LIFE

Jim Brown (Edinburgh)

Genesis 41: 45-49, 53-55; Judges 15: 18,19; 1 Samuel 25: 29

Life is unmistakably connected with God. We hope in a living God. The Lord Jesus refers to His Father as the "living Father'', John 6: 57. The Lord Jesus Himself is the "originator of life " (Acts 3: 15) and the Spirit is "life -on account of righteousness", Rom 8: 10. "God is a spirit" (John 4: 24) suggests what is essential, the essence of life . Life is inherently and intrinsically there. In the creation what God had primarily in mind was an environment in which life could thrive, and, especially, life in men. He "created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves ..." Gen 1: 21. Life was there by command. But in relation to man the action was more delicate, more sensitive: "And Jehovah Elohim formed Man, dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul", Gen 2: 7. Man became a living soul by the breath of God. Man has a spirit in a way which the lower creatures do not have. Ecclesiastes says, "Who knoweth the spirit of the children of men? Doth it go upwards? and the spirit of the beasts, doth it go downwards to the earth? " chap 3: 21. So man was there as the vehicle through which the choicest of God's thoughts could come to full realisation in a way of which no other creature was capable.

That sin intervened to despoil the choiceness of human life in that original condition is an incontrovertible fact. Sin invaded the rights of God and despoiled these conditions which God had created. Adam's life was forfeited judicially and morally when he partook of the forbidden fruit. "For this cause, even as by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men", Rom 5: 12. Then it says, "but death reigned from Adam until Moses", Rom 5: 14. Death reigned. That merciless, arrogant tyrant actually reigned over a system of things that God had created. It is an extended thought, its long hold upon men seeming to give it a power that could not be broken by the resurrection of Christ. Yet still it exists: "The last enemy that is annulled is death", 1 Cor 15: 26. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and still death overtook him; Methuselah nine hundred and sixty-nine years, yet death ultimately claimed him. Today men die; everyone; nothing more solemn, more poignant than when a man or woman dies, particularly when there is no evidence of reliance upon the work of God. What a prospect! If you die in your sins, you will be raised in your sins and judged in your sins.

But God in Christ has triumphed, overthrown the power of death and "brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings" (2 Tim 1: 10) and we live today in the light of a risen Christ. Paul speaks about the "life which is in Christ Jesus", 2 Tim 1: 1. Every man and woman and boy and girl can enjoy that wonderful life by putting their faith in the finished work of the One who has been into death and annulled "him who has the might of death", Heb 2: 14. The believers in Jesus can walk "in newness of life" (Rom 6: 4) in a scene that is morally dead and defective. But no consideration of life would be complete without reference to the Lord Jesus. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" John 1: 4. It was not a vapour. Man's life is "even a vapour" (Jas 4: 14) after the flesh, but there was a substantial expression of a perfect humanity before God in the Lord Jesus in His life down here. He grew up "as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground", Isa 53: 2. How the sap coursed Godward! He derived nothing from the circumstances in which He was found, yet the grace of that life was diffused on a scene beset by sin and death. I wonder if all here know Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has been into death and vanquished its power and opened up the way into a realm of life. Do you know Him? Let Him become more precious to your heart! Let Him "reign without a rival there!' (Hymn 368).

In Joseph's history the chief of the cup-bearers had a dream and in it a vine was before him. It says "and it was as though it budded; its blossoms shot forth, its clusters ripened into grapes", Gen 40: 10. How redolent that is of the humanity of Jesus! It budded! Every sprout of life was there! Luke tells us that he "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men", chap 2: 52. It was the normality of a perfect life before God, every relationship filled out in perfection in every detail. In the carpenter's shop, not a wrong action observed! In his dealings with men, every grace displayed. Then "its blossoms shot forth". There was something distinctive to be noticed in Him. See Him in the temple hearing and answering questions, astonishing with His answers.

'A child in growth and stature,

Yet full of wisdom rare:

Sonship, in conscious nature,

His words and ways declare'.

