OUR RESOURCE IN THE SPIRIT
Revelation 21: 9, 10, 21 (from “each one”)
I wish, dear brethren, with the Lord’s help to speak of the Holy Spirit—Paul here saying, “He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit”—to the end, I trust, that there may be quickened with each of us a sensitivity to hear the Spirit’s voice, what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies, His current speaking to the assemblies. He is said to be with us; He was sent from a glorified Christ, sent from heaven from the Father and the Son to be with us and to be in us for ever. He is in the assembly, as we have been taught, in a total sense. He came upon Christ in a full sense as a dove. He has come in a full way—the Spirit of God, and God is here in the assembly. How it should fill us with a depth of sobriety that we are in no less than the presence of God amongst us.
Let us be subdued therefore, and yet alert and worshipful that that blessed Person who is God Himself should speak to us, taking, as He has, the third place in this wonderful economy of love into which God has come and revealed Himself in power as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Human language is really insufficient to speak of such a matter, because there is one God; three Persons, but one God, and it is what is distinctive to the dispensation we are in that there is such a revelation. Because of His own blessed Essence and Being He lies beyond all, where no eye can penetrate, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no one has seen, or can see. Oh, the wonder of it that God Himself has come in the Person of Jesus and made Himself known to persons such as you and I, meeting, as He has, the need, the distance relating to our sins and sin, that we should know the heart, the love, of the God who has revealed Himself.
I just speak of this simply because we need to get right back, each of us, to the strength of our foundations morally with God, that He may open up something of the riches and the treasures of what is available to us in the Spirit of God. You will remember in Genesis how the servant brought out of his treasures, and he adorned Rebecca, and it must have been proceeding throughout that whole wilderness journey, because she says, “Who is the man that is walking in the fields to meet us?”, Gen 24: 65. Beloved brethren, we are in the time of that quickening touch when the Spirit is directing us to the One who is coming to meet us. Already the cry is going out from the Spirit and the bride, ‘Come’. Let us be caught up in it, in the imminence and the preciousness of that cry, “Come, Lord Jesus”. The Spirit of God would engage us with the coming One and His glory.
In Galatians 3 Paul is meeting conditions where there had been departure from the truth of the glad tidings, and he is not speaking just to one meeting, he is speaking to a whole area. I would think we could safely say that what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies would be universal in its bearing, and Paul is feeling that certain conditions are coming in and he wants to leave them with some impress of the speaking of the Spirit. “He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles”. You say, ‘Where are the miracles?’ I think each one of us is a miracle. It is a miracle of divine grace, beloved brethren, that we should be sitting here in nearness and in the confidence of love as brethren. Let us never forget it, let it deepen with us that we are each the subject of divine grace, and of the sovereignty of God’s mercy which He keeps for thousands. Let us value our place in the testimony; let us be careful not to lose it, but to be found in it in the devotedness the present hour calls for.
That I think would be Paul’s concern as he is writing to these assemblies in Galatia—and travailing for them, and more than that, travailing again for them, as much as to say that he has been through it once and he will go through it again. There is the true feature of a mother coming out in the beloved apostle—“my children”, he says. Think of his feelings, his affections, as he thought of these beloved saints—and is the Spirit of God thinking any less now? He is surely not, and He would bring about such a spirit amongst us that is prepared to go through travail in order that Christ should be formed. Beloved, there is nothing greater, there is no greater objective to be reached, than the formation of Christ among us. It is far deeper than doctrine. Was it not beloved Mr Raven who said that if he was seeking for a company to meet with he would not look firstly for correct doctrine, but for persons formed in the divine nature? I am not setting aside the doctrine, do not misunderstand me, but there was never a greater need than to be formed in the divine nature, and formed after Christ.
