it may be, and some of us are quite old and weak according to our age, the question is whether we are being kept alive morally by God.
This is one of the greatest thoughts, I suppose, with those of us who would remain with the saints, and, of course, it is our privilege as it was Paul’s to desire this. There can be no doubt that if we were really concerned about the needs of the brethren and that we should stay here instead of dying and departing to be with Christ, the Lord would hear our prayers, for a prayer of that kind is doubtless quite acceptable to the Lord. There is great need at the present time, and so there is an opportunity for many of us here to be on those lines. It is not done selfishly, it is not for our families, or our own interests, but for the sake of the saints. Paul did not have a family, but he had the saints; he called them his children, and he was a father to them; he says to the Corinthians that they had not many fathers, but he was one, and John was a father to the saints too. There is, perhaps, nothing the saints need more than fathers. A young man is not a father. A father is a person of age and experience, and he knows that the age and experience going with it qualify him to be of some service to the Lord’s people. He thinks of the Lord’s people, and prays to the Lord that he would like to stay with the brethren. I do not hesitate to say that; for I have an exercise about that very thing, to stay with the brethren, if it be the Lord’s will. For that we must be kept alive, for if we are not alive morally we are of very little use to the brethren. We may have means, money and the like, to help young people, but there is very little in that. The real value of money is very small,
[p. 325] unless the moral side is behind it, and the moral side is in the person who has it being kept alive by God. It is a very great thing that God does such things as that. He kept Hezekiah alive, adding fifteen years to his life. He kept Moses alive until he was one hundred and twenty; and He kept Caleb alive till he was eighty-five. I do not know how many years more, no doubt it could be found out, but he was alive till he was eighty-five, and he was a good father, too, and would be a good neighbour, I am sure, and a good brother. The point, in any case, is to be kept alive by God, and God is occupied just now in keeping alive His beloved people. He has us here on earth, and He watches over us, and not only would He keep us well in body, but keep us alive in the true sense of the word, so that we are walking about this earth as a living people.
Now Romans is the great book to encourage and help us, as to this matter of being alive. It would help us to be like Caleb, so that we are able to talk like him, to recount our histories as he did, and amongst the incidents which he recounts is that he was kept alive for forty-five years. Of course, he was alive the previous forty years, but he is stressing the fact that he was alive during the promised period, during the oath period, and I am concerned about that too. God has made promises, and He has taken oaths in regard of us, committing Himself to us in His love. We can thus count upon Him, and especially to keep us alive, and as alive, to make us useful amongst the Lord’s people, and in the gatherings of the Lord’s people, and in the Lord’s service. It is not simply that we are alive ordinarily, but kept alive by God. In Romans we have the principle of life. Paul says, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be [p. 326] saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (footnote: or reconciliation) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ”), Romans 5: 8 - 17 (A.V.). I read the whole passage so that we should all get the link as to life, and that instead of being downcast and despondent, we should be reigning. It is not that we are to be dogmatic, and the like, but reigning in a moral way, being dignified in our methods and ways before God and men, reigning in life. I do think that a great change will come over us, if we take to heart what I am saying as to the idea of reigning in life. As I said, the idea will be fully expressed in the millennium. It is not so much the eternal state of things, although the principle of rule, or reign, must go on eternally too. We are told that, in that day, the Son Himself will be subject that “God may be all in all”. The great end in everything is God. It is not simply the Father, but God, “that God may be all in all”. He is now, and He will be, in every one of us in that day. Paul says, “One God and Father of all, who is ... in us all”, Ephesians 4: 6. God reigning in all of us is the thought,
[p. 327] and we are to learn now how to reign, and to reign in life. As thus triumphant spiritually we are to give up and cast away despondency. It is not indeed that natural affection, by which we feel things, is not right, or that sorrow is not right. When death happens, for instance, sorrow is right, but in general, Christianity implies life and joy, and victory in a moral sense. Paul exhorts Timothy to “lay hold of eternal life”, and the point that I am making now is that we should reign in life so as to be completely victorious in every circumstance. The circumstances at times now are very severe and they may be worse, but the millennium will come, and the millennium will be the time of reigning in life. I believe that in the assembly now, as understanding life, even as we have it today, we are learning the idea of reigning in life. We are not small in our thoughts, although we have suitable feelings of humility. We would not be like the hyssop that grows out of the wall, but like the cedars rather, “the cedars of Lebanon”. That is to say, we are in the joy of sonship which constitutes us living and enables us by the Holy Spirit to reign in life.
I ventured to bring forward these points as to Caleb, that we might see how God teaches us by His people. The people of faith are mentioned in Hebrews 11 and these are the reigning people. A little while ago I was venturing to speak of the ruling class, those who rule during the night and during the day, as suggested in the fourth day of Genesis 1. The ruling class are the saints, beloved, and they are seen ruling; the greater light rules during the day and the lesser light during the night. But now I am speaking from another angle, that is to say reigning in life. The fourth day does not bring out the idea of life in the sense in which Caleb exhibits it or as in Romans 5, where it is a question of spiritual life, by which we become the ruling class. It is not that we are attempting to be that, or aping it, but we are that really, for we are constituted that by God. God has His people [p. 328] here below, and they are superior enough to be ruling and to be influencing people around them for good, and that on the principle of life. We are “alive to God in Christ Jesus”, Romans 6: 11. Romans develops the great thought of life, as I have been saying, and it comes to the point where we are said to “reign in life by the one, Jesus Christ”. It is “by the one” Man, but our reigning together too. As believers in Christ we reign in life by Jesus Christ. May God bless the word.