SECRET HISTORY WITH GOD
D. A. Brown
Leviticus 23: 17; Matthew 13: 51, 52
I just recently read this scripture in Leviticus, and it impressed me as to persons who could bring out of their dwellings certain things. Dear brethren, the key to having moral power is having a secret link with God. We live in a world that is marked by what is external and everything being on show; but I have been thinking a little of what is inward, and I suppose it links with what Peter writes in his epistle, “The hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3: 4), which is a reference to the Lord Jesus. It is in contrast to the wearing of gold and tressing of hair and putting on apparel; it says, “but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit”. So, what we have had tonight already really is the “hidden man of the heart”, the Man who fills our affections. I just feel the need of knowing the blessedness of what it is to have the “hidden man of the heart” in my affections.
Persons we read of in Scripture that developed into great spiritual men had a secret history with God. We have enjoyed readings in Samuel, thinking of David as he grew up; considering him in the sheepfolds, how Samuel brought out all these brothers of his, and they all looked on what was external. I suppose we are often affected by what is external. But there was the youngest remaining, and that man was really beloved of Jehovah, David himself. You can see that in the psalms that have been read tonight, the preciousness of David’s love for his God, and it comes out through his experience and his writing in the Psalms; how wonderful it is that David, one who really was formed like Christ, came out as a valiant man, a man of war, but he was also skilled in playing. He was a man who really had the service of God in mind, and yet he was prepared to stand for
what is right. Consider a man like Daniel. It speaks of him and how he chose certain things, there was a secret history. He went to his house, his windows being open toward Jerusalem, and prayed three times a day as was his custom. It speaks in the scripture of Daniel as a man greatly beloved. Really these men drew out the affections of heaven. My exercise is, what am I in my life, in my secret history with God, and does it draw out the affections of divine Persons? I speak reverently when I say that.
I read in Leviticus because it speaks of what came out of their dwellings. “Out of your dwellings shall ye bring two wave-loaves, of two tenths of fine flour; with leaven shall they be baken; as first-fruits to Jehovah”. I suppose we have in this section the sheaf and the cutting down of the sheaf, the grinding of the corn, then what was made into two wave-loaves, of two tenths of fine flour, baken with leaven. Just before where we read it speaks of the fifty days, and that has been linked with the forty days of the Lord’s life here as a risen Man with His disciples, and then ten days when all three divine Persons were together in heaven. These fifty days; what went on in this earth? What were these faithful persons living by? They were really living on the enjoyment of their experience with the Lord Himself, while they awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the wave-loaves really relate to that; they relate to what there is in Spirit-given power, so that what is of the flesh is made of no effect. In each one of us there is leaven, in each one of us there is sin; and if that is unjudged then it springs up and causes a veering away from what is right and good, and eventually causes spiritual deadness.
Therefore in Romans 7, the Spirit and the flesh are presented in opposition; you cannot mix the two, it is like oil and water; we need to starve the flesh and feed the Spirit, so that what is brought into evidence are the features that are like that blessed Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. I just thought that these two wave-loaves, of two tenths of fine flour (I
cannot go into the significance of them) but it says with leaven shall they be baken; as first-fruits to Jehovah. There is something formed, they have gone through the fire; there is something there that is for the pleasure of God; the first-fruits to Jehovah. I think these persons at the beginning of the Acts were persons who were displaying the characteristics of that blessed heavenly Man, and they were there as formed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had come into evidence, coming upon persons and indwelling persons. So, we see in an assembly like Antioch, features that were brought to light that were pleasing to divine Persons; the Spirit could take account of it and He could lay His hand on it, we might say, and use these persons. How wonderful it is.
I just touch on Matthew, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”. I thought this was like something that was secret—his treasure things new and old.
Many of us here are householders and it is good that we have so many in this place; we seek that the treasures in our households might be increased, so that there might be a greater answer for divine pleasure. So, they bring out of their treasure things new and old; not just new and not just old, it is new and old. I thought it is maybe like the New Testament, including Paul’s ministry, bringing out what is new, but we do not forget what is old; we can look at the Old Testament scriptures through the light of the New. Every scripture is divinely inspired; it gives us a wonderful presentation of Christ; the Spirit enables us and forms our minds so that we can see Christ in the Scriptures. We might say that sometimes we read very negative scriptures, but it is wonderful what has come out of some of our recent readings here. You might say, Well, what are we going to get tonight, but we go away refreshed in our spirits because Christ has come before us, in contrast to the flesh and everything that this world would seek to bring before us.
I had this impression, dear brethren, that may we seek to lay up this treasure in our houses, so that as we come together these things that are new and old may be brought to light; what is formed in secret, what is formed in the presence of divine Persons, through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the presence of the Lord Jesus. It says in the scriptures that when you pray, you go in and shut the door of your closet, so there is that secret history in which something is formed. Really what happens with that is that we get the benefit as we come together, and we appreciate the wealth and the impressions that flow in our readings together and in meetings for ministry. May we treasure and value these things, value what we have and hold it for the Lord, hold it for the pleasure of God, so that what is living and vital might continue in our assemblies and be for the pleasure of God, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry
Grangemouth, 8 July 2008