GATHERING AND ATTRACTION
[p. 102] GATHERING AND ATTRACTION
John 11:49 - 53; John 12:31 - 33; John 10:1 - 16
My theme tonight is gathering and attraction, Christ being the Gatherer and also the Object who draws men and women to Himself by attraction. Attraction comes first in order historically, for it is found in the physical creation; gathering or shepherding is later, it awaited the creation of man. Abel represents the thought of gathering or shepherding, for he was a keeper of sheep, a man whose interests were in what was living. He is the prototype of all shepherds, and the occupation took definite and permanent form in the family of faith; the family of Abraham. It was abhorrent to the Egyptians; in the spiritual sense it belongs to those who have faith and love, the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
I have in mind to speak of it as John presents it. He records this remarkable prophecy of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Such a prophetic word from such a man is of peculiarinterest, and suggests the importance of the prophetic word. God used the high priest of Israel at that time, not that there were not persons more suitable, but He would have testimony rendered to Christ by an exalted official among the Jews at that time. That God should use him reminds us of His sovereign ways, and also of the great value that attaches to the prophetic word and the consequent importance of being available for such a service. If we desire gifts, which we should, it is particularly that we should prophesy. God used Caiaphas, He used Balaam; showing how resourceful He is, that He uses whom He will according to His purpose.
However little Caiaphas understood his own words, we understand them, and the Spirit of God in recording them moved on to speak of “the children of God”. Perhaps Caiaphas never used this phrase, or scarcely understood the words; there is no evidence whatever that he was among the children of God. One may preach to others, or even prophesy; may convey the mind of God, and yet, as Paul says, himself “be rejected”, 1 Corinthians 9:27. So the Spirit of God moves on to the children of God and says, “not for the nation only, but that he should also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad”, (verse 52). That verse has a peculiar relation to John’s ministry, which God, as we have often said and heard, intended for our times. The effectuation of Caiaphas’s prophecy is postponed; I mean the effect of it in the nation of Israel; the effect of the death of Christ in that nation will come about in its own time, for we are told that all Israel shall be saved — all Israel, not every person known as a Jew, “for not all are Israel which are of Israel(Romans 9:6)”, but the whole nation of Israel shall be saved, but not until the fulness of the Gentiles, or the nations, has come in, Romans 11: 25. We are in this category, a goodly number of us here, tonight, thank God. We are of “the fulness of the nations”. As soon as it is completed God will have recourse to His ancient people, and the whole nation shall be saved — born in a day, we are told elsewhere.
John, in keeping with his general line, introduces the thought of the children of God, but he regards them here (or the Spirit of God through him does so), as “scattered abroad”. That thought would have touched, and was heavy upon, the heart of Christ, for He died that He should gather together into one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Doubtless we are all children of God, one would assume that we are, but some of us may be among the scattered ones. There are many in that sad case. It is sorrowful that any of the family of God should be scattered abroad. The Lord [p. 104] had just been engaged with the family at Bethany. They were not scattered, they were each specifically known; known personally to Him, for He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus — He loved the three; they belonged to the family of God, they are representative of it, not as scattered, but as in family circumstances and relations: the Lord Himself being as it were their Head. There are those in this happy state at the present time; God has come in in a wonderful way, gathering His children. The application “children of God”, is found in chapter 1 in a more happy and victorious setting, and each here will do well to compare the two scriptures, that in the first chapter and that in the eleventh chapter, and inquire in which setting he is. Those in the eleventh chapter are the children of God, but they are scattered. They have no certain dwelling-place, without a father, as it were, without a head — scattered abroad. Nothing is said about them, as in such a position, having the right to take the place of children.
John 1:12 speaks of those who receive Christ. I want you to notice what it says in that verse, “as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God”. That is another matter. That is what belongs to us normally, not only that we are regarded as the children of God, but we value the relationship, take it up and glory in it. They are not scattered abroad. The Spirit of God describes them for us, they are those who believe on the name of Jesus, they received Him when others rejected Him. The Lord said to the Jews, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not”, (John 5:43). It may be, there is one or more here who has not definitely received Christ. In His history of service here the time came of “his receiving up”. How He moved in the light of this! But then there was the time of His reception on earth, and John tells us that those who received Him were given the right to be the children of God; to take their place as believing on His [p. 105] name, and then we are told that they were born — the family thought is added to their position as being the children of God, being born, as we are told, not “of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13)”. That is normal Christianity; it involves house conditions, and the affections belonging to the family.
The other passage (John 11:52) implies persons who have left that, those who, although retaining their generative relations to God, are scattered. They belong to the family, but they are not in the circumstances of the family, and so we have this thought that Jesus died in order that they should be gathered together into one, no longer so many units, but “into one”. That is into the oneness of love, or, in other words, into the oneness of life, which tends to produce the oneness of love; that is John’s line, and life is the expression of love. Why should any of us be among the scattered, Christ having died in order that we might be gathered?