But then the clusters ripened into grapes. There was something mature, exquisitely fruitful for God; the grapes were pressed into Pharaoh's cup. The cup was in His hand and that precious life was pressed. If Adam's life was forfeited, then the life of the Lord Jesus was surrendered. It was laid down in death. "On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again", John 10: 17. He laid down that life that the will of God might be accomplished and the way of life be opened up for you and me. 'For Him death was death', Mr Darby said. 'Man's utter weakness, Satan's extreme power, and God's just vengeance, and alone, without one sympathy, forsaken of those whom He had cherished, the rest His enemies, Messiah delivered to Gentiles and cast down, the judge washing his hands of condemning innocence, the priests interceding against the guiltless instead of for the guilty - all dark, without one ray of light even from God'.

He Himself said "I am the first and the last, and the living one: and I became dead", Rev 1: 17,18. Stupendous thought - the originator of life becoming dead - as the note says, 'became what He was not before'. It says, "he should taste death for everything", Heb 2: 9. How solemn to contemplate the originator of life, the Lord of life and glory, actually tasting the horrors of death. Leviticus 8 is a wonderful chapter! There we have Aaron the high priest - typical of Christ - clad in the high priestly garments. Then Moses poured the anointing oil on Aaron's head. He was anointed with oil without blood. It was there typically a Man in the vigour of life, untainted by sin and personally immune f om death. We come in on the basis of the blood; like Aaron's sons we need the blood and the oil; but He, initially, could be anointed with oil alone, reflecting His immaculate humanity, that He was sin apart, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners", Heb 7: 26. He went into the grave that the great area of life should be opened up for men. Let it affect our deepest emotions! - that the Lord Jesus actually died, tasted death for every thing (see Heb 2: 9), for guilty sinners, for you and for me, that we might live in a life which is according to God.

But then He was raised - "raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father", Rom 6: 4. What a moment that was when the glory of the Father breached the confines of the grave and brought Christ out in a condition which answered to the eternal purpose of God. That life was such that it must go on, yet in a different condition. The condition to which our guilt was attached was laid down, never to be revived, and He was raised in a condition which answered to the eternal counsels and purpose of God. What a Man! He could say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up", John 2: 10. It is the inherent life that was in Christ, which could not be suppressed. Typically He said "take me not away in the midst of my days!", "He weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days"; but then the divine answer rings out: "Thy years are from generation to generation", Ps 102: 23, 24. How great heaven's delight in uttering such a response, in declaring that the moral worth of that life was such that it must go on through all the generations! He lives! He lives to intercede for us that we might be maintained in life and vitality before God!

Well, here He is in our first scripture as typified in Joseph, the Sustainer of life, the Saviour of the world and the Revealer of secrets. There is actually a Man today in heaven who is sustaining life! Colossians tells us that "he is before all, and all things subsist together by him", chap 1: 17. That is to say He is holding everything together by Himself in life. In his dream Joseph said, "my sheaf rose up, and remained standing", Gen 37: 7. It describes the inherent life which was in Jesus. Nothing could extinguish that life, it must go through death and rise up triumphant to sustain everything in life for God's pleasure. So here He is called Zaphnath-paaneah, Sustainer of life: and, wonderful fact, he went out over the land of Egypt. Nothing misses His gracious eye! Today - I apply it - He is going out over the land of Egypt, having to do with mankind in all its frailty, bringing hope to those who have no hope, carrying peace to those who are distressed. The cares of believers, the sorrows of local assemblies, He sees them all as He goes out over the land. It implies His interest as well as His authority. But then He is also passing through the whole land of Egypt. One's mind goes to John 4: And He must needs pass through Samaria (v 4). Why? There was some soul there needing the touch of the Sustainer of life. I wonder if there is some weary heart here, beset perhaps by the burdens of the testimony, family sorrows or personal grief. The message of the day is that He is passing through the whole land of Egypt and He is concerned about your welfare in order that there might be this answer in life to Him, a fruitful, productive response to all that He has done. What does He find as He goes through our localities? What did He find in Egypt? - a little stony ground here maybe, a corner overgrown with weeds there perhaps, but under His benign influence in the seven years of plenty the whole land becomes productive of food to sustain every soul in life. So the land brought forth by handfuls. We touched on that in the reading. It is a remarkable expression: "by handfuls". There was the whole land of Egypt, fertile, productive, fruitful, producing corn "without number", and yet the Spirit of God describes it in that particular way. It is as if God is looking ahead to the years of famine to say, I have produced the precise answer to this or that specific emergency, to every difficulty you may face! What confidence we can have in such a God! What confidence we can have in the One who is the Sustainer of life. The exigencies and sorrows of the testimony to day are many, but there are available the "handfuls" produced to meet them, under the direction of the true Joseph. Later we read, "And the arms of his hands are supple. By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob", Gen 49: 24. How fine to think of these hands in operation, delicately cut and flexible, bringing out the handfuls to provide the exact solution to that particular difficulty which had seemed insurmountable. "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand", John 3: 35. These hands today are dispensing grace, dispensing mercy, and are able to provide the answer to every current problem.

