QUALIFICATION FOR SERVICE AND TESTIMONY
[p. 119] QUALIFICATION FOR SERVICE AND TESTIMONY
John 20:21 - 23; Luke 24:46 - 49; Mark 16:15 - 18; Matthew 28:10; Matthew 28:16 - 20
I have read from the four evangelists, having in mind that if we are to have the whole truth in connection with any subject, we must take them all into account. My subject now is “Qualification for Service and Testimony”, and I desire to dwell upon it in its general features, to the end that, as in service and testimony here, we should be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing”. It is within our reach to be thus perfected. The apostle had it in mind in writing to the Colossians “to present every man perfect in Christ” (chapter 1:28). I am thinking, for, the moment, of service and testimony, and I wish to dwell on John first, because John is particularly intended for our own times. I apprehend that we approach all the evangelists now through him as being the last of the writers. All has to be considered in the light of the latest communication, and, in regard to this question of representation of Christ, John qualifies us in the most exalted way. I think we get the highest and most spiritual touches from him as one who was intimately conversant with the Lord; as one who had, in a peculiar way, liberty of access to Christ.
Before he mentions this matter of representation in service, he speaks about the message which the Lord sent to the disciples through Mary Magdalene. She herself is qualified before the message is entrusted to her. The chapter dwells at length on her, presenting her as running, that is to say, in accelerated movement; and then we find Peter and John also running; but Mary is, according to the record, more spiritual than either; not more intelligent, but more spiritual.
[p. 120] She remained at the sepulchre, we are told, weeping — that is to say, she was marked by deep feelings — an impressionable person. Persons of great intelligence are not always as impressionable as persons with feeling. She had the feelings, and so the Lord takes account of all this, and manifests Himself to her, showing that feelings which are the outcome of affection for Christ are honoured; as Paul said to Timothy, “remembering thy tears” (2 Timothy 1:4). Tears are the token of feelings — of ability to be impressed, and so the Lord manifests Himself to her; adjusting her at the same time, impressing her with the fact that relationships, henceforth, were to be heavenly, not earthly. He had not yet ascended to His Father, He said, and so must not be touched; and in saying this, He sent her to His brethren with the message, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (chapter 20:17).
Cannot we see, beloved brethren, that she was impressed, and being impressed, she was impressive — that the message was delivered not only in word, but in spirit? But then, great as the message was, and great as the messenger was, for she was equal to it, it does not say that it caused joy. What caused the disciples to rejoice was the sight of the Lord. That is to their credit, for John always emphasizes what refers to Christ personally, and so the Lord confirms that in saying again, “Peace be unto you” — the peace and joy of seeing the Lord. They rejoiced; and their joy was to be confirmed. And then He says, as if to honour all that, for there is nothing said here about their being perturbed, as in Luke: “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”, and having said this, “he breathed on them”. It is a question, in John, of a personal transaction, of having to do with Him, or of His having to do with us, not mediately, but directly; and so we have this most extraordinary occurrence, “he breathed on them”. It was the impartation to them of His own blessed Spirit. Think of that! He says, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
There is another feature implied here, it is divinely given ability to receive; so that the transaction is perfected. His act was to breathe upon them; their part was to receive. “Receive”, He says, “the Holy Spirit”. It is not a question of the sealing of the Spirit; that is not what is in view. It is a question of our having personally to do with the Lord, or He with us. It is not, as it were, an administrative act on His part. Administration refers to what He received from the Father and shed forth at Pentecost. Here is a personal transaction of a most intimate nature, and of the disciples having to do with it intelligently; so they received it.
John would thus set us up here in the midst of the present state of things, as those who are having personal transactions with Christ. Think of the character that it imparts — not simply in what we say, but in what we are. It is a question of the kind of spirit that animates us — no less than the Spirit of Christ — the Holy Spirit; and then He says, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them”. So that, as the sins are owned, we can forgive, and as forgiven in the spirit of forgiveness the sinner is set free; he has come into practical contact with the Spirit of Christ, and is encouraged.
