“MY GODLY ONES”
It is just this allusion to “my godly ones” that I desire to speak of. It must mean that the Lord is able to designate certain persons as “my godly ones”. He acknowledges them, persons who are peculiarly set apart, sanctified. They are like God, godly, and that amidst the dreadful features of apostasy, the clouds of which, alas, are gathering so quickly. Amidst it, what it must mean to the heart of Christ to have such that He can designate as “my godly ones”—“Gather unto me my godly ones”. We might say that we have sought by His grace to do that this evening. In fact in all our gatherings we gather unto His name; we love to honour it. What it must mean to the Lord Jesus to have those who have been with God about things, that is how we become godly. If we walk with God we become godly. We are very much characterised by the company we keep. Enoch walked with God, he was godly; Noah did too, others did, and we can. If we walk in the Spirit we are walking with God. John the baptist took account of Jesus as He walked and said, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36); He became attractive to him and to those two disciples, and they followed Him. He says, “What seek ye?”, and then He says, “Come and see”. We could say with deep feeling that He wants our company, and we could add that we can have as much of His company as we wish. The secret of Christianity is our link with the Lord. It is the kernel of everything; abiding in Him, abiding in the vine.
This Psalm, where there has been such outshining—“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. God has shined forth” (Ps 50: 2), would suggest, putting it into Christian language, that we are in the presence of the unfoldings of the most wonderful things that could ever be entrusted to men. Yet, publicly, the truth is being given up. We are only too sadly made aware almost every day as we find our way through this dark world that the truth is being given up, but not by the godly ones. Now that is not making any rash claim. It would never do to do that. What will shine out in response to what the precious recovery of the truth has involved is in persons who are morally affected and formed by it. When all else is gone, the stability of our link with God remains; the storm cannot overthrow the work of God. The foundation is upon a rock, and each one of us needs to have that firm foundation confirmed on our side. On God’s side, it stands; the seal is there; God will never go back on that. Wonderful! it is established on the immutable work of Christ. What it must mean to Him to see someone answering to it—“my godly ones”. “My godly ones”; the Lord would love to designate such. He would say, ‘They belong to Me, they are Mine’. It is not exactly “my assembly” here, but they would be persons who are walking in the light of it. He says, ‘They are Mine’. You get the same idea in Malachi; they are like jewels to Him, see Mal 3: 17. Oh, beloved, how we love to be together like that!—furnishing a ‘midst’ for Him. In every meeting let us look for His glory, He will never fail to minister to us and to give us a sense that we just belong to Him. We do not belong to another; we do not belong to the world; we belong to Jesus—“my godly ones”.
A parallel passage would, I suppose, be in the Revelation where it says, “and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still”, Rev 22: 11. Amidst conditions becoming fixed in unrighteousness and unholiness, it is, “he that is holy, let him be sanctified still”. Then He says, “Behold, I come quickly”.
I did not want to enlarge on this, but I just had the impression to read the verse. There is much that could be said as to the outshining of Zion. We have come to mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Oh think of the great truth of the assembly that we have come to in Christianity! How much there is to search out and explore. Perhaps we have hardly started, it is so vast an ocean. The Spirit searches the depths of God. I think He would love to open up something to us, dear brethren, to “my godly ones”; open up the mystery to us, giving us a sense that we belong to Him, belong to the assembly, belong to heaven.
Then it says, “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” Really, when we sacrifice it is for what we value. We could say the greater the sacrifice the more we value the object of the sacrifice. How personal and practical this makes it, “those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”. Our committals would involve that. I think the Lord would encourage us to see that the present time requires that quality and calibre of committal by sacrifice. What prompts it would be love for the Person of Jesus. He says, If you love Me you will keep My word. It is the fruit and proof of love. Many make profession. ‘Oh, yes’, they say, ‘we love the Lord’. Well, we would not dispute that, but the proof is in my way of life. Do I keep His word and keep His commandments? I think such would be in the joyful atmosphere amongst “my godly ones”. The Lord will never fail to assure us of His presence, assure us of His company, and, above all, dear brethren. He would assure us of His love. Amen.
MAIDSTONE
29th March 1988
______________________