“UNDERSTANDING OF THE TIMES”
What is said of these children of Issachar is that they “had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do”. Not exactly that they were telling Israel what to do, but ‘to know what Israel ought to do’—a very important matter. These children of Issachar had not always been that way—they had acquired wisdom under David. A very important feature that we should pray for is an understanding of the times. We are in very remarkable days, beloved brethren, the times of the end. Paul, like a child of Issachar, says, “knowing the time, that it is already time that we should be aroused out of sleep”. In John 6 it says the Lord knew what He was going to do.
We need to be exercised and concerned to be alert as to this time we are in. The Lord speaks of the parable of the fig tree; when you see the branch become tender you know the summer is near, see Matt 24: 32. You see, it is the power of life working in secret. Daniel understood by the books; that would be important—we must not discredit the books, but better to be the book. What I am trying to say is that there is a secret line that brings about a certain knowledge of things that is not just all on the surface. When the branch “becomes tender”—oh how alert we should be by the Spirit to the tenderness and the delicacy of the sovereign work of God as it appears, and it is to be protected. The Lord is moving with the end in view; the summer is near. While there has been the winter, that time will soon be past and the flowers will appear on the earth and the time of singing be come, see Song of Songs 2: 11, 12. It may be that we are not in that time, but we need to be developing in a sensitivity to appreciate the closing features of the work of God in regard to the assembly, particularly as the Lamb’s wife. So these children of Issachar are very interesting people.
As I said, they had not always had understanding of the times. Under Jacob they were crouching down between burdens, needing to get lifted up. How easily we become depressed in the sphere of our responsibility, where we have so failed. The Lord would not have us remain overwhelmed, but rather rise up in His strength, lest we become impoverished through over-occupation with failure, and become a tributary servant, and I believe it adds (see Gen 49: 15), that he was not only an ass but a bony one. These things are to mean something to us, brethren, because we have been through these things. I do not suppose there is any one of us here that would not, in some measure, have part in those deep moral exercises of recovery, in which we have proved God’s faithfulness. But if He has given us something, let us pursue it, and it will increase. So there is increase in these children of Issachar. Now with David, they acquire an understanding of the times, what Israel ought to do, and they are men of influence.
Under Moses, of course, there was an increase too. There was a gathering together of the peoples and the abundance of the seas, lifting our view to what is collective and universal, see Deut 33: 19. I am not weakening the sorrow and anguish of many hearts in which we all feelingly share, but let us see that the Lord is doing a great work, and a universal work. It says, “For they will suck the abundance of the seas”. It a wonderful comfort to our spirits, dear brethren, to see that the Lord is maintaining a position universally, not in ecclesiastical pretension, but on moral grounds. It must be so, for the Spirit is here in unbroken unity; let us therefore be diligent to keep it, and to walk becomingly, as our second scripture says, in regard to the broken day we are in. So that “the hidden treasures of the sand” involve great wealth recovered, not yet displayed, in the myriads who love God. I cannot but feel the Lord has something choice in regard of the closing moments of testimony before the rapture.
So when we come to David these children of Issachar had understanding of the times, what Israel ought to do. As I said, it is not exactly that they are telling people what to do. I think we need to be very careful as to what we tell people to do. Though in reproach, the testimony of our Lord will go through and we need to understand the extraordinary days we have come through. Who could have envisaged them? but the One who is over all saw it all and has measured it, every bit of it. It will not be a day too long or a day too short, as someone said of those ten days of tribulation (Rev 2: 10)—they are measured. It would not be eleven and it would not be nine, it would be ten. So in the present time let us be comforted, beloved, that it is measured.
So of these men it says, “the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their bidding”. I think it shows a willing people; it is not exactly the area of commandment, it is the mutuality of love working. It is a family idea—the heads would mean fathers, men of influence spiritually. I do not think we arrive at the present position through demand or compliance, and certainly not through law. I am not weakening the commandments of the Lord; far be it; but to come under David, that is Christ of course, is headship. We must come by way of the Lord, that is Moses, as these men did, but then to come under the conscious influence and impulse of holding fast the Head. Oh let us not let Him go again, dear brethren! There can be nothing more important to stress than holding fast the Head. So as getting things direct from Christ up there, persons acquire moral influence, and their brethren are at their bidding. I believe there is a choice touch in this of an area of mutuality, of family affection; “at their bidding”, as if they want to do it. A suggestion, and they do it. Why? Because it comes from our Head in heaven; the means He uses are wonderful. Dear brethren, the truth of the assembly has not gone; it is working, it is operating; though in smallness, we can walk in the light of it. Let us not have mean thoughts, or small thoughts; it is not exactly a remnant; outwardly it is, and in weakness, but as some of us have said, that may have to do with our safety. By faith we can become strong out of weakness. We are to hold to the full thoughts of God about the assembly, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “I will build my assembly”, Matt 16: 18. He will not be thwarted.