I will not enlarge on the retaining of sins, although it is an important side of our position to know what to retain, for God is not to be trifled with; and notwithstanding that it is a day of small things, where divine principles are held, sins are retained when this is necessary. It is not a question here of gift or apostolic authority. They are regarded as disciples. The Lord would constitute us as disciples qualified to forgive, by imparting to us His own spirit. It is the Spirit of Christ, and if in that spirit a sin has to [p. 122] be retained, it is most solemn. No one acting in the Spirit of Christ, will retain a sin against another, until all possible means have been used to bring about conviction and self-judgment. It is a service of liberation to the children of God, that they might be free, like ourselves, to enjoy christian privileges.
I go on to Luke. I want to show that the dispensation, although it is about to close, is to maintain its original character. It is not to be belied; and so the Lord, in Luke, works through our understanding. It is not here a question of the Lord breathing into us, but of working through our understanding; through ministry; through the breaking of bread; through the interpretation of the Scriptures; through the opening of our understanding that we might understand the Scriptures — that He might qualify us to be witnesses of the dispensation of grace; so that at the end there is really no change. He says, “ye are witnesses of these things”. It is not here that they were witnessing, but that they were qualified to speak of certain things, because they saw them. It is a question thus in Luke of competency to bear testimony through becoming acquainted with what is to be testified to. It requires an understanding, and this the Lord gives. Paul says “the Lord will give thee understanding in all things” (2 Timothy 2:7).
The Lord is graciously helping His people, I believe, on these lines, working through our understandings by ministry; opening our understandings that we might understand the Scriptures; dividing the Scriptures as He does, into the law, the prophets, and the psalms. One needs, at the present time, to take note of these features. We are to take care as to “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), so that the saints may be instructed, and qualified to witness as knowing the things; the Lord says, “ye are witnesses of these things”; but being a witness of the things is not enough; having the doctrine, being able to present the facts of the gospel, is not sufficient. It is important [p. 123] to have the facts, to be witnesses of the facts of the things, “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). It is important to be able to present the facts; but we need more than that, if we are to represent this dispensation. We need power from on high. The Lord says, “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high”. It is the kind of power — the Spirit of God, of course, but it is power from on high — different from any power by which religious activity is carried on by man in this world. And you are to be clothed with it. Clothing is a public thing — that I am manifestly serving in the power from on high. It is the idea of elevation.
He also says, “I send the promise of my Father upon you”. It is what is external here — the public evidence that my service is in power from on high, and I am free from all national feelings. “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”. It is not to honour Jerusalem. Far otherwise! No more than it was to honour the conduct of Saul when he was converted. It was the magnitude of grace. It is to call attention to the magnitude of grace, that the testimony should begin in that wicked place; but it is to all nations. We are to be imbued with the love and grace of Christ in dying, and then in rising, so that in Him these things should be presented to men; but I am carrying on my service, you are carrying on your service, clothed with power from on high. You are not limiting it, but maintaining the character of the dispensation as unalterable. Let us never lose the sense of what the dispensation of grace is. This is not only the doctrine of the thing — it is the thing itself, which is to continue, and is never to be lost sight of.
I will proceed to Mark, and I want to show that which is not included in John and in Luke — that all [p. 124] is to be on the principle of faith — that I am acting from sources outside of man or man’s ken — that I am treading a path that neither the vulture’s eye hath seen, nor the lion’s whelps have trodden. I am not only to preach to all nations; but I am to go “into all the world”. That is how it reads. That requires activity, energy; but it requires more than that; it requires a power in me to resist the world. Think of what the world is; think of what the world is as developed in the wicked one! So he says, “Go ye into all the world”. Nothing inviting in that! It means conflict, for the world “lieth in the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). It is not the world as in John 3 which God loved. No, it is not that. It is what Samaria was to Elisha. After he went through with God the exercises requisite for service, as mentioned in 2 Kings 2, he went to Samaria from Carmel. What was Samaria? The centre of wickedness — the city of Ahab and Jezebel; to go into that means suffering; but that is the world in Mark. “Go ye into all the world”. Do not make any choice. We are not to select our spheres — to pursue the line of least resistance, as they say. It is all the world that has to be faced if we are to be of any use. Not to preach the gospel to it; but to preach the gospel to all the creation. It is a question of the creation. Have you ever thought of that, what the creation of God is to Him? “For thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11), it is said. The creation is for the pleasure of God. “The whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now (Romans 8:22)”. Is that nothing to God? We groan within ourselves; but we are already in possession of the first-fruits of the Spirit. We look for complete deliverance of the creation, and so we prove the world’s opposition, in preaching to the creation. Paul says, “the glad tidings, which ... have been proclaimed in the whole creation” (Colossians 1:23).
