“THEIR WORKS FOLLOW WITH THEM”
J. A. Petersen
This passage was used by Mr. Hoyte more than twenty-seven years ago at the burial of beloved Mr. Taylor. I thought it right to bring this scripture before the brethren as having a bearing on this occasion. We have heard earlier in this meeting as to the word of the Spirit and in Revelation 14 we have, “Yea, saith the Spirit”. It is of importance that the Spirit Himself comes into a matter amongst us, such as our brother’s departure, by way of confirmation. In the time in which our brother has served us, especially in this area, the Spirit has confirmed the stand taken by brethren in this city during the last ten years. The Lord has a right to take our brother and the voice comes from heaven (we are not told whose voice it is) saying, “Blessed the dead who die in, the Lord from henceforth”. Note the expression “who die in the Lord”. The ‘in Lord’ position continues to the last moment of the believer’s life,
and it is a great issue whether we will be subject to the end. Than the Spirit’s voice is heard,
“Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them”. Beloved brethren, how does that work out?
Mention has been made of our brother’s ministry on this passage at Mr. Taylor’s burial, and I believe he was in the good of what he said at that time. Our brother’s works continued during the last twenty-seven years as he sought to maintain, and be in the good of, the precious ministries we have had. That is a great test just now whether we can all say that we are continuing in the works of those who have gone before—“for their works follow with them”.
Those who have gone before have died “in the Lord” and the blessed Spirit is owning their works now in view of our entering into the matter. I see in some the readiness to continue the works which were manifestly of the Spirit of God in the service of our brother in this city.
Works are not on the bookshelves; they are in the saints; “Good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”, Ephesians 2: 10. The Lord Jesus set them out and they have been finished in that sense.
I believe that, the Lord having taken our brother, the Spirit has come into the matter and into this occasion. “Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours”. We would not want our brother back; he is at rest from his labours. His concerns and sorrows were known to some of us. The scripture read by our dear brother at the first is what Mr. Hoyte said to me some time back, ‘It is a day when we each have to see to ourselves’. Noah, Daniel, and Job could but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. So it comes down to us, that we must be right ourselves. It is not that Noah did not fail, or Job,
but that they could deliver their own souls. Now that is what Mr. Hoyte said, and I never forgot it. Things come down to you and me and the thing is whether we will continue in the work that our brother has set out in this city; what I may say in a certain sense represents the church militant. Mr. Taylor used that expression and there is that side in the testimony. As our brother has just said, the Lord Jesus went into death as a Man of war.
And there is something else—He is coming for us, according to what Paul says, at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15: 52). That is a military expression, relating to the marching order of the Roman army, to show that the Lord Jesus will come in power. He will raise the dead in Christ first, then we the living shall be changed and we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4: 17). That will be a military operation, the last trump.
Now we have a trumpet sounding in the prophetic word (1 Corinthians 14: 8); but the last trumpet relates to His reversing the whole matter of death in regard to those who love Him.
He will do it in power, linking with “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, 2 Peter 1: 16. He will also inaugurate the world to come in power, and we need to have a sense at this time that the Lord Jesus is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”, Romans 1: 4. There is none like Him. Great as were the three men just mentioned, none can have to say to death like Him; He will have to say to our brother and he will answer His call! As Job says, “Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee”, Job 14: 15. So when the Lord calls, our brother will be raised.
In the meantime, beloved, He is calling you and me to fill out these works that have come to us; they are not on the bookshelves but are seen by the
Spirit’s power in the believer. The word, “Go thy way, Daniel” (Daniel 12: 9), shows that he was trustworthy. We have not always been that, but it is a time of recovery when God would say to every one of us, ‘You will save yourself by your own righteousness’. This is not related to imputed and eternal righteousness and salvation, which we have through the work of redemption, it relates to practical salvation in the vessel of testimony now. So, beloved, much departure has been because we have not been in the good of the ministries of the revival. The Spirit has called attention to the great truth of Christ and the assembly and union with Christ, and has called attention to the gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and that involves the assembly, it involves what Christ loves. He not only loves you and me—as Paul says, “who has loved me and given himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20)—but He loves His assembly. If we are to fill out these works then we must love the assembly, love it in New York, love it in my locality, and love it in every locality, because the Lord loves it and He is related to each assembly.
I believe the Spirit has come into this meeting to confirm that our brother has died “in the Lord” and that the Spirit has come into this matter and says, “Yea, saith the Spirit”. The Spirit thus is free here at this time, which is a tribute I believe to the faithfulness of our brother and the faithfulness of the brethren in this city. “Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them”. May it be so, as we sometimes sing—
‘That we, who have their teaching stored
Within our hearts, may now step forth
To fill the ranks with heav’nly worth’ (Hymn 424)
That is really the burden of one’s heart at this time, that we may go on with the work and be
available to the Lord in this connection in this city and in every place where He has put His name, for His name’s sake.
Words at the burial of Mr. E. E. Hoyte, Brooklyn, N.Y.
16 July 1980