A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
[p. 435] A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
Luke 9:46 - 48; Matthew 18:1 - 6; Matthew 18:10 - 14; Isaiah 11:5,6
I have in mind to speak of the idea of a little child, hoping to show how the truth works in believers so that they become little in their own minds and accept littleness as in the minds of others, but at the same time become powerful in a moral way. Through them the idea of the kingdom of God — or the kingdom of the heavens — should be here in testimony. The present time is the time of testimony: the future, the millennium, itself a great general witness to what effects this, is the time of the display of what is now in testimony, and the principle of the testimony is that of reversal, so that what is in man’s mind as to himself and worked out in the world, is overthrown in him by the opposite of itself. That is, what is reckoned small in this world is to bring to nothing what in it is accounted great.
Presently, God will have to say to the world as built by men, according to man’s art and devices. God will turn it upside down, He will wipe it as one wipes a dish. He will do that in power; it will be literal. All that is in conspicuousness in the world shall be brought down; and what is now in reproach will be exalted, literally. In the meantime this is being attained in a moral sense, in a small compass it may be, but nevertheless attained.
If God effects something in one or in a thousand, He shows what He can do. And so, if He brings one great man, great in his own esteem, down, so that he thinks nothing of himself and despises all that in which he gloried, counts but dung and dross all that was gain to him as a man in the world; if God effects that in one man, He can effect it in any number of men, and that is what He is doing. In [p. 436] that man He sets out what He is about to do universally. It is done morally. I say morally, for that man would pray for the greatest man in the world — the king, and all those in authority, but he is greater than any of them. The idea is that the world is morally brought down in that one man. God has done it, and He sets that man here, causes him to move about the world, for the more that man is known, the better. It is not God’s thought to effect a great moral triumph like that and hide it. He sets it out in testimony. I speak of Paul, who is the best example of what I am presenting; he says that he had fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and he was himself what he preached.
The levitical thought is that God effects something in a man and then sends him to show what He has effected in him; as the apostle says in writing to the Corinthians, “I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake. ... Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day” (1 Corinthians 4:9 - 13). What a testimony that was! And yet, what were these men doing? They were turning the world upside down — at least their enemies said so; and they were, too. They were not doing it with violence. The world was turned upside down in the apostle himself, and in all the apostles. That is to say, the coming world that God was about to display took form in them and was presented here in testimony.
The point in it is that it is to affect me, and all [p. 437] of us. The apostle says, virtually, to the Corinthians, It should affect you. They were not converted by men reputed great in this world. The power of Christ reached them through a man of no account in the eyes of men. What did the men of Athens think of Paul; their comment was, “What will this babbler say?” (Acts 17:18). At Lystra he was regarded as a great speaker. We read in Acts 14:8 - 9 that, “there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak”. Why should the Holy Spirit say he heard Paul speak? Because Paul’s speaking had such a profound effect on the man. His speech, they at Corinth said, was contemptible — but was it? It was not contemptible to the man at Lystra who had faith. Where the work of God took effect, the apostle’s speaking was of much account. The man had faith to be healed, and Paul said in a loud voice, “Rise up straight upon thy feet” (verse 10). That was a speech of power and the man sprang up and walked. That is how matters stood.
The apostle challenges his converts at Corinth as to this. They were converted through him, and yet what was he outwardly? “Unto the present hour”, he says, “we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working with our hands”. And now, Paul not being with them at Corinth, the world was creeping in and they were vying with one another who was to be greatest. That is just the world — rivalry, who is to be the greatest. So in order to revive the true divine thought, he says, “I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”. Timothy was the little child in Corinth. The world had to be re-ejected from many there. It had been brought down in measure through the apostle’s preaching, but now that he [p. 438] had left, it had entered, and it must be brought down again. “Woe to the world because of offences!” (Matthew 18:7). The world had crept in at Corinth so that there were parties, and they were rivals of each other. Hence he sends a little child, one of no account in this world, to be in the midst of them to the end that they might learn in him the apostle’s ways as they were in Christ. The apostle was in keeping with what he preached. The world had been removed in him. That is what the Lord is doing today, what He is aiming at — to turn things upside down — using “things which are not” to bring to nought “things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:28). There is a power acting here that will presently overthrow the world.
The passage read in Luke supports all that I have been saying. “Jesus ... having taken a little child set it by him”. That is where every little child of whom I am speaking would seek to be, just by the Lord Jesus. Now this incident is in a setting that is significant. It follows upon the scene on the mount. The Lord constantly gives His people seasons of privilege, enjoyment, and blessing, and the challenge would be — What are we after such occasions? After a season of special grace and blessing, we go to our several spheres of responsibility. What is its effect upon us? What had happened to cause that, as the Lord came down from the mount, there should be a “great crowd around” the disciples, as Mark tells us in his gospel. When we become an object of public interest we must challenge ourselves. If a brother goes out humbly and preaches Christ on the street corner, it is to be desired that, if the crowd encircle him, it is to make much of Christ. But the disciples at this time were evidently of interest because of a discussion: scribes were disputing against them (Mark 9:14). And in the midst of the crowd a man cries out, “Master I beseech thee, look upon my ... only child. And, lo, a spirit taketh him ... I besought [p. 439] thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not” (verses 17 - 18). The Lord casts out the demon, and now there is a reasoning amongst them, who should be the greatest.
These things are not written for mere historical purposes; the Spirit of God would never record the failures of His people merely for the purpose of exposing them; He would rather hide them. The apostles have to suffer in this sense that we might learn — these things were written for us. We find that we are unable to do anything for the man that cries out in the crowd. And there are such cries around us, cries of deepest need, if we have ears to hear. The man has to say to the Lord that His disciples could not cast out the evil spirit. If one proves himself powerless to help a soul who cries out, he should not be a rival to another in the assembly. Yet such rivalry appears here. They were reasoning in their hearts who should be greatest. The Lord takes a little child and sets it by Him. One would desire to be that little child. Any of us may be such an one that the Lord can set by Him. What a place of favour! But then, it does not mean that I am simply in a good place, a happy place, but the Lord has put me there for testimony. In Matthew and Mark He sets the child in the midst of them, but here He gives the child the advantage of being by Him. One is thus placed alongside the Lord of glory.
The Lord is great enough to be testimony for Himself, but He would use men for this purpose, those who were once under the power of sin, having their life in this world. He would set them up in testimony. Matthew tells us that there has to be conversion so that this should be realized. The little one is away in the mountains, and the Lord has had to go for him. This child was not brought down from heaven, not an angel, but an ordinary child with like passions as ourselves, but so formed that [p. 440] the Lord could set him by Him. I am speaking now of what is meant by the incident. It is not any little child, for Matthew says the Lord called him. Luke would say that he was under the Lord’s hand so that He could just take him. Anyone that is at a distance from the Lord Jesus cannot hope to be used in this way. You need to be under the Lord’s hand, Isaiah 49:2 says, “under the shadow of his hand”. You never can tell who the Lord may put forward in this sense, — the most unlikely person according to our estimate, but the Lord prepares beforehand and knows the little child is there. It does not say the Lord had to send for him. In fact, a few verses earlier we are told that He had just cast a demon out of a child. The moral connection is there. But the practical thought is to be near the Lord, as to the state of our souls, watching what is happening, absorbing the light and the feelings and the principles that are being set out in His ministry. And He will put His hand out some day and take you and set you alongside of Himself. Here He says, in effect, this little child is the idea that is in My mind and whoso receives him receives Me. In this sense the order of the testimony presented in this passage is, — God, Christ, the little child. Hence the great importance of what the little child represents, and this may be in any of us.
Matthew enlarges on this. He does not say that they were reasoning in their hearts — they further. They asked the Lord, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” There is certain respectability in that, they give the Lord place. I may go that far and yet think all the time that I am the one. But the Lord did not gratify their curiosity; He “called a little child unto him”. He was within call, and the Lord says more about him, according to Matthew, than in Luke. He sets the little child in their midst. I apprehend that it is a further thought, that one is set down amongst his brethren. The Lord can [p. 441] trust him, set him down amongst the brethren. They may say much about him, but he suffers it. Although this is not seen here, no one is of much use in the testimony unless he is disciplined, perhaps persecuted as among the brethren. It is a question of the material that is there. The rough handling brings out the quality, the beaten gold or silver. Opposition becomes instrumental for purification, cleaning away the refuse, and the Lord takes up the real gold. What will He make out of gold? It is a wonderful metal, at least, in its spiritual significance. So that if one is set down in the midst of one’s brethren by the Lord many things happen. Simeon said about Jesus, “That the thoughts may be revealed from many hearts” (Luke 2:35). When God works to bring forth a man for His service, many hearts may be disappointed, but the gold will be purified, so that it may be in the hands of the Lord to make of it what He will.
As the little child is set in the midst, the Lord says, “Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. It is not a question of greatness in the kingdom, but as to whether you can enter into it. A man saying I will be greatest, is not a subject at all. He is foreign to the kingdom; he needs conversion. Most of us need more than one conversion. The Lord used Peter’s conversions to make him more like the beaten gold. If any one has rivalry in his heart he has to be converted. He needs the gospel. None of us is beyond the need of the gospel. Certainly while there is ambition or rivalry in my heart, I need to be converted and become a little child.
Then the Lord goes on to show what these little children are characteristically, and how valuable in the eyes of heaven. He likens them to a lost sheep of a hundred, and the shepherd goes after him into the mountains, he is so valued. The saints have but a poor estimate of how valuable we are to heaven.
Hence the word, “Woe unto the world because of offences!” The Lord is seen here as abhorring the world because it is a snare to His people. Offences imply that the world’s ways please one so that he follows them and is drawn into it. The world is thus a snare to His people, and the Lord abhors it. “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea”. Such is the value in the eyes of the Lord of a little one. It is sought by Him in the mountains and brought home. It is a christian the Lord is speaking about. There is the suggestion of ambition and consequent rivalry in the question of the disciples and hence the reference to conversion in the Lord’s reply. Anyone that is a rival of another in the things of God needs to be converted. That is how Matthew presents this subject, and it is carried out in a most practical way in the following verses, 15 to 18 — a brother trespassing on a brother.
The Lord is leading up to discipline in the assembly, so that the government of God in regard to the little ones is in view. The assembly has to do with little ones, it knows how to treat them: it will be longsuffering. The cities of the Levites, the cities of refuge foreshadow this; they were the residence of grace. The assembly is where grace reigns through righteousness in a practical way down here, so that the little ones will get righteous treatment in the assembly. An offending person will be given to understand that the Lord Jesus appeared to Simon, but to a Simon that wept bitterly when the Lord Jesus looked on him after he had denied Him. The assembly takes notice of that. The assembly reflects heaven, and if a man weeps bitterly for his offence, he will receive gracious treatment.
All this was foretold. The spirit of the little child [p. 443] is seen in the passage read. Isaiah, the prophet, looking forward to the millennium, sees wonderful changes in the creation. The lion is seen as the very opposite of what he used to be. That is the work of God. All that finds its answer in the testimony now. In the assembly we have testimony of what is coming in in the millennium. God says through Isaiah, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them ... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” (chapter 11:6,9). There is no change in the lions yet, nor the leopards, nor in the wolves. The change is set out in the testimony in men. The sheet came down from heaven to Peter, “in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven” (Acts 10:12). Peter says, “it came even to me” (chapter 11:5). He had to learn of the great change God was bringing about in men, not yet in animals. In a future day there will be a real change in the lower creation. Now God can do it in a man like Saul of Tarsus. What a brother he became! He had been a ravening wolf, “he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison”, (Acts 8:3). God brought about that change. He has done it in millions since, and He is doing it. The new birth effects a radical change; through it the whole texture of my being is changed. What God is doing in me in a moral way he will do presently in the world in a literal way. The Lord comes in to effect all these things with the girdle of righteousness and of faithfulness.
So the little child shall lead them, — a wonderful moral triumph that God can bring about amongst us, so that the man whom we have despised because of some ugly natural characteristic is now regarded with respect. He is converted; he has been with Jesus; he has been sought out in the mountains and [p. 444] brought back. What moral power he has; he has leadership — some have very false ideas of leadership. It is not a question of gift: it is a question of going before in the acceptance of suffering, toil, and in the Spirit of Christ generally, so that others may take the way safely after him. The Lord opens up in this sense a great field for us. We have been speaking of John in the bosom of Jesus, but here is a child set by Him. Then Matthew says He has set him in the midst. What a great thing, — to be set by the side of Jesus as a model! Sisters can be models, — as we see in Luke 7 and in many other instances. The Lord turns to the woman, in Luke 7:44, and says to Simon, “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears”.
The Lord is seeking to enlist the younger generation. Many of the older saints are being taken away. Their places are to be filled — filled by such persons as the Lord can call attention to as models. May the Lord press these things upon us!