[p. 125] Well now, what marks believers in this gospel is that they are immune from satanic power. It is not here a question of God’s kingdom attracting them. It is a question of what they are inherently as men of faith. The point here is faith. “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved”, whoever he is. He belongs to the creation of God. He leaves the world behind him — he is baptised. No one is saved who is not baptised. Baptism, in its true sense, means that I leave the world behind — I break with it. The world is a moral system — the creation is not. This wicked moral system has degraded the creation. I leave it. I have come into the light of a faithful Creator, who is, withal, the Father, as made known in Christ. I am a believer. I am baptised. He that believeth and is baptised is saved — he leaves the world. Baptism is that I leave it definitely. I break with it. I am saved; but more than that. “These signs shall follow those that have believed” — not those that preach. “In my name they shall cast out demons”, etc. It is a question of what those having faith are able to do. We are to be in this world superior to it — knowing what it is; facing it, but knowing that we are possessed of a power enabling us to overcome it; that I can go into it and be superior to it — that is Mark. I do not take these things up literally. It is a question of what they are spiritually. The power of demons, deadly things, serpents or disease — all these things are overcome in Christ’s name by those who believe. Think of what God has in the world in those who have faith!
I now go on to Matthew, and finish. Here the Lord sends a message to His disciples through a woman; — not “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20:17), but “tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me”. If I am to be of any service, I have to seek Him out. He has all power in heaven and [p. 126] on earth. If I want to serve I must find Him. I must take a journey. I must not be light and trifling, and just commit things to memory, as if anything would do in the service; no, we must take the journey to find Him; “there shall they see me”. He does not say that I shall see them. They will need me, and if they need me they must seek me out. And so they go to the appointed place — a mountain — the place of strength, and they see Him. He came up to them. In John 16:22 the Lord says, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice”; but in Matthew I have to go and find Him; He came up to them, but they saw Him first. You say, Is not the Lord looking out for me? Well, He wants you to come and find Him. You must go and find Him out if you are to serve; you must take the journey. He has wonderful things, and you cannot get them anywhere else; they are worth going for. “When they saw him, they worshipped him”. His position is that of the King. He has the things; you must go if you are to get them.
Another point before I close. The most solemn thing in Matthew is that as the women were going with the message, the soldiers went to the chief priests and told them what had happened, and as a result they took counsel together how to defeat what God had done, and in so doing they formulated a lie. They said to the soldiers, “Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away” (verse 13). They bribed them, and secured them against possible consequences. “They took the money, and did as they were taught” (verse 15), and so the lie continued, it was perpetuated. We have to face that condition, a system of things in which a lie has been formulated, passed on, and continued. The most wicked lies about Christ have become standardized in the profession, and they continue. It was when the women left with the message that these soldiers left, and the lie was formulated. It says, “the eleven disciples went into Galilee” — to the place of reproach. We can only hope to meet the situation indicated by taking this journey. The Lord came up to them, as they went to Him, and He said, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”. It is the most extraordinary command of all — it is not to preach, it is not to remit; it is to make disciples. What can we do with that? How can I make a disciple if I am not one? It is a question of spiritual influence. Think of it, dear brethren: “make disciples of all the nations”. How can I do that? Only by being the thing myself. I must go to Galilee, so to speak. I must take that journey; I must find the Lord there; and so I apprehend Him as the all-powerful One. He says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The nations were thus to be brought into a wonderful sphere of things. We know something of it — the light of the revelation of God. They were to be brought into that; then “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you”. It is a question of authority in Matthew, and moral power in the ministry so that we can influence others to become disciples. The Lord adds, “And behold, I am with you all the days”.
In having these four features together in our souls we might hope to represent God in some way in these last days, and so be effective to the children of God and to all men, and to all nations. May God bless His word!