Then it goes on to speak of ''the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it". The city, it seems, is actually encompassed by the fields. The suggestion is that the city is dependent on the fields for its sustenance. A prerequisite for every local assembly that the food supply should be adequate. Proverbs says, "Prepare thy work without, and put thy field in order, and afterwards build thy house" (chap 24: 27), as if to say you must secure the food supply first of all. Do not get immersed in city affairs until the food supply is right. Proverbs again speaks about the much food "in the tillage of the poor''. We would take no greater position than the "tillage of the poor", but from the tillage, gone through with God, food will be produced. We remember these faithful men in our localities, down through the years, who tilled and watered to create the fertile conditions which would produce food for the days of famine. How much has come down to us in the recovery as we speak of it, and in the great ministries. Then we have, too, the rich pastures of the Scriptures as read in the power of the Holy Spirit. It says in Ecclesiastes, "the king himself is dependent upon the field", chap 5: 9. Think of the Lord Jesus, speaking reverently, being able to use that which is produced through the field for the upbuilding and benefit of His people! How challenging in one sense it is that the fields must be there for the city to function properly! How necessary it is to ensure that the climate and environment among us are conducive to the production of food which will sustain the saints in the days of famine. "And Joseph laid up corn as sand of the sea exceeding much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number". It is grace abounding. Whatever the contingency, there is food to meet it. It says in verse 56, he "opened every place in which there was provision", as if to say in every city, in every locality, there is provision to meet the needs of the moment. "And the seven years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt were ended; and the seven years of the dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was dearth in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread". How fine that is! It is a mature thought. It starts off with food and then it is corn, but now it is bread. It is all found in Christ. He says, "I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst at any time", John 6: 35. "For the bread of God is he who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world", John 6: 33. Dearth and famine around; but in Christ there is bread to be found. Every need can be met incoming to Him and in all that His providence has made available to those who have their faith and trust in Him.

