CONTINUANCE, DELIVERANCE AND OVERCOMING
2 Timothy 2:1-4; 2 Samuel 23:11-17
It is wonderful to recognise the place that the Lord Jesus has at the right hand of God. This reference, in these verses that we have read, to “be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus” speaks of Jesus where He is. All the supply and support that is needed at the present time comes from Christ where He is – how wonderful, and what a comfort it is to us at this time. The testimony is going to continue. Our brother has had a part in it, and we are all to have a part in the testimony of our Lord. The supply is a heavenly supply; it is a heavenly resource, and the Spirit is here indwelling believers.
What is in mind in these verses is continuance, deliverance and overcoming. These things are necessary, and they marked our brother in an unmistakable way. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of remembering your leaders (Heb.13:7); these would include those whom the Lord has taken. Our brother has been a leader, and now the testimony needs to be continued by those who are left. That comes down to these “others also”, to you and to me, each one of us individually, because we need to take up the testimony of our Lord. It will go through in power and it will go through gloriously. Our brother often reminded us that the Spirit cannot fail in His service, and that the end of the dispensation will be marked by normality when all around is departure. What an encouragement it is to us that the Spirit will not fail in His service. Our brother knew what it was to take his share in suffering; he knew what it was to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Paul exhorted Timothy to take this up. It is the responsibility of every one of us in that way; we need to take up the testimony, and all the supply comes from Christ in glory. That is a wonderful thing.
It speaks about deliverance in 2 Samuel. Do you know deliverance, dear friend? Do you know what it is to be delivered from your sins? The Lord Jesus has gone into death. Our brother often reminded us that the believer goes up to die. Aaron died under the will of God; under the direction of God he went up the mountain to die. Moses too died at the top of the mountain, and the believer goes up to die. I think that our brother’s family had a sense this week that he went up to die. What does it mean, going up to die? It means that there is no judgment, there is complacency; it is nearness to God, nearness to heaven. What a comfort that the experience of our brother was that he went up to die. What a comfort it is to the family, and to each one of us, that the believer goes up to die, and that there is no judgment. The Lord Jesus went down to die. He went down; He took your place and He took my place. He went down to the bottoms of the mountains; how far He went down. The Lord Jesus went down into the deepest depths. God’s holy wrath was poured out upon His head. Why? He was the sinless One, but He took my place. Dear friend, did He take your place? You need to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. Our brother has gone to be with Jesus, which it says is “very much better” (Phil.1:23); in our brother’s death there was no judgment. If you die without Christ, judgment is going to be your portion; how awful that is. If, however, you believe and put your trust in the Lord Jesus, you come under the shelter of His blood and you are saved. But then you are to be delivered. The children of Israel went through the Red Sea and they saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore. All that had oppressed them before is gone – how wonderful deliverance is! Christ has delivered you. What for? To go back into Egypt? No, no; not to go back into the world, but to be here for Him. That involves the testimony and taking things on; it may involve reproach. Paul says to Timothy “Take thy share in suffering”. It may involve reproach, but you go on.
So Shammah was used by God to bring about a great deliverance. Our brother often reminded us about the wars of the Lord, and the need to have an understanding of church history. We need to understand these things, to know why we are where we are. Our brother had part in the wars of the Lord. So Shammah is named; you might say his name is written in heaven, registered in the book of the wars of the Lord. Our brother’s name is there. In this scripture, Jehovah effected a great deliverance. Our brother was used in that way. Those of us here who are younger did not experience what happened nearly forty five years ago, but we are to have some understanding of it. Our brother was used in that way, “Jehovah wrought a great deliverance”. What was in mind was “a plot of ground full of lentils”. That might speak of potential, so that the younger generations come into the gain of the great deliverance that Jehovah wrought. We are in the gain of it, so what are we going to do? Are we going to go back under the rule of the Philistines? No, we are going to go to David.
These three mighty men that we have read of are not named, and so what they did can apply to you and me. I challenge each one of us as to these things; I challenge my own heart. David was in rejection; Christ is in rejection at the present time. He is in glory, but here in this world, He is rejected. How wonderful it is to be near enough to Christ at the present time to know His longings. Oh, how David longed! Sensitivity enters into knowing Christ’s longings, as we are on these lines of committal and deliverance and overcoming, and as we know what it is to be near to Christ. How simple His longings are; “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22:19. What a longing of the Lord that is. Are we near enough to Him to hear it, and to be able to answer to it? It is not simply a question of being a good soldier; it is a question of being a mighty man. That is not claiming anything, but as we are with David, as we are with Christ, we grow to be like Him. Think of the Lord’s influence over us in that way, so that we know who He is, we know all that He has done, all that He is to us. He supports us in that way, and we are near enough to Him to know His longings. We can answer to them in the breaking of bread, we answer to His longings in the service of God, because the service here is Godward; the water was poured out to Jehovah.
Our brother also had his part in the service of God, and we are to have our part in it while we are waiting for the Lord to come. The Lord has taken our brother to be with Him; how wonderful that is for him! What comfort it is for each one of us, to know that the Lord came Himself and took our brother. For him it is complacency, how blessed that is, but for those of us that are left, the Lord is in rejection. That involves suffering as we are true to Him. Our brother knew suffering, and he would have encouraged us to take on suffering so that we may know something of glory. We are waiting for the Lord to take His church. Our brother is among the “dead in Christ”, part of that wonderful company who will “rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together … to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be always with the Lord”, 1 Thess.4:17. How wonderful that is! Then in His appearing, the Lord will come to take up His rights publicly and to reign over this world. He is not going to be in rejection then, but at the present time He is in rejection, and it involves suffering.
I trust that we may be helped in our committals as we see the pathway that has been set out for us. May we be helped in it and encouraged, and may there be comfort and support at the present time, for His name’s sake.
Word at a meeting for ministry on the occasion of the burial of Mr J. A. Gardiner, Aberdeen, Scotland
27 June 2014
B.W. Lovie