It is the gathering time now. I shall speak in a moment about attraction, but I want to stress now that it is the gathering time, and also that there are not wanting those who are shepherds. As I have been saying, the shepherds belong to the family of faith. You will recall how Joseph tutored his brethren as to what they should say to Pharaoh. Pharaoh says to them, “What is your occupation?(Genesis 47:3)” but Joseph anticipated this inquiry of the monarch. It was an occupation in reproach in Egypt. It could not be much in reproach in the mind of Pharaoh, for he himself had cattle and needed shepherds to look after them, so that in this respect he was not characteristically an Egyptian. We may look for such in our exercises as under reproach; where we least expect it we may find what corresponds to us as of God. So Joseph had carefully primed his brethren to say to Pharaoh, “Thy servants are men that have been occupied with cattle from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers”, Genesis 46:34. Let us not be [p. 106] ashamed of that occupation, for it is an honourable one. It is really persons occupied with live stock, typically living people; and so Abel stands over against Cain. Cain was occupied with purely material things — machinery and the like, building cities, which would lead to honouring the god of forces, Daniel 11:38. Faith is engaged with living persons. Our eternal occupation will be with persons, not with machinery and the like. So that as Pharaoh inquired of the five that Joseph selected to take to him, they said, “Thy servants are shepherds (Genesis 47:3)”. One of the gifts of Christ was “shepherds and teachers”, in one person — a most valuable brother! Teaching may give one more prominence, it is seen on the platform, and requires more grace to keep small. The shepherd services are often unseen by others, requiring self-abnegation, and toil, as with the Lord Himself going into the mountains for the lost sheep. Hence the importance of the ability of a shepherd. It is a question of life from John’s point of view. “Children of God” is a generative thought, and there are many of our brethren having a link with God in that sense, and yet having no family circle. Dear brethren, let us take that word into our hearts, a family circle where affection is. God has provided it at the present time. It is a question first of our relation with Him through His generative power. He has brought it about Himself, “the children of God”.
Some of you perhaps have not followed up the abstract thought involved in this; the natural instinctive promptings of your heart have been toward worldliness, earthly-mindedness it may be, but yet you retain the holy seed as being born of God. It is a question of life, and so in chapter 10 the Lord refers to Himself as Shepherd — and that is, in the main, the instruction for this evening, that He is “the shepherd of the sheep”. Only One could say that. One might be a shepherd or an under-shepherd, but only One could say that He [p. 107] was the Shepherd of the sheep. He is known as One who comes in by the door, who takes the regular way, not a clandestine way, which is that of the thief and the robber. Christ is “the shepherd of the sheep”. And then He goes on to say, that He is “the door of the sheep”, and then again that He is “the good shepherd” who “lays down his life for the sheep”. He has come “that they might have life”, Jesus says, “and ... might have it abundantly”, and again He says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, ... as the Father knows me and I know the Father”. Think of that kind of knowledge. It belongs to life. It is a question of life. The sheep are viewed in that way. They hear not the voice of a stranger — they know the voice of Christ and follow Him. This is all abstract.
You may say, I know but little about that. Well, go back in your history and remember the occasions in which you definitely desired to take a firm stand for the Shepherd, to follow Jesus, but other things came in and drowned the feeling, but the feeling in itself was perfect: that is what I refer to in using the word abstract. The Lord never forgets that time when there was an instinctive movement in your soul to be a follower of His, but you have allowed it to be overwhelmed by worldliness, earthly-mindedness, or some other interest. The desire, however, was perfect, and the Lord would bring you back to this, as one of His sheep. I am speaking now, as I said, of what is abstract. We can never understand this passage and other passages in John, save as we understand the abstract side. It is not always abstract, for as I have said, now and again this longing comes up in worldly Christians, but they stifle it, they allow it to be quenched. Government is sometimes in bad men, yet you get it in the abstract. Pilate, for instance, knew that Jesus was innocent. His wife told him that she suffered much on account of Him, and he was minded to release Him. Abstractly he [p. 108] was right, but he came under adverse influences and fell, and delivered up Jesus to be crucified. In like circumstances, then, we must go back to the abstract and work it out, ceasing to stifle it. It is perfect in itself, hence let it develop. Christians viewed as sheep have their own characteristics. They are true in their instincts, but these are often stifled. I speak of this in a practical way, for many stifle innate feelings and lose in their own souls.
Now the Shepherd is always knocking at your door, as He is tonight, I am persuaded. He is the good Shepherd of the sheep. There is no other. Do you yield to Him? Do you acknowledge Him? Has His voice a charm? He said, “I am the door”. If there is a movement with you at all to get into the realm of righteousness, the word from the Lord to you is, “I am the door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”, John 10:9. Thus you will have holy liberty. You have not got it now, if you are allowing these holy instincts of life to be stifled in your soul by worldliness. The Lord is waiting, knocking at your door, and saying to you, “I am the door of the sheep”. How we love to bring out what He is to us, “the shepherd of the sheep”, “the door of the sheep”, and then, “the door” (an outstanding thought) “if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”. Many of us understand that. We have come into liberty because we have allowed our instincts their place. We have developed and fed them. We have come to own Jesus as the door of the sheep, the door by which if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture — a very full statement of the Shepherd’s service. Then the Lord tells us that He laid down His life for us. It is an overwhelming thought, following upon the others, as you let it into your soul. He laid down His life for [p. 109] the sheep, and then again He says in effect, I know them and they know Me.
