DIVINE TESTING
[p. 526] DIVINE TESTING
Deuteronomy 8:2,3; 1 Peter 1:6,7; Genesis 22:1 - 4
My subject, dear brethren, is divine testing; a feature of the present time, not only as regards the people of God but the nations particularly, and the whole sphere of Christian profession. All are tested in a peculiar way at the present time. The Lord’s people feel it most keenly, believers in Christ — those who take on of His spirit — are more sensitive than others as to what God ordains in the way of trial. The Lord had warned His disciples that they should hear of wars and rumours of wars, saying, “For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be earthquakes in different places”, and adding, “these things are the beginnings of throes”, (Mark 13:8). But, He says, You are not to be disturbed. He forearmed His people in view of crises that would greatly oppress others, that they should not be terrified. The prophetic word is a great advantage to us in this respect. We have insight into current matters that others have not, and thus are armed against being unnecessarily disturbed. The Lord, too, having forewarned us in the prophetic page Himself, is ready to assist us as to any acuteness of feeling. Much arises from fear, natural feeling and pessimism. Much unnecessary suffering is experienced; and the Lord is ready to assist us as to anything crucial in that way, to relieve our minds, for He would not have us to be burdened by what does not exist, and never will exist. He is a great Priest above; His priesthood implies His sympathy with us, that He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. But not with the feelings arising from our natural proclivities — our feelings — national or otherwise. These are in themselves to be [p. 527] judged as sinful, not being of faith, and yet they may appear right. We often suffer from physical fear, which the Lord enjoins against: “And be not afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”, (Matthew 10:28). Attention to that word would save us from much. The fear of man works a snare, but the fear of God is imperative and protective. I do not refer to slavish fear, but reverential fear. He is by our side in that.
In making these remarks I come to the passage in Deuteronomy which tells us of divine leading in the wilderness. Jehovah said to the people, “And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness”, chapter 8:2. Actual facts recorded would hardly lead us to conclude that God was leading all the time, for man’s will led a great deal in what happened. We have rebellion upon rebellion, which of course is the outcome of man’s will; but yet all these rebellions did not shut out God from leading His people. Even at the height of Korah’s rebellion God was not shut out; He was present all the time; He stood by Moses and Aaron and all those who stood by the truth with them. He here accredits Himself with having led them in the wilderness for forty years. The apostle Paul tells us, referring to this same thing, that Jehovah “nursed them in the desert” for about forty years. (Acts 13:18), a most touching fact. He bore with their manners as a parent has to bear with the adverse manners of his children. It may be necessary to bear with them to a point, but only to a point, for ill manners in a household, allowed indefinitely by parents, are contrary to God’s will. God bore with the manners of His people in the wilderness for forty years, but then we know He used the rod, and severely too. In fact, six hundred thousand men, from twenty years old and above, died in the wilderness [p. 528] on account of their manners; their carcases were strewn in the desert. So that parents are reminded that ill manners are not to be indefinitely allowed. They are to be refused in principle. God bore with the manners of Israel, but the history shows He used the severest measures against the evil manifest in them.
Our chapter says, “And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, [p. 530] whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not”. It is not that God did not know what was in their hearts; I need not say that. The point is to bring out the knowledge of it; to bring out information; for all proceedings, judicial or otherwise, must be based on accredited testimony. God does not judge people exactly for what is in their hearts; it is what is brought out of their hearts — what is known — that He deals with. We sometimes wonder, doubtless, why God allows so much evil; but in a certain sense He orders it: “... making peace and creating evil”, He says in Isaiah 45:7. It is a feature of His ways to bring out evil, even to furnish means of provoking it, so that sin might become exceeding sinful. We often challenge this in our minds, doubtless, and upbraid God in it, but while He speaks of that in Isaiah, He warns against answering again to Him. It is a common thing today to hear men say. If there be a God, why does He allow such dreadful things as are happening? It is challenging God. Who dare do it? It is His own realm. Who dare question His right to provoke sin so that sin might appear as it really is? What it really is, can be fully seen in Satan; but the trial is not in Satan now; it is in men, and God will bring out what is there. He says, “Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still”, (Revelation 22:11). In His governmental ways, God allows evil, long practised, to work out in certain persons; one of the most solemn things in scripture. If [p. 529] one is filthy, let him be that; the word says. It is judicial. Judas is an example. God allowed sin in a peculiar form in that man; and it must be so. It was allowed “that the scripture might be fulfilled”, (John 13:18). It is well to take these things into account, dear brethren, because they allay our fears as to much that is current, and challenge us too, if we dare to answer again to God. “Who art thou” He enquires, “that answerest again to God?” (Romans 9:20).
Well, as has been said, our chapter records that God led them in the wilderness to know what was in their hearts. Who could tell what was in their hearts when they started out across the Red Sea? God, of course, knew; but who else could tell? You see young persons in that throng which went out from Egypt; amiable, obedient to their parents, having seen what had happened, how the firstborn of Egypt were slain and Israel spared. Who can say what will mature in these young men as they advance under divine leadership in contrary circumstances? How many of us can witness to what we have seen in our day! How little we expected to see what we have seen in youth as it developed! But it was there and it has been brought out “to know what was in thy heart”. It is not exactly that God wished to know, but it is brought out in testimony.
God is leading His people now in these parts. We have great encouragement in divine leading, but then what about our hearts? Young men and women are growing up and coming into fellowship; commendable as far as the brethren see, but God says, I am leading, and what is in their hearts will come out; it will become a matter of public note; and it is only as it becomes such that it can be dealt with according to God. We do not deal with it while it is in their hearts; we do not know all that is there, but God does. He says, I will bring it out, as it says in our verse, “... to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart,
whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not”. That is an open question. A boy or a girl of thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen years of age desires to break bread, and the parents like it very much; we all like it. But then what is in their hearts? God is concerned about that, and what will develop out of it; and yet He says, as leading, I will take them on. I suppose two million people were led by God in the wilderness. Day in and day out, night in and night out, Jehovah was leading! He never slumbered nor slept. Anyone, looking out of his tent at night, might see the pillar of fire. That indicated that God was there! He was there moment by moment during the darkness of the night, watching over His people. In the morning they may have to decamp and move on to another encampment. God directed that; He was the Leader in that. Some young Levite might say, I carried this part of the tabernacle to the last encampment; I will not carry it now. Can you not picture that happening in the desert? That, and worse, happened. Another one says. Look at Aaron and Moses; they are everything; we are nothing in their eyes. You would not have thought they would say that when they came out of Egypt, but God is leading them in the wilderness in a contrary scene to humble them. We do not like to be humbled. We rather like to be exalted, but God says. You need to be humbled; you need to be proved to bring out what is in your heart. That is going on in every one of us to bring out what is in our hearts. God, of course, is ashamed of us when it comes out. And the saints have to withdraw from young people, because of evil conduct issuing from their hearts. It is shameful! It brings dishonour! The saints cannot walk with them if there is the allowance of disobedience, worldliness and lust.
In due time Israel is led to Kadesh-barnea, and the spies brought back their wonderful testimony of the land; yet all Israel, except two men, turned against it [p. 531] and despised the pleasant land. They refused to listen to the gospel of heaven; and God told them they would be strewn in the desert. What was in their hearts was brought to light; six hundred thousand of them exposed by that one thing! And may I say to every young person here, it will be disclosed too, by something or other, as to whether you are keeping the commandments or not. God is concerned whether His commandments are kept or not, and He is leading His people to humble them, and to prove them, to know what is in their heart, whether they will keep his commandments or not. How many young people come through that test? Alas, for the number of casualties! The devil ensnares many by the world or other things, and their hearts are exposed — they are not keeping the commandments. It thus becomes a matter of public knowledge; it had been there, secretly, in the heart; now it is on the surface and apparent. God has done it. But then, if the testing proves that you are keeping the commandments, the heart of the Lord is pleased and the brethren are pleased, too. But alas! how many have their own way, with the sorrowful result as seen with the Israelites — their carcases were strewn in the desert!