Now Paul saw things working here through suffering. He says, “Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if indeed also in vain?”. Dear brethren, I suppose there has not been a time in the history of the recovery when such intense suffering and anguish have had to be gone through. Are we reaching the divine end substantially? Is it leading us to see that there is another voice? That is towards the end of the wilderness. We look back over the surface of the waste. Let us learn its lessons. Do not be over-occupied with that backward look; that may damage us; but learn the lessons, and see that there is another voice urging us onward, upward, over; “when you see the ark ... go after it”, Josh 3: 3. Oh, let our hearts be centred on a Man who has made a way through the Jordan, through death, and lives there on the other side, and does not rest until we reach it. How can we stop short, like those two-and-a-half tribes did, of the full enjoyment of the inheritance, and our place with Christ there? Oh, our life is wrapped up with Him. When here He lived on account of the Father; that is how He lived; “As ... I live on account of the Father, he also who eats me shall live also on account of me”, John 6: 57. Beloved brethren, let us be quickened today to see that in that risen life with Him, on the other side, our place is assured.
Now Paul is travailing; he sees something different, a different gospel, coming in and he is alert as to it, and with jealous feelings he meets it effectively. He says there were some conspicuous among them; it did not mean anything to him, he was not governed by those things; he did not take counsel with flesh and blood. How important, dear brethren, to seek a sphere of things that is apart from influence! He did go up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, but it is very interesting that he also went into Arabia; he went where he could be alone with God, free from influence, and that is where he got his impressions, and as it were, he comes back to the area of service and he is really saying, ‘What I want to leave you with is the Spirit’—“He ... Who ministers to you the Spirit”.
There is much we could say as to this. I believe more and more, beloved brethren, that we need to carry in prayer what the Lord is feeling and seeing as He maintains His testimony universally. It is a wonderful thing that He is prepared, even in days of such breakdown, to be with the twos and threes gathered to His name in which the authority has come down. Where He is in the midst, everything is there; He will maintain a witness in the midst of ruin to His rights and to His glory. I need not say more as to this, save to catch up the spirit of the beloved apostle as he travails again until Christ should be formed in them.
Now in 2 Kings we know that the ministry of Elisha corresponds with the time of the Spirit. Elijah says, “If thou see me when I am taken from thee” (2 Kings 2: 10)—If you see me. Have we had a view of the Man taken up? We love to sing that hymn -
Received in glory bright up there
(Hymn 350).
Think of the Spirit coming from that exalted position, in full acquaintance with all that is occurring up there, but coming to bring about a substantial answer to Christ glorified in a vessel so near His heart, even the assembly. Elisha’s ministry corresponds with the time of the Spirit—“He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit”. So you see how he puts his hands on the king’s hands; and with everything that the king does he associates himself. This too is a position that calls for deep exercise. There were two kings—the king of Israel and the king of Judah; those were divided conditions, but the Spirit is not divided; Christ is not divided. There is no division from the divine side, I think it points to the humbling conditions in which the testimony today is found. Maybe it will remain like that; maybe the Lord will leave us things to keep us humble. If so, then let us accept it, but not lose the divine ideal to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Well, it says here that the king of Israel came down to Elisha and wept over his face. He seemed to respect him, and he said, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” Although the leadership is weak, he recognises the prophet. Oh, let us take courage! We have the apostles’ doctrine; let us persevere in it; but we also have the prophet, and the king recognises the prophet and his concern is, How is the testimony to go through?— “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” He felt the weakness, he felt how frail the position was. I speak simply as to these things, dear brethren, because we by faith may become strong out of weakness. We find from the divine side there is no lack, there is nothing missing, everything is there as we make way for the current speaking of the Spirit to the assemblies.
So he comes down to Elisha and he says, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took a bow and arrows”. You notice how obedient he is to the prophet. Elisha says, “Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it; and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands”. Elisha is coming in supportively to what, typically, is taking up responsibility in regard to the assembly. Dear brethren, I wish to be clear in what I am trying to say; there is great need to accept responsibility in such days as we are in, and to prove in it the power and effectiveness of the prophet and the prophetic word, which is coming in to help us and support us right through.
So, “Open the window eastward”. Where would deliverance come from? Ah, we think of the coming of the Lord; every matter will be resolved then in absolute righteousness and perfection and glory. In the meantime our outlook is that way, eastward. “And Elisha said, Shoot”. What does that mean?