What I have been saying is all abstract as regards the sheep; you begin with that. The time was when you did know something of Christ. He took note of that. It is included in what is said here, “I ... am known of those that are mine”, but He is dealing with the full thought in an abstract sense, saying, that His sheep know Him as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. Think of the circle open to us, dear brethren, in the sense of knowledge, the kind of knowledge. There is the kind of love that the Father has for the Son, but there is the kind of knowledge that exists between the Father and the Son, and the sheep are admitted into that. Is it not attractive? But I am not at this moment speaking of attraction, but rather of what the Shepherd does. He goes on to say. He “brings” the sheep, not attracts them exactly, but He brings them. That is to say, the Shepherd goes to where you are and brings you. And He says there are “other sheep”. He had been speaking of the Jewish sheep; He had gone into the fold and put them forth, so that they followed. That was His service to them, added to the great fact that He laid down His life for them. He opened up the way for them to come out of the Jewish fold, and then He brings the other sheep that He had, and constitutes them all one flock. Not one flock by themselves, but both classes forming one flock and having one Shepherd.
So, dear brethren, I think you will agree to what I have said, and see from the Scriptures I have read that the Lord is serving in this wonderful way. It is a matter of life, and a matter of generation, too, and I may say that generation is greater than creation. Adam was created, of course, but also generated. He was of God, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. That is how he became [p. 110] a living soul. He became it by the breath of God. So that we have the two thoughts. As “the children of God” we are of the family; this refers to generation, and gives us a status above creation. We are, of course, creatures, but then we are born of God, but how sorrowful, as born of God, that any of us should be unattached! Are there not here some who are unattached, having no association of holy spiritual affection? The Lord died in order that He might have you with the brethren, and with them as one, not simply as so many persons, but gathered “together into one”, a remarkable suggestion of unity; but what affection enters into it, what warmth! There may be some here, as I said, who are unattached, let me appeal to you. The Lord died that you should be attached to Him, as Head, and attached to His brethren in the power of the Spirit, and that in a practical sense. It is a matter of oneness, oneness in life, the evidence of which is love. That is what I had to say about gathering.
Now attraction is concurrent with what I have been saying. The Lord says, “Now is the judgment of this world”. It was immediately the Jewish world, but in principle it applies generally, and He would draw all unto Him as lifted up from the earth. Think of the ignominy involved in that statement, for He spoke this “signifying by what death he was about to die”! I have been speaking of His laying down His life, that was an action of His own; no one could take it from Him, but in this passage He was speaking of being lifted up by men. Three times in this gospel He is said to be lifted up, but this time, as lifted up. He would draw all unto Him. It is a question of attraction, concurrent with His shepherdly service — there is this magnetism that is in Christ: His personal attractiveness.
To illustrate it, I refer briefly to Noah: as in the ark, he is presented as attractive. The animals are not said to go to him until he is in the ark and not only [p. 111] in the ark, but in the ark family-wise. My two points thus run together, embracing the family thought. Christ is more attractive, if I may make comparison, as He is apprehended in the family, in the radiation of love from Him to the saints and from the saints to Him. He is more attractive there than elsewhere, and that is what Noah presents. He went into the ark and his wife and his three sons and their wives: eight of them; and then the creatures “came two and two unto Noah into the ark (Genesis 7:9)”. That is the feature I commend to you. If you apprehend Christ personally, as does the bride in the Song of Solomon, then think of Him in the radiation of affection as seen in that book. She spoke of Him according to His personal attractiveness and beauty: but there is in that book the radiation of affection and that is most felicitous in the things of God. The nearer you get to the Lord the more you find the presence of that kind of love. So that the animals, two by two, went unto Noah, not simply into the ark. They went to him in the ark, that is the point.
The Lord has brought about, in these last days, such conditions that Christ is known family-wise. Even straying ones, as in the end of this gospel — persons who went off fishing, seven of them — He called children, an appeal being thus made to their family instincts, and every one born of God has these instincts, if they would only allow the assertion of them. It enters into the salvation of souls, to admit the exercise of family feelings. Do not drown them. Let them have full play, and if you do, you will look for other Christians. You will find out where they live and seek them out, and life will begin to radiate between you and them and you will say, as gathered together with them. This is my place, I am at home here. One knows of instances of this kind — the Lord in the passage I read in John 12, says, “I, if I be lifted up”, that is, lifted up alone — none of us was lifted up with Him. He bore the ignominy [p. 112] alone, and He said this signifying what death He should die. It was the death of the cross. The shameful death of the cross! But He is so certain of the attraction that is in Him, that He says, “I ... will draw all to me”. There is no doubt about it. There is correspondence in those drawn, and hence the work of God in them is implied. Elsewhere He says, “No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him (John 6:44)”. There are many that need to be reminded of this. You are ashamed of Him. You are ashamed of the cross, but He is confident that in time the work of God will assert itself and you will come to Him in spite of the shame, bearing His reproach. It is your privilege. May God bless these things to all of us.