The epistles to the Corinthians bring all this up, the apostle naming the different elements of sinfulness in the people. He says, for example, “Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them; as it is written. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”, 1 Corinthians 10:7. One may say that is not idolatry; but that is exactly what the Spirit of God calls idolatry. They did that when Moses was absent from the camp. They sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play in idolatry; they had made the golden calf; they wanted to go back to Egypt, and to make themselves a captain. Many of us do not ask for a captain; each makes himself the captain and thinks himself competent enough to judge, so as to turn and go back to Egypt. This is a [p. 532] most solemn thing, because it is God leading His people and humbling them to bring out what is in their hearts, whether they will keep the commandments or not.
Well, I could say much more about this scripture because it is one of the most remarkable chapters in the Old Testament. It treats of the richness of the land of Canaan, also. In verse 16 it says, “... who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deuteronomy 8:16)”. That includes the beautiful land which is also described. There is no less thought in God’s mind than to do us good, but He says, I will bring out what is in your hearts. He is not judging sin as in your heart; He will allow that to come out; He will bring it out by trial; but also, by giving you the manna to eat. He says. It is not that I want to expose you; I want to do you good. You may have to wait for it, for in truth it is the latter end; the chapter depicts the land. What good there was in it! What richness! That is the latter end that God had in view for His people.
Coming to the verses in Peter, we have a wilderness setting. The people are viewed as in the dispersion. The word “dispersion” implies an action of others; you do not disperse yourself. For example, the Emperor Claudius commanded all Jews to leave Rome, that illustrates how these things happen. Aquila and Priscilla were found in Corinth because of that edict; they were dispersed from Rome. And so in Acts 8, on account of the persecution, the saints were scattered from Jerusalem. That was a great trial! Peter speaks here of a fiery one; a terrible persecution that arose. These people are dispersed; they have been scattered from their homes, where they were born and brought up; they are dispersed by some power. The Lord had anticipated the day when Jerusalem would be compassed about with armies. One thinks of the brethren in [p. 533] Jerusalem in those days, when the Roman general came to attack and destroy it. The Lord had said, When you see that, leave Jerusalem. It happened in the year A.D. 70. The Lord’s words were, “When ye see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that its desolation is drawn nigh. Then let those ... who are in the midst of it depart ... for these are days of avenging”, (Luke 21:20 - 22). The city of the great King was to be razed to the ground, and there it is until the present time. Although it is still called Jerusalem, having now a considerable population, from the Lord’s point of view it is in desolation, and the Jews are carried captive, until the time of the nations are fulfilled. They are about to be fulfilled; they are not finished yet, and therefore Jerusalem is still in desolation and the Jews are in captivity. The “dispersion” had this character. Peter says, “Beloved, take not as strange the fire of persecution which has taken place amongst you for your trial, as if a strange thing was happening to you”, 1 Peter 4:12. It was a fiery trial.
The first trial was in divine leadership, and it relates to the whole period of our sojourn in the wilderness - it covered the full forty years. We are apt to be irksome under it, but God ordains trial to prove us, to bring out what is in our hearts. It is going on all the time. The Acts and the epistles show in many instances how God allowed the testings in the early days and how many went back. Take a man like Demas, for example. Paul, in writing to the Colossians, includes Demas in the salutation, chapter 4:14, but in writing to Timothy, later, he says, “Demas has forsaken me”, 2 Timothy 4:10. Why did he forsake Paul? Because he loved the present world. How many have gone back like that! The Lord says, “because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold”, (Matthew 24:12). We must be watchful that we do not allow the trial to cause our love to wax cold. Keep near the brethren. “Provoke one [p. 534] another to love and to good works (Hebrews 10:24)”. That is a fine service! How necessary it is, for, as we have said, the love of the most shall grow cold. Continual pressure is apt to cause that, and particularly, if we stay away from the meetings. There is no surer evidence of love waning than staying away from the meetings. The circle of the saints is the circle of love; it is where love is: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”, (1 John 3:14). The question is often asked. How do I “lay hold of eternal life”? Paul exhorts us to do so, (1 Timothy 6:12). Is it in the air? Not at all. It is among the brethren. And again “lay hold of what is really life”, (1 Timothy 6:19). Where do you get it? Among the brethren. Keep as near as you can to them; and the more you desire to be among them, the more you have opportunity to do so. Eternal life is in Christ, but realised by the Spirit. Disregard of the assembly, the circle of spiritual affections, robs us of it. So that there is a great need of this warning. Constant pressure is apt to chill our love. Keep near the brethren; it is salvation. God says, “I will give salvation in Zion”, (Isaiah 46:13); and eternal life He commands there, Psalm 133:3.