So the people went to Pharaoh for bread and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: "Go to Joseph: what He says to you, that do". That is good current advice! Our salvation and welfare lie in going to Him! He has the wherewithal to meet every need. He is "selling" corn today. That is an interesting suggestion. He actually sold it. We speak so much - and rightly - about what is free in Christianity, but here Joseph is actually selling the corn to the Egyptians. It seems to suggest that there should be exercise with us to go through things with God. Proverbs urges us to buy the truth: "Buy the truth" (chap 23: 23), as if to suggest that, in going through matters with God, something will be assimilated into our beings which will build us up constitutionally and enable us to survive famine conditions. In Judges we see Samson after his great exploits against the Philistines, in which he had slain a thousand men. But he thirsted. He came to it that conflict in itself is not sufficient. Conflict will not sustain us. The elation and the exhilaration of victory pass and a certain weariness sets in. It says, "And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die tor thirst ...? The heavy burden of things weighs in upon us often, assembly exercises, individual sorrows afflict us, and we say, Is it all worthwhile? We thought satisfaction would be ours now tor ever after all this conflict, and yet now we are thirsty and drained. What is the answer? - calling upon Jehovah. The answer here is immediate. It says, "And God clave the hollow rock which was in Lehi". How affecting that is! Samson is not asked, as Moses was, to strike the rock. Here it is what God Himself does. How interesting to follow up what God Himself does in Scripture! At the end of Revelation it is God Himself who "shall wipe away every tear from their eyes", chap 21: 4. There is going to be a day when God Himself, in that gentle, sensitive, sympathetic way of His will wipe away every tear, and joy will pervade the whole eternal day. So it was God Himself here who clave the hollow rock. Swift answer to him that calls upon Him: "And it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved", Joel 2: 32. "And God clave the hollow rock": the hollow rock seems to suggest what is irrevocable and inexhaustible: he clave it, and it will never be shut up. It is 'the caller's spring' and it is there to this day. So the waters are flowing out, these refreshing waters are flowing out in abundance. Our brother referred in the reading to the passage in Jeremiah where Jehovah says, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water" chap 2: 13. In Christ, in God, we find the fountain of living waters, able to satisfy every thirst. It says in the Psalms in another setting: "He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the depths, abundantly", Psalm 78: 15. Water for every exigency, for every testimonial need can be obtained from this rock: and it is there to this day! It says, "and his spirit came again". The prophet speaks about ''the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones, Isa 57: 15. Samson, as recognising his need, took his place in humility before God, and God responded forthwith. His spirit was revived. His affections, his spirit, the whole man was now animated and invigorated to face the next exigency. Well, we can call upon that spring at any time. It is the caller's spring. Samson, it seems, did not name it. The inference is that God named it. It is God's testimony to the continuing availability and volume of the supply; and it is thereto this day. I suppose the matter that lay now before Samson was far more testing than the exploits against the Philistines. It was the judging of Israel. It says, "and he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years" as if a condition of soul had now been reached through access to these waters which fitted him to judge Israel. If there is a need at the moment it is for right judgment; and judgment in this context seems to spring from access to the waters. Earlier on in this book, in Deborah's son, it says "Ye that ride on white she-asses, ye that sit on carpets, and ye that walk by the way, consider. Because of the voice of those who divide the spoil in the midst of the places of drawing water; There they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah, His righteous acts toward his villages in Israel. Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates", chap 5: 10,11. They go down to the gates as having divided the spoil at the places of drawing water. There is an atmosphere of richness and magnanimity created, flowing from the enjoyment of eternal life conditions and the current activities of the Spirit of God. From that propitious start point they go down to the gates. Administration and judgment are entered upon from that great exalted background. May we be affected by the caller's spring which is in Lehi to this day, easy of access, always available, and boundless in resource. The Spirit searches "all things, even the depths of God", 1 Cor 2: 10. The waters from that hollow rock stretch right down to the very depths of God!

In the last scripture it is ''the bundle of the living". That is a very fine expression: "the bundle of the living"! It implies a collection of living souls, living in an environment of life. In one sense it is a great extensive thought: one loves to think of the glad tidings going out to those who are dead in offences and sins, to men and women who are morally dead, bringing them into life and placing them in the "bundle of the living". He has "quickened us with the Christ ... and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2: 6); He has brought us into the "bundle of the living". In another sense it is a great sphere of practical salvation, the Christian circle as we speak of it. Maybe even it is our own locality! Here Abigail is concerned to prevent David from shedding blood. It says, "And if a man is risen up to pursue thee and to seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in Jehovah thy God". How fine that is! How many murderous elements there are in the world, seeking to seduce us and draw us away from what is really life. And yet there is the power of secret prayer uttered on our behalf to prevent us from being allured away. When we are young, I do not think we really comprehend the prayers that go up on our behalf by fatherly men, by older brethren, pleading that we might be maintained in the pathway of life, in the way of more surpassing excellence, and in the way everlasting, so that we might be preserved in the "bundle of the living", retained in testimony for Christ, and kept in the great area of life. Some of us have proved that. We have been brought back to take our place vitally in the "bundle of the living". There they were at Troas in the upper room and Eutychus, sitting at the window-opening, fell out and dropped from the third storey to the bottom. The many lights were there, yet despite all the brilliance something was not quite right. The window was open. A discerning soul, a priestly person, ought to have detected that. The need is to try and forestall these disastrous things happening. A priest should be able to do that. He fell from the third storey to the bottom. What was to be done? It says, "But Paul descending fell upon him, and enfolding him in his arms, said, Be not troubled, for his life is in him", Acts 20: 10. He could detect that life was there. Others standing around might have said, It is hopeless; nothing can be done. But that great servant of the Lord descending went down and enfolding him said his life is in him. There is that affecting scripture in Job which says, "For there is hope for a tree: if it be cut down ... through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a young plant", chap 14: 7,9. O, that we had that ability to bring the scent of water- just the scent of it - to these roots apparently lifeless, and cause the tree to bud and spring into verdant life again. So it says, "And they brought away the boy alive", - alive - "and were no little comforted", Acts 20: 12.

