FAITHFULNESS
What would be in our minds, dear brethren, is the gravity of the times we are in, as well as the exceeding privilege of being here in the present testimony of the Lord in the moments just prior to the rapture. Hence, it calls forth a special quality of devotedness and affection and faithfulness to His interests.
We have read of one who is said to be faithful and feared God above many. And we have also read of a faithful minister in the Lord. It just occurred to me that these things would have their present and very searching bearing on us. The tremendous heritage to which we have come should rightly be accepted. We should feel responsible as to what has come down to us through faithful men—through Paul, Timothy, and faithful men who were competent to instruct others also. Thank God we can remember those who were competent to instruct us! How we need to keep the instructions and remember those from whom we have learned them, so that in this generation of faith in which we are called to have a privileged and yet a responsible part, we should not fail.
This recovery book of Nehemiah brings out something that calls for a peculiar quality of faithfulness. This man Hananiah is said to be faithful and feared God above many. The inference is that there were others, many faithful, but here is one above many. What an appeal to us! Not that we compete in faithfulness. I would not mean that. Faithfulness stems from affection for an object, affection for a divine standard, and for persons who are prepared to die for it, to be faithful even to death, as many have. The moment we are in, dear brethren, calls for such a quality of faithfulness and devotedness to that object, which is the assembly, that is next to the heart of Christ. This man, Nehemiah, had things put in his heart, what he would do for Jerusalem. What can we do for Jerusalem, the true Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the assembly? Let us think of the full heavenly dignity and calling of that wondrous vessel, so soon to be caught up to where she belongs. What has been put in our hearts, as in the heart of this dear man Nehemiah, to do for Jerusalem? Who felt the disaster of what had happened as he did? He says “Ye see the distress that we are in” (chap 2: 17) and he furnishes a lead in devotedness that causes others to say “Let us rise up and build”. It is very like the time we are in, one of reconstruction and recovery. But where we read the wall was finished, the doors set up, and the doorkeepers, the singers and the Levites were appointed. Oh thank God that what has been recovered is not lost! Now it is a question of our maintaining it in the quality of faithful devotedness. I think the test at the moment is to maintain possession in the energy and the power of life, and that will be in the quality of a devotedness of which I wish simply and I trust briefly, to speak.
So Nehemiah brings forward this remarkable man here, Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the citadel. It says of him that “he was a faithful man and feared God above many”. He would stand out, therefore, in the quality of his faithfulness. Along with others he was faithful and feared God above many. Oh, how wonderful are the things we are called upon to maintain; in what has come down to us through these faithful men! Particularly is it so in the preaching of the glad tidings and the service of God. It may be that the reason we are left here is to maintain such a testimony in faithfulness amidst the ruin. I know we are a testimony to the ruin, as Mr Darby said. But the testimony of the Christ is in the power of life by the Spirit in the glad tidings, in which is embraced the whole scope of the truth; and then in result is secured the service of God. It seems to me that it calls for a peculiar quality of devotedness and consecration to Christ. A faithful person is one, as I said, who has an object he is prepared to die for—to be faithful unto death. Such, it says, will receive a crown of life—not that we are looking for the crown; that will come in its own time. But there is nothing, dear brethren, that can take the place of devotedness to the person of Christ; and that involves His interests here in this world until He comes. Ephesians brings out that quality: “love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption”. How searching it is! with the world around us in all its deterioration, its corruption and its violence. Never let us get accustomed to it. Let us learn to live in the realm of things beyond it where eternal life is, and see things as heaven sees them; and may we feel things as heaven feels them. We can be here, all of us, as a testimony in a quality of faithfulness and maintain it without drooping, or slipping away, or deterioration; but maintain it in the Spirit’s power until the Lord comes.
So where we read in Ephesians it speaks of a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord. I know the Ephesians were addressed as faithful, and also the Colossians. Thank God there were faithful persons in these assemblies! And now there is reference made to “the ... faithful minister in the Lord”. It says he will make known to you all things. “But in order that ye also may know what concerns me, how I am getting on”. Dear brethren, it is not Paul personally now, it is the precious heavenly and Ephesian life that has been brought down to us through faithful men, and we need to know how it is getting on. Think of the Lord maintaining, universally, a testimony to the truth of the heavenly character of the assembly. The enemy would attempt to break it down, and, if he could, to sweep it away. How needful therefore for us to be acquainted with how it is getting on universally. I believe the dear brethren love the touch of what is universal. We need to know what is going on and be acquainted with it; it helps us in our prayers.
And here is a faithful minister, it says, who “shall make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very thing, that ye may know of our affairs and that he may encourage the hearts of the brethren to rise to this quality of faithfulness, this quality of love “in incorruption”. Oh, may we love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption! I see no other quality that will protect the standard through which these things will be kept, cherished, and maintained, till the Lord comes. May we therefore make way for this kind of development in moral substance. We have come through difficult days. The very pressures and anguish of the way have drawn the brethren together in a sympathy and a nearness and a oneness that maybe tribulation alone could produce. Let us hold to these things and go on in the light of what we have been recovered to, without any deterioration or slipping away.
Now I ventured to read in Revelation because, while its bearing is future, we need to be assured of a sense of victory. The allusion is to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and to the Lamb who shall overcome them—that is those who follow the beast. Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Therefore let us be lifted up from any sense of weakness or depression. As we think of the outward smallness, let us not be despising the day of small things. Victory is assured. I know that this is future and that the position of these ten kings is already established, making the whole scene ready for the man of sin to appear at any time. What we are dealing with now is the character of these things in the enmity and the venom with which the enemy is seeking to sweep away and spoil the testimony of the Lord. Let us resolutely be committed to the present truth in the assurance that the Lord of lords and the King of kings will deal with things.
And then it says, “they that are with him called, and chosen, and faithful”. Think of being called to this! That is, our responsibility—to answer to the call. The ‘chosen’ would be His sovereignty. Oh, let us justify his sovereignty! Think of the exceeding grace that any one of us should be preserved for the present testimony. Let us justify His sovereignty in this quality of faithfulness. It says “with him called, and chosen, and faithful”.
It is just that simple word, dear brethren. We need to be impressed with the gravity of the time we are in and see that it calls forth this kind of committal in quality to maintain things in piety and spirituality until He comes.
For His Name’s sake.
PLAINFIELD
1st September 1981
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