It means the king was obedient; it means help is coming in from another source. It is an arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance. You can be sure that what comes through in the power of the prophetic word will reach its end, it will find its target, and there will be deliverance coming in. I am speaking of it in a public sense. Now it is to make way for and experience the power and effectiveness of the prophetic word. Let us listen then to what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies.
Then it says, “Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed”. The man of God was angry. Why did he stop at three? He says, You should have done it five or six times. Dear brethren, do we understand what this means, to smite on the ground? How deep have we gone? How deep have we gone? You can stop at three and say, I am on safe ground now. That could allude to the work of Christ and would stop at resurrection. You say, I am on safe ground; I stay by the principles. That is certainly right so far. But Elisha was wroth; the king should have smitten five or six times. What does it mean? A subjective answer through repentance in depth to what has been established through infinite grace through the work of Another. Five is my weakness, six is man’s number. It has all got to go; it has been judicially dealt with, removed, at cost, on the cross. Let us not then fall short of the searching character of the prophetic word; it would help us to reach stable conditions morally, so that the testimony and the chariot of Israel may continue until the coming in from the east, the coming in of Christ.
Beloved, these are wonderful things. Let us hear what the Spirit is saying, “He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles”.
Oh, may there be something reached, something positively reached, in a deepened committal, with our eyes opened a little wider to see what is going on; alert to what the enemy is doing, and able to meet it in the effectiveness of the grace of the dispensation. Just to touch back on Galatians, Paul, even though he had to withstand Peter to the face, did not lose the brotherly link; he maintained it and preserved it, and worked through so that the truth prevailed and the position was saved. Dear brethren, these things are all on our side; let us see that our committal to these things, and our safety, lie in keeping close to the Spirit, and recognising the power and effectiveness of the prophetic word. So these bones remain, the bones of Elisha; I speak simply, we know what that means; keep near these accredited ministries, keep near them; they are safe because they are based on the word of God. These principles of the truth to which we have been recovered will help us to be kept in the energy and the power of life, and to resist the bands of the Moabites. The enemy is relentless to break in on what is precious to the heart of Christ. Let us see the truth is maintained, as we keep close to the word of God and the prophet, and above all hear what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies.
Now I close with a word as to John. How close he was to the Spirit; what easy terms he had. He became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day; he was able to abstract himself. It would not have been easy on the isle of Patmos, alone there. Many of our beloved brethren have gone through loneliness, and we are to remember prisoners as bound with them. Oh, how we need to cultivate easy relations with the Spirit! John was like that; he found it when the Lord was here, in His bosom and on His breast. There is nothing, dear brethren, to equal nearness and intimacy with Christ. Now it is the Spirit who is another Comforter, like Jesus. John became in the Spirit; and he is carried away in the Spirit and set on a great and high mountain and shown the bride, the Lamb’s wife as the city coming down, having the glory of God, substantially formed in every attribute of divine glory. How we need to have a sense now of what the assembly is as the bride, the Lamb’s wife. She is making herself ready. Are we ready, dear brethren? We look into our own histories, and our own local meeting; is it ready?
The Lord would have us like this, every gate a pearl; not twelve different pearls, but the inference is one pearl. That is, administration universally is based on the unity of the faith, and as the principles of the truth govern us there should be uniformity in practice in administration universally; there should be no divergence whatsoever. This is the vessel that Christ loves, secured through suffering love, through toil and through devoted service. Think of what has gone before, what has come down to us through faithful men who could instruct others also. Oh, what a heritage we have! Dear brethren, let us feel the responsibility that is ours now. Nothing outwardly great, but thank God the Spirit of God is here. Let us cultivate nearness to Him, intimacy with Him, and be prepared to hear His voice, another voice; He will lead us to Christ—“That is my Master!” May the Lord help us in these things.
HAMILTON NZ
24th April 1982*
* If the articles either side of this one are correctly dated, this one is not.
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