LOYALTY TO THE ARK
What brings these persons of whom we have read together is their regard for, and loyalty to the ark. In the language of Christianity, we would say it is the Person of Christ. We could equally say what brings us together, beloved brethren, is also committal in loyalty and love for the Person of Jesus. The quality of that loyalty in affection is proved in how I come through the circumstances and trials of this world. The proof of my love for that Person is that I keep His word and keep His commandments. My feeling is that the Lord is not content with mere profession. The urge of the moment is absolute reality. The moment we are in is too momentous to toy with and still less to toy with the world which is about to be judged. You remember that beloved sister who over a hundred years ago said, ‘Put away your toys—the world is on fire’. That is not being fanciful, the judgment is near, but there is a wonderful vessel going through and it relates to the present testimony of the Christ, and through infinite grace, beloved brethren, we are called to no less than that. But to come out in the clarity and loyalty we wish to speak about means that I prove myself true in the present circumstances in which that testimony is found, with all its public decline and sorrow and smallness and weakness. What faith reaches through to is that the whole position is held from heaven where there is no breakdown whatever—there is a Man in the glory having secured everything for God and the Spirit of God has come from that scene—Oh the wonder of it! I wonder if it really affects us as it should, the indwelling Spirit in our hearts giving us power and effectiveness to be here as a witness amidst the decline. It would not appear that there will be any public recovery to what was here at the beginning. The recovery is to inward leadership in the quality of first love for Christ who is our Head in heaven, which should appeal to us as we speak of these persons.
This beloved woman, as the ark was taken, saw the glory departing—really we would have to say she could not live here without Christ—her life was elsewhere. She had to go through in travail what the public position had become, as Paul did he travailed again for those beloved Galatian saints that Christ should be formed in them. Oh, beloved, there is no substitute for the inward formation of that blessed Person in our affections and if it be so it is inevitable that there will be a testimony in life, but that life relates to what is beyond the power of death.
What was going through vitally in this section was going through in the power of the prophetic word. None of the words of Samuel were to fall to the ground. Oh thank God for the power of the prophetic word—let us cleave to it. It is like a lifeline. Do not let us look for big things in this world. Keep clear of it; flee it, and see that what is intrinsically precious to heaven is being formed under pressure, like those pearls deep down in the ocean, not yet displayed but being formed in intrinsic worth and presently to be displayed. Now it is a question of us accepting the pressure and suffering and being prepared to go along with it, but let us cleave to the power of the prophetic word. The administration here was weak. When Eli heard the ark was taken it is said he went backward and his neck broke. These things are solemn and searching because he did not implement his convictions. Dear brethren, the basis of our being together is our separation from evil. It is not sufficient to name it and do nothing. We need to name it soberly and justly—but we cannot go on with evil and retain the ark in all its preciousness amongst us.
Where does the Lord come to?—“Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”. It is better to have that than all the pretensions of Christendom, and provide a love’s “midst” for Jesus. Oh if we touch this we shall see Christianity in its attractiveness and we shall not be content with anything less. This beloved woman travailed. Certain things were said to her, but she did not take it to heart, she refused comfort. What was affecting her? The ark was being taken. She was in sorrow—Oh that we should be too in our widowhood in the absence of Jesus, the cross standing between us and the world and all that it represents. She travailed and named the child—“the glory is departed”. Beloved, it is quickly departing—we would not say yet finally. Maybe we would of certain systems; we would need to be sober and careful about that, but we cannot limit what the Lord does. He walks amidst the seven golden lamps, we cannot limit Him—how glorious He is, how gracious He is, but let that quality of loyalty and devotedness be such that we really cannot live in this world without Jesus. That means I must find Him where He is in another world. It is wonderful that the Spirit is the witness here of Christ glorified and John in his first epistle says, “We know that the Son of God has come”. How that changes the Christian’s outlook! We must find Him where He is. We cannot stop short of reaching the object of our affections, and that is the true Ark—the blessed Person of Christ. I believe this scripture relates to the secret side of our histories in the inward, unseen travail as we feel things as He does but with the inward assurance that there is something, in spite of all, that is going through intact and will presently be brought out, as our beloved brother has been saying, in the display of the city coming down. What a moment that will be.
