“HE REMAINED TWO DAYS ... WHERE HE WAS”
1 Corinthians 16: 8, 9, 13, 14
I was thinking, dear brethren, of the fact that the Lord remained two days in the place where He was, rather than immediately moving into the sphere of such immediate need. I thought there may be a link in the fact that Paul remained at Ephesus rather than directly going into Corinth. I think there may be a certain directive for us in the need to approach the practical sphere of exercises from another place, another realm, that is not affected by the circumstances. There is tremendous need to be effective in how matters proceed among us, that the enemy is not given any advantage whatever, but that there should be a constant constructive line bringing the dear brethren over to the heavenly position that is ours, not only that there is truth for us, but that we know what it is to be really established and in the enjoyment of what belongs to the assembly.
Now the Lord remained two days in the place where He was. I think that is over the Jordan, going back to John 10: 40, He “departed again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first—and he abode there”. That is where He remained two days, whereas those He loved, Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus, were going through very, very deep exercise, and He remained in that place for two days. He is the ever perfect Model; we ever learn from Him, and as He took that place and abode there beyond the Jordan where John was baptising it just occurs to me that the inference would be that He would have His loved ones with Him there. The deep exercise they were going through, facing death, the death of Lazarus, could not be shortened, it had to be gone through. Think of what it would have meant to the Lord to remain there two days, yet entering so feelingly into what that scene in Bethany meant! I do not want to go into the detail of what really came into it, but it brings out the depth of His feelings. His tears as He felt the pressure of death on men; but He Himself abode beyond the Jordan where John was baptising at the first. It just seems to me that the Lord would lead us skilfully, tenderly, but patiently, into what death actually means, in order to reach Him in a scene beyond death, where that shadow can never come.
Oh, the intensity of the love that entered into that service, that He could remain away from that scene for two days in order that substantially and through experience these beloved brethren, this family at Bethany whom He so loved—it was the settled disposition of His love—should be brought consciously through to find in Himself the resurrection and the life, the centre of a world beyond death. These things are very, very real; it is so needful that we should reach what is true of us and true of the assembly as a heavenly vessel. We do not get, as we know, the assembly referred to directly in this gospel, but we get the personnel who form the vessel, the assembly which Christ loves, and He loved each of them. Just think of what it must have meant to Him to remain there two days knowing what they were going through, but His service was to bring them through the experience to what over the Jordan really means, involving their death with Him, and bringing the disciples into it, because if some are reaching this all should reach it, so one says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”, John 11: 16. From a sphere of intense pressure, where the Jews would have stoned Him, He retires to a place beyond the Jordan; He could not be touched; it was where John was baptising at the first; it seems the point of a strong moral line of things that the Lord could skilfully lead those He loved to find a place that cannot be touched by death.
Dear brethren, we cannot short-cut the way to eternal life. We would love to turn the page to John 12, but we need John 11; we need to understand the effectiveness of the Lord’s service that would lead us through those deep and intense exercises, that we should understand what over the Jordan means and what the baptism of John means. Now I did not wish to go into the detail of this but rather show that the Lord is skilfully leading us into an area of things and of relationships that is outside this world altogether, and is connected with the joy and experience of eternal life.
Now Paul, it seems, catches on this idea, he did not go to Corinth at once, he says, “But I remain in Ephesus until Pentecost”. He wrote to them, he knew what was going on, he knew the deep exercises of that local meeting, but he says he is going to remain in Ephesus until Pentecost. I think the teaching would be that he is waiting on the Spirit, he is recognising the Spirit, he is sensitive as to how to move; he is not directly going into the sphere of conflict, he says he is going to stay at Ephesus. That is, he is going to stay where he is not influenced, in a heavenly enjoyment of things that coloured his ministry throughout. He says, I will stay there, and I will think about the beloved brethren down in Corinth from here. Oh, how he loved them! How like his Master; yet the more he loved them the less he was loved; but it did not affect his love for them. Let our hearts yearn for our brethren; we can help them most in the Spirit of the Master in which we positively maintain the truth and remain at Ephesus. Let the full glory of that heavenly position govern our movements and our thinking and our actions. There is great need that the truth should be applied effectively amongst us. So Paul says, “I remain in Ephesus until Pentecost”.
Then he says, “a great door is opened to me and an effectual one”—a heavenly door. Let us get in that door, let us pursue and explore the things through that door, an opened door, and an effectual one. Let us see that we are pursuing the heavenly line; we shall then see in better perspective the things that need adjustment on the practical side of our lives, and in our localities; we will see them in better perspective and in better proportion; maybe they will not assume such big proportions if we look at them from the top; we need to get up there and look down and see matters as God sees them. No general would conduct his battle from the ranks, he would get to a point of vantage to see what the whole position is, and that is like Paul here. What a general he was, but what a lover he was, what a servant he was! He says, I am going to stay at Ephesus, there is a door opened to me, as if to say, I will help the brethren most if I remain in the full light and glory of the heavenly position at Ephesus; then he says that an effectual door is opened to him, and the adversaries many.
What were the adversaries? He says in his first letter to them, “I have fought with beasts in Ephesus”, 1 Cor 15: 32. How we all need, dear brethren, to know what our true calling is—the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus; the heavenly calling of the assembly is to be our life. Let us live in it, let us pursue and explore things, the Spirit searching the depths of God; we will be better able then for the sphere of testimony. There may be conflict, because as long as we are here things will come up, and the adversaries are many. How can we meet them? In the grace of the Spirit and from the enjoyment of eternal life. If we see things in that perspective we will feel any shade or distance that comes in, or anything that would interfere with those relationships, and be best able effectively and quickly to deal with what has failed. I believe the skill of this beloved servant is shining out in the way that he refers to that fact that he remained in Ephesus. There are many exhortations here—“Be vigilant; stand fast in the faith; quit yourselves like men”—they had not been like men, they had been behaving like children; how humbling! Paul says, “Be vigilant”—watch—in a way he is drawing them up to his view of things. I believe that is how effective service proceeds among us, it brings the brethren up to the level that is proper to them, and they see things as they ought to be seen. “Be vigilant; stand fast in the faith; quit yourselves like men; be strong”; then he says, “Let all things ye do be done in love”.
Dear brethren, this is a simple word but I believe we need to cultivate and live a little more in the sphere untouched by conflict, in the place where Jesus is, to which the breakdown does not attach, and we will be better able for, and more effectively work out, matters practically in testimony here below until He comes, for His Name’s sake.
REDBRIDGE
20th April 1982
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