My point in this second feature of my subject is the trial of our faith. It took forty years to bring out what was in their hearts; God did it Himself. Every one of their hearts was exposed, whether they would obey God or not. God saw to that; and as I said before, six hundred thousand of them fell in the wilderness; they would not keep the law of God; they rebelled. But Peter speaks about faith: “the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes”, 1 Peter 1:7. Maybe some of us have never thought that we have something in our bosoms more precious than gold. It is not the faith here, it is your faith; and God is trying that faith. It is not now to bring out the naughtiness of our hearts, but to bring out the faith that is in [p. 535] our hearts. That is what this testing is for. That is worth accepting. Look at that treasure in the morning when you get up; see if it is going to be any larger in the evening. The idea is increase in quality and quantity. And hence “the proving of your faith” — not the proving of your feelings or the naughtiness of your heart — but the proving of your faith; the thing that God has put there. He says it is more precious than gold. It is incomparable in that sense. Gold is nothing to it; it perishes, but faith does not. It is a precious commodity; and God says, I am testing it; it is “the proving of your faith”. I believe if we look into our treasuries daily we shall see how the matter stands. And God has in mind the future; that our faith may “be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ”, verse 7. You have some little thing there in the way of wealth, and God is testing you so that you should have it in abundance, and that it should advance in quality and quantity; even though it is tried by fire. A fiery trial is not easy to bear; it is apt to produce scepticism. Why does God allow this? I know of saints questioning the rightness of loved ones falling asleep. How serious! You may say, I prayed that he should not be taken away; but then God intended to take him, and our prayers should be based on God’s will. I have been thinking lately of the many bases there are for prayer. One is the will of God. “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, (Matthew 26:39). That is one principle. Another principle or basis for prayer is promise. If God has made a promise. He will stand by it; go to Him with the promises; He is ready to listen to you. Another basis for prayer is God’s love for His people. He regards an appeal to Him on account of His love to them. Yet another basis for prayer is the sovereign counsel of God; God will listen to prayer based on that. I mention these things so as to help us [p. 536] in our prayers; that we may not be rebellious. We must pray in intelligence as to His will.
Peter, here, is speaking about faith. He says to the saints, addressing them as in the dispersion, “Wherein ye exult, for a little while at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials”, verse 6. One is challenged by that in all this terrible thing that is current. Peter says of these people that were in dispersion, scattered from their homes, put to grief by various trials, “Wherein ye exult”. That is what I want to know; am I able to rejoice in the pressure. And the passage goes on to say, “that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ”. We are now in the making. This is a most remarkable time. For Christians, it is the great making time. God is making us — forming us — and the point I am stressing now is faith. Do I have any? The Lord would say to the true believer: Your faith. Not simply faith, but your faith. He said to the woman in Simon’s house, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”, (Luke 7:50). He would say to you. You have it; look into your treasury and see that it is there. The fiery trial is intended to bring it into evidence and strengthen it, it is so precious. And it is to “be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ”: it is the occasion, from our side, of the glorious scene marking the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. One has often tried to visualise the heavenly city. What a thing it is! It is a cube, composed of people of this kind, those who exercise faith now, and come under trial, that this precious thing might be effective and shine.