Now Urijah is a remarkable man. It is not here so much the secret side. It is the public side of the testimony. The ark is in booths and Joab and the armies are in the field. Urijah is one of the morally great of Scripture. We have to speak carefully and humbly but would we not like to be numbered among those identified in the testimony of the Lord? Paul says God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, (Urijah was no coward) but of power, and love, and wise discretion, 2 Tim 1: 7. Beloved, we are not left to walk the path of a Christian without divine support—how could we? It was the remarkable quality of devotedness in this beloved man that even refused what was legitimate and right. He says, Even as thy soul liveth I could not do it. Oh that we should be freshly imbued with the gravity of the moment we are in. You see the position publicly requires persons who regard the Person of Christ above all else. Step into those ranks for the few moments that remain!
Fill those ranks as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. There is room in those ranks for each one of us. Many, alas, have defected; how we sorrow over it! We think of those that have gone before us too, faithful men who have instructed us—they were faithful in their generation; but what about this generation? Very likely it is the last hour, and we are called upon to step forward into those ranks.
What are you going to put first? Nature, or the world? surely not! Why, the cross stands betwixt us and the world. Never walk those streets without remembering it is where our Lord was crucified. The appeal is to step forward and identify yourself in love’s committal to the testimony of the Christ. Do not be afraid of the outward smallness or the weakness. There is divine support and this remarkable man shines in a devotedness that makes him, as I have said, one of the morally great of Scripture. What a place in glory he yet awaits, and we with him. We are not looking for display now—we await that. The crown of righteousness is laid up for those that love His appearing. In the little time that remains, beloved brethren, let our committals be deeper, and divine grace will sustain us in the ranks of the good soldiers of Jesus Christ until He comes.
And now just a word as to Psalm 132, where David would not “give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob”. Now this brings things nearer to us. It is a place for Christ now in this provisional time. Personally He is in the glory, “received up in glory”. But what an appeal to us to furnish a circle in love—a midst He comes to in which He is undisturbed. Is it setting the standard too high? It is not. And this beloved, recovered man (as we all are through grace) would not give sleep to his eyes, he would not go up to his couch—so urgent was his committal—until a place should be found, secured, and kept in holy suitability to the One who would come. What an appeal to us! We often speak, and rightly so, of the assembly; as a beloved servant once said, ‘What else is there to speak about?’ It is the vessel that Christ loves.
Oh, we are called to wonderful things! What is first in our minds? Not that we are dead to nature, but do not feed it—the spiritual is greater. Oh, from now on let it be Christ first. What motivated this beloved servant was the ark. “We heard of it at Ephratah (which is Bethlehem), we found it in the fields of the wood”. Ah, David (now a type of Christ) knew the well of Bethlehem. He said, There is no water like that water. The heart of Christ longs for the sweetness of that response that comes from the well in the gate of Bethlehem. Dear brethren, these things are not mysteries. It is what wells up in the hearts of His lovers. Whatever others are doing, whatever the great Philistine system is doing—I am going to break through, and furnish something in love’s response to meet the longings of the One I love. These are feeling things. You see what governs my whole movement in this world is my attachment to Him. Oh, thank God for the Scriptures and their commandments, and it behoves us to keep to them for our own sake. Search the Scriptures. Your own protection is in them, in keeping the word. Let our service result from inward devotedness to the Person of Christ.
So David rises in the psalm to say that Jehovah has chosen Zion. We have come to mount Zion, city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. Oh to think that our calling is heavenly, and our destiny is heaven, and we come into present enjoyment because of simple devoted attachment to the Person of Christ. I just leave this word of appeal that we may furnish this quality of loyalty to Him who is worthy of our all. May the fruit of our being together tonight result in love’s committal to His interests until He comes, for His Name’s sake.
AUCKLAND
26th January 1983
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