He was really brought back in that sense to the "bundle of the living", restored to a system of life. Maybe as we look around we observe some of the ties in the bundle becoming a bit loose. Things begin to fall out a little and get a bit shaky; young people disheartened and discouraged perhaps. How fine to operate in a way which seeks to ensure that they are securely tied into the "bundle of the living"! Our affections turn to the Lord Jesus Himself. There was the man on the road to Jericho. The priest and the Levite passed him by. The man was half-dead. Maybe they thought he was dead but the scripture says he was half-dead. Half-dead means that he was half-alive. There was a spark of life there which could be nurtured and the good Samaritan journeying came up alongside him, poured in the oil and wine and brought him to the inn. I suppose, in principle, he was bringing him back to the bundle of the living, that happy environment animated by the Spirit, that great area of life where we find practical salvation at the present time. May we find our links and our abode there! - a temporary place, but we look forward to the day when we go on high, when we will live in conditions of life into which nothing of death and sin can intrude.

But it says, "bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God". The "bundle of the living" is connected with Christ on high, with the Man in the glory: "I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love", Hos 11: 4. He Himself has brought us into the "bundle of the living". What Christ has done to place us there, what sacrifice was His! He went down to the depths. O how far he descended! - "The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains", Jon 2: 5 - in order to open up the way for us to take our place in the "bundle of the living", to be bound up with Him there, in a sphere energised by the Spirit and where He is supreme.

May our hearts be freshly attracted to these things: the Lord Jesus, the great Sustainer of life; the caller's spring beckoning us to an area where life can be enjoyed; where we can find our place vitally and in reality in the "bundle of the living", as bound up with Christ, the Man in the glory, the One on whom everything depends, the One who has carried through everything for God in life. For His Name's sake!

 

WOODSTOCK

17 October 1992

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FORGIVEN CHILDREN

I remember hearing of a Jewish boy named Simeon who, when quite young, read in a book that his ancestors of long ago had known what they did when they placed their hands on the head of the scape-goat and thus transferred their guilt to it. The thought rushed into his mind that he too could transfer his sins to another. Soon, when he heard that God had provided a Saviour for mankind, he said, 'Then, God willing, I will not bear my sins on my soul one moment longer, for I see that God laid them all upon Jesus'.

The three hours of sin-bearing at Golgotha seem in one sense a very long time because of the intense suffering. At the end came the loud cry - central one of the seven speakings from the cross - "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?". In another sense we are made to wonder that the time, concentrated as it must have been, was enough to account in detail for every sin of every forgiven person.

It is very touching to our affections that, whereas Adam was driven out of an earthly paradise on account of sin, the Lord Jesus came freely out of a heavenly paradise to take the same matter and to do so to the glory of God. Jesus made it by "Himself the purification of sins". Another goat, the former of the two at the day of atonement, was slain as a sacrifice for sin and its blood, type of the precious blood of Jesus, was shed. Have you the peace of knowing this?

 

J.C.Evershed