So Paul is like this in Romans where he has opened up the great truth of the glad tidings. He says, “This also, knowing the time”, as if he is bringing it forward as a fresh lever to these Roman Christians, and it would extend to ourselves. “This also, knowing the time, that it is already time that we should be aroused out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”. How near is it? Let us be aroused out of sleep, and, overcoming amidst pressures, let us come back to them from another place. Let us find an area of peace where Christ is and then come back another way to this waste and howling wilderness, where we learn God in His ways and learn divine grace, and prove mercy. Now it is time to be aroused out of sleep; the lethargy that has marked us too long is to go. The Laodicean condition that grips the public profession should break our hearts. Oh let us shine as lights amidst it; let us buy the eye-salve, and white garments, and gold purified by fire, and let us go through as overcomers amidst the public shame and breakdown of what Christ so loves. Let us walk in this light in contrition and in humility.
Paul says a lot here that we cannot now cover. “The night is far spent, and the day is near; let us cast away therefore the works of darkness”; there is no time for them. Let us “walk becomingly”; let our feet be established in the 2 Timothy 2 path. It is still our charter, you know, in a way the more so because of the increased devastation, calamity, and breakdown where the light was so bright in those recovered to the truth. Therefore it is more than ever our charter, and let us find a oneness together morally in pure hearts that call upon the Lord. So you put on the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you put Him on? Not just like changing your suit. Who can put on the Lord Jesus Christ? Let Christ shine in our lives and testimony. But how can we put Him on if He is not already dwelling by faith in our hearts? Oh, the secret of Christianity is Christ in your heart. If you have got that you have everything; you need nothing more. “For me to live is Christ”, Paul says. It will not be difficult then to see Christ continued here in His body in those who put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just a word as to John 6. The connection is in an earlier verse, “for he knew what he was going to do”, John 6: 6. There has never been a moment in the testimony, nor will there ever be a moment, in which that is not true; the Lord knows what He is going to do. What restfulness that brings! It must be so; everything is committed to Him. The Father loves the Son and has committed all things into His hand; we can trust that hand; He is able for everything; it is the hand of the Person who is the Creator, and our Redeemer, our Shepherd, and our Friend. We can trust that hand implicitly. He knew what He was going to do. In this remarkable chapter of reduction there is food that makes for quality—His flesh and His blood. Oh, let us go in for these things; let us learn experimentally to feed on the death of Jesus, His flesh, His humanity, and His blood. Oh what depths come into our souls as we think of it, and it makes for a true formation in the quality of discipleship so needed now.
Many went back, alas; how we sorrow over them! We would not un-Christianise them; the Lord knows those that are His. It brought out a quality in Peter who says, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Those retained were those to whom Christ meant everything. I venture to suggest that those retained in the testimony at the end will be those who cannot get on without Jesus. To live is Christ; our secret of life is because He lives; that is John 6. Well, these beloved disciples were rowing hard to get to shore. The Lord had not come to them. A most remarkable situation—difficult rowing, the strong wind against them, and the sea agitated. They had rowed twenty-five or thirty stadia and the Lord had not come to them. What does it mean? I think, beloved, it means that the Lord wants us to go through something when it may not be outwardly clear what it is—twenty-five or thirty stadia; it does not say which it was, one or the other, perhaps it was twenty-six; the point is it is just not quite clear.
Beloved, we do not see everything; the Lord does; He knows what He is going to do. I think it has that application. I just feel it, as we speak simply, that the wind is against us in the great public confusion, and the sea is agitated, it surely is. Some of us were reminded recently that the great need in the storm is to out-live it. Let us have faith in the One who is over the storm. We might say He has allowed the storm; I would not say caused the storm, but He allowed it. In the meantime these beloved disciples are rowing. Let us keep together, dear brethren, let us not faint, but lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees; let us be pursuing what is right, pursuing the truth we love. There may be things yet that we do not fully understand, whether twenty-five or thirty stadia we do not know—then it was that the Lord drew near to them. Oh what a comfort to our spirits to find the Lord drawing near to us in a meeting, or at any time; we could not limit the Lord at any time. He is a divine Person, He is God over all blessed for ever; He can ride the storm. He can walk on the agitated waters, the storm does not affect Jesus. Ah! He has met the storm through His own blessed death, He has met the storm through His own blessed death, He has vanquished every adverse element. What a Saviour we have, whom we can trust and love.
He is beyond the storm, but we are in the storm, we cannot deny it, publicly, and we are not just too sure how many more stadia there are to go, but let us keep on—the Lord knows what He is going to do. It was not that He was forcing His way; the Lord can go anywhere; He is still walking amidst the seven golden lamps, but where is it He wants to come? Where He is wanted, where He is loved, where persons are committed to the truth; even though there is a storm it is to bring out the quality of devotion so needed at the close of the dispensation. Then they willingly receive Him into the ship, and were immediately at the land to which they went. Beloved, the presence of Jesus is everything. Let us prove it more and more in our gatherings by the Spirit. He will lead and guide us through in view of His coming, for His Name’s sake.
CHRISTCHURCH NZ
27th November 1979
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