Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Chapter 11

The Slack Bow-String — Ekluo

In our last meditation we referred to Galatians 6:9: “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season, we shall reap if we faint not.” We saw that the word translated ‘be weary’ is en-kakeo, ‘give in to evil,’ but generally translated ‘faint’ in the New Testament. However, you will notice that we have the word ‘faint’ near the end of this verse: and it was mentioned that this is an entirely different word to en-kakeo. The word used here is ek-luo, ‘I loose,’ or, ‘I unloose,’ as, for example, a bow-string: letting it become slack.

When I was a boy my father took me down to a wagon shop (I suppose there are no such things now) and there he got a piece of nice, well seasoned ash; and from this he made me a beautiful bow. The good piece of ash alone could not make the bow, there had to be a strong cord, or thong, tied from end to end of the wood, and tightened till the wood was well bent, and the cord was taut. Then with a good straight arrow, what a joy it was to any boy!

But suppose the cord got slack, and loose, what then? The bow is useless in spite of having such a good piece of ash to make it. One secret of a good bow is having a good tight bow-string.

The Spirit of God uses this illustration in the verse we have referred to in Galatians 6:9. We find this word, ek-luo, five times in the New Testament, and each time translated ‘faint.’ In Matthew 15. 32 and Mark 8:3, the Lord Himself uses this word of the people who had been with Him three days, and had nothing to eat, and He would not send them away fasting to their homes, for some of them came from far, lest on the way they would faint. (ek-luo). And so He fed the four thousand men, beside the women and the children, with the seven loaves of bread and a few little fishes.

We find the word twice more in Hebrews 12: Verses 3 & 5: “Consider Him … , lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds … Ye have forgotten the exhortation … , My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.” The word translated ‘faint’ here is, in each case, ek-luo.

Notice that in the Gospels it is our body that faints, and in Hebrews it is our mind. In the verse in Galatians 6, “Let us not grow weary in well doing: for in due season, we shall reap if we faint not,” I suppose it might be both body and mind that faint. But in all these cases we grow slack, like the bow-strong: and a slack bow-string is no use to its master.

How important then for us to find out the remedy, so that we shall not grow slack. In the case related in the Gospels it was eating the loaves and the fish, provided by our Lord, that kept the men, women and children from growing faint. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has told us that He is the Bread that came down from heaven; so we know that by feeding on Him as the Man down here, we may be kept from growing faint, or slack. When He fed the Five Thousand, John tells us that He fed them with ‘barley loaves.’ Barley bread was the cheapest kind. See 2 Kings 7:1 & 18, where you will find that barley flour was just half the price of wheat flour. This tells us, surely, of our Lord Jesus, not only come down from Heaven, but despised and rejected of men. And what of the “few little fishes”?

The Greek word for ‘fish’ is ichthus: (The ch, and the th are each only one letter in Greek). The word used in this story in both Matthew and Mark isichthudion, only used in these two places in the New Testament, and is the diminutive of ichthus, fish: literally meaning “little fish.” Now let us arrange the word for fish, ichthus, in a vertical line, thus:
i is for Iesous = Jesus
ch is for Christos = Christ
th is for Theou = of God
u is for Uios = Son
s is for Soter = Saviour
So the Greek word for ‘fish’ meant to a Greek Christian:

“JESUS CHRIST GOD’S SON (the) SAVIOUR.”
Because of this meaning the Christians often used the picture of a fish to mark the graves of Christian friends who were buried in the catacombs under Rome. So the “two little fishes” tell us of our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Saviour. The bread on which the people fed to keep them from fainting told of our Lord Jesus as the Man come down from Heaven: the fish tell us of Him as the Son of God, our Saviour, glorified in Heaven. If we feed on our Lord Jesus Christ in these two ways we need never fear that we will grow slack.

And what do we learn from the two occasions in which ek-luo is used in Hebrews? Oh, ponder well those two first words we quoted: “Consider Him!” “Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” As we feed on Him in His humiliation and in His glory: as we “Consider Him”: we will grow strong in spirit (Luke 1:80), and never grow slack.

But I cannot resist a little note about the word “Consider.” The Greek work is ana-logizomai, and is only used here in the Old or New Testament, so is quite different to the word translated “consider” in Heb. 3:1. We get our word ‘logarithm’ from the root of the last part of this word, so you may see there is in it something of the thought of ‘reckon.’ Bishop Westcott says of it: “It expresses in particular the careful estimate of one object with regard to another. The use here in respect of a person and not of a thing is remarkable.

The writer seems to say, ‘Consider Christ, reckoning up His sufferings point by point, going over them again and again, not the sufferings on the Cross only, but all that led up to it.’

With our eyes fixed on Him, and on His sufferings, and feeding on Him despised and rejected, but now exalted in the Glory, we are safe from ever becoming slack.

Chapter 12

Hit him under the Eye — Hupo-piazo (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Who was hit under the eye? Paul was! Who hit Paul under the eye? Paul did! He made a practice of doing it. “I buffet my body, and lead it captive,” so reads Mr. Darby’s translation: but literally it reads, “I hit my body under the eye, and lead it away a slave.” The word comes from hupopion, “the part of the face below the eyes.”

You boys who like a fight, here is a fight worth while. Here is a fight that will keep you at it all the rest of your life down here. Do not think because you give him one hard blow under the eye, that you have laid him out for good and all. Very far from it: you will find ‘the old man’ up and at it again in no time. Do not ever, even for one moment, let your ‘body’ lead you away as a slave, or you will find it terribly bitter work. Do not let your ‘body’ hit you under the eye: many a good soldier of Jesus Christ has been rendered unfit for service in just this way.

But you will find, if you try it, that you are no match for the body. You will cry out, as Paul once did, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” You must call in your Lord and Master to fight for you, and then you will be able to answer that question, “Who shall deliver me?” with the triumphal cry: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:24-25). Yes, Tell the Lord plainly that you have no strength at all yourself for the fight, and He must do it all. Cast yourself without reserve on Him; and then, then, you will be enabled to “hit him under the eye, and lead him away a slave.”

Do you remember it says in another place, “leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5: N.T.). The Greek word for “Leading captive” here is an entirely different word in Greek to that used in 1 Corinthians 9:27, for “bring it into subjection.” This word in 2 Corinthians 10 is taken from a word that means ‘to throw a spear.’ Perhaps it is because our thoughts are so elusive, so very hard to get hold of to lead captive, that the Spirit. of God uses this word telling of throwing a spear. But, thank the Lord, not only is it possible to lead the body away as a slave, but even to lead captive every thought to the obedience of Christ; and that is, I suppose, the very hardest of all.

Dear fellow-soldier of Jesus Christ, let us not be satisfied with anything short of this. Good it is, unspeakably good, to have our sins forgiven. Never can we cease to praise and give thanks for this: this is according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7) But in the next chapter of Ephesians we find “the exceeding riches of His grace.” The very first page of the New Testament tells us there is something more than the forgiveness of our sins: “Thou shalt call His Name JESUS:, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Not only from the penalty of them, but from our sins themselves. “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” (Romans 6:14). Literally this is, “Sin shall not lord it over you.”

So, dear Reader, follow the example of the Apostle Paul, and make a practice of hitting your body under the eye (not literally, like the old monks), and of leading it away a slave: to do what you tell it: to be subject to you, — the new man. And remember it is all through the grace and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This word is used on only one other occasion in the New Testament, and that is in Luke 18:5. You remember the widow woman who kept going to the judge who feared not God nor respected man. She wanted him to avenge her of her adversary, