"TASTE AND SEE"
H.C.MacGregor (with Christ 25 June 1975)
One has thought recently of the matter of taste. We are exhorted to "Taste and see that Jehovah is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him!" With the help of the Lord and of the Spirit I trust that we may have a greater taste for Him. May our taste be for Him. He is good, and "blessed is the man that trusteth in him". There are many things around us for which we may be inclined to develop a taste other than to taste that the Lord is good. We need to keep Him continually before us. We should test things out as to whether our endeavours relate to school, education, business; all these things may be what our tastes prefer. We may be putting second to these things the taste that Jehovah is good.
Think of the Lord Jesus doing good continually! That is what He did when He was here in this scene. Peter said that He "went through all quarters doing good", Acts 10: 38. He came to do good; and not only did He do good but He is good: "Taste and see that Jehovah is good". Think of the reference in Luke 10 to the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. There was one who came to him and succoured him; it speaks of Christ; that was an occasion of His doing good. There were those who looked on the man but passed by on the other side. If we have a taste for the One who did good we also will do what is good. It is a matter of knowing this blessed Person, having love for our Lord Jesus Christ. How precious He is to us! It is no doubt the desire of the brethren that we have increased taste for Him. We sometimes sing 'Lord in Thee we taste the sweetness' (hymn 50). Think of the preciousness of the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter refers to newborn babes. We are to be as newborn babes and, as he says, to "desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation, if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good". Here again it is a matter of taste. Peter refers to it, and David refers to it, and we are to refer to it and say that we have tasted that the Lord is good. I believe every one of us here has tasted that the Lord is good, but we need to be stirred up, beloved brethren, as to this. Think of how precious a Person He is! Yet He was "cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious". We are to come into this as "living stones"; we are being "built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God' by Jesus Christ" Then there is the prophetic word, "Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious; and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame. To you therefore who believe is the preciousness; but to the disobedient, the stone which the builders cast away as worthless, this is become the head of the corner". He has the first place, He is the Head of the corner; He beautifies the entire building; He beautifies the assembly. Think of that precious, holy Person, our Lord Jesus Christ!
It was just these few simple thoughts, beloved brethren, that came to mind, that we distinguish in our course here as to our tastes, and that we "taste and see that Jehovah is good". May it be so for His name's sake.
BROOKLYN NY
10 June 1975
AT A BURIAL
(i) "RACHEL DIED BY ME"
B.Taylor
This verse comes in a section which is rich in thoughts of the land and the inheritance, and of personalities who are in relation to the testimony and the truth, and in the midst of this, as it were, is inserted the words of Jacob, "and as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me". Up to that point she had been with him in the testimony and in the truth, a support and a help, but at this point she died by him. Our brother physically and literally came over and sat down by his wife and died by her. That is what brought this scripture to mind. Of course the Lord took him, he fell asleep through Jesus, and that involves the Lord's own work, and the completion of the work, in the testimony, of our brother here. Our brother was one who was by us, he was by the truth. It speaks in Zechariah of those who stand by (see chap 3: 7). Our brother was one such; he stood by the truth, he stood by the principles - he was a warrior for the principles - what a support he was in that way! The Lord would give us a witness in taking one and another, as He is doing, of those that are by us, and we would get the gain of what He is saying in doing so. What a witness our brother was in relation to standing for things, and what a balance he was, what a support he was! He never doubted and never flinched in relation to his stand in the testimony, and thus supported others. When the Lord takes one through whom He has spoken to us it gives the matter added force. All that a brother or sister may have said to us by way of encouragement, comfort, and perhaps rebuke, is given an added touch once he is with the Lord. There is, of course, a certain voice in sickness; this chapter begins with one telling Joseph, "Behold, thy father is sick". There is a voice in that, but there is a further touch in death when Jacob speaks about dying.
We want to get the gain of all this. We want to be careful in using the word and saying that he died by us, because the scripture is, "Rachel died by me". We have changed some of Mr Darby's hymns from 'me' to 'us' so that we can sing them collectively, but how wonderful it is to the soul to say 'I' as Mr Darby did in his hymns: 'This world is a wilderness wide; I have nothing to seek nor to choose'; 'Blest Lord, Thou spakest! 'twas Thy voice that led my heart to Thee'. So the scripture here is best left as it is: "Rachel died by me". Can you say that? Our sister can say that. I can say that. We realise that some of us were closer to him than others, but I am sure that there is no one here today that would want to say 'he did not die by me', because you are here today and, if you have never had this experience before, the Lord would give you an opportunity to have some sense now that one who represented the assembly, dying by you, is a witness of something to you. Would you elect yourself out of it? Jacob was speaking to his family, speaking for the benefit of those who were listening; and this today is the word of God to us. Jacob's sons at one time did not care for his feelings but they were very feeling in this verse.
We all want to get the gain of this. Jacob said that Rachel died by him on the way. How important that would make the rest of the way, the certain way that remains to be trodden before we, too, are taken to be with Christ. May those of us who are of the way be encouraged in relation to these things.
(ii) "LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED"
A.B.Parker
This scripture came before us in our city reading this week, not by mere coincidence I am sure. At such a time as this we are particularly concerned that we hear the Lord's voice. What better could we do than to read a passage in which the Lord Himself is speaking personally to His disciples in the very presence of death. The Lord knew it would be only a matter of hours before He was apprehended and taken to be judged and crucified. So He is speaking here in the proximity of death, to those who were to remain.
He Himself was about to leave them and in all the effectiveness and the feeling of His last word s to His own He tells them that He was going to prepare a place for them and that He was coming again to receive them to Himself, that where He is they may be also. What words of comfort these were - and are!
Reference was made in prayer to the unique family at Bethany. They had the experience of the Lord speaking to them personally. Martha had said "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day", John 11: 24. The Lord Jesus answered "I am the resurrection and the life". On that occasion the Lord brought what was yet future into the present in the expression of that wonderful word, "I am the resurrection and the life". They had Him, and because they had Him the power of death was broken for them. He raised Lazarus from the dead. We look forward to the resurrection but in the meantime we have the One who is the resurrection and the life. This was said to that unique family, two sisters and one brother. There is a striking similarity, in that sense, to the household that is now bereaved. We currently would cherish the thought that the Lord will speak to us in the presence of existing conditions. If we should feel that we must await the future, and what will actually transpire, the Lord would say to us "I am the resurrection and the life". It is what the Lord Himself can be to us, currently, in the greatness of His Person, and the power that is His, for He is God over all, blessed for ever.
In John 14, in the presence of death and the need for continuity in adverse and testing circumstances, the Lord Jesus tells His disciples what is going to take place in the future, to establish them in a living hope: "I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be". The Lord has received our brother, but not in the sense that He is speaking of here. Here He is speaking of His coming again to receive us collectively. It is to fill our hearts anticipatively; His very words show that the Lord is in His spirit anticipating that day. He does not say, Where I will be but, Where I am. He would help us, therefore, to embrace that which is yet future, so that in the power of the blessed Spirit of God we can enjoy the thing currently while we await the literality of it. How great, therefore, is the service of the Spirit! He would make good to us now the comfort of those words "I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be".
Then the Lord Jesus says "I leave peace with you". What peace He enjoyed when here in the presence of the most excruciating conditions! In the presence of the storm that seemed to overwhelm the ship He could sleep. But He is no longer in the sphere of adversity, He no longer needs that peace, but the very peace which He enjoyed is the peace which He leaves with His own. Oh, what a heritage! What a gift, that we should have the peace that He knew in the presence of adversity! He says, I do not give as the world; He gives His peace in the uniqueness of One who is able to keep us in peace in the most distressing circumstances, in the anticipation and the hope of His soon coming to receive us to Himself. In the meantime "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it fear".