Well now, I go on to Abraham. I want to show how the Spirit of God treats this matter of Abraham’s trial. The other two phases represent trials of all the saints. Abraham’s is one man’s trial; nobody else was tried like [p. 537] this, and I suppose I can likewise say that everyone of us has some trial that is his own. I have had one — indeed many — and each of us as he looks back on his history will, no doubt, find he has had a trial of his own. This was Abraham’s trial. Certain things had happened; and as you look at the twenty-first chapter you will see particularly what did happen. I cannot go into that now, but it says, “And it came to pass after these things”. Something happens in my history that is in view of such a trial; it is allowed that I should be equal to the trial when it comes. So the passage says, “And it came to pass after these things, that God tried Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! and he said, Here am I. And he said. Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”, Genesis 22: 1,2. This is a trial of affection. It is an act of faith. As we read in Hebrews, “By faith, Abraham, when tried, offered up Isaac, and he who had received to himself the promises offered up his only begotten son”, Hebrews 11:17. It was the only begotten; the one in whom all the promises were vested; and Abraham offered him up. It was Abraham’s trial. Isaac was the supreme object of Abraham’s affections.
Now, dear brethren, what about this? I am tried in some matter of my affections. If I set my affections on some person or thing, God will try me as to it. He would ask. Is it more to you than I am to you? That is the principle. It is the keenest trial, you might say, of all, because you have no one to sympathise with you. It is your trial. It is between you and God. God says to Abraham, I want Isaac; I want you to offer him up as a burnt-offering. He does not mitigate the matter in the least. He says, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac”. The whole matter is stated in the tersest way by God Himself. It is intended to press the thing home on Abraham’s affections. This is the object of your affections. He would say, and I want him; are you willing to let Me have him? or do you think more of him than you do of Me? Do you love that object so much that you will not let Me have him? That was the trial! “And it came to pass after these things”, so that, dear brethren, if there be any little spiritual progress in our souls, you may be sure some great test will come. “And Abraham” we are told, “rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up and went to the place that God had told him of”, verse 3. I do not need to go over the verses; they are most beautiful, most affecting.
Now, it goes on to say, “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar”. Think of the position! Isaac speaking to him there; they went on and conversed together. And then it says, “And Abraham said to his young men. Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you”, Genesis 22:5. He is not going to lose Isaac, that was not in his mind. He was ready to sacrifice him and he did sacrifice him, for he raised his hand with the knife to kill him on the altar, but God held back that hand. He said, “Abraham, Abraham! ... Stretch not out thy hand against the lad”, Genesis 22:11. But what I want to stress is that the Spirit of God says, “he received him”, Hebrews 11:19. In all these trials God intends us to receive something. In this case, Abraham received Isaac back from the dead; not simply from the altar, but from the dead. Well, if I receive him back from the dead, I may say I have him for ever; and that is the principle. It all merges in what we receive back from the dead; I get into the realm of resurrection; thus through divine testing the believer is gradually led into the realm of resurrection. Think of what Lazarus was to the two sisters in Bethany! “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”, they said, (John 11:21). They would retain him as before — Lazarus, born as their brother — but now they receive him back from the dead. Was there ever such a Lazarus? Did any other sister ever have such a brother? Now they have him, received back from the dead. God has in mind a state of things morally set up in resurrection; the great result of all this trial. We are not to be suffering all the time, but coming into the realm of resurrection where all is joy, eternally. This is a wonderful thought! One would like to be able to enlarge on it; but that is what is stated; Abraham received Isaac back from the dead in a figure. It would fill Abraham’s soul with new light, so that after these things you get further great things as to him. In chapter 23 we are told that he buried Sarah, evidently in faith, for the field and cave which Abraham purchased was the burying-place of those who had faith in view of resurrection. In chapter 24 he sends out his servant for a wife for Isaac. It is the progress of faith, on the line of trial. God will bring out what He has placed in us according to its value in His own eyes, for He has in view “to do thee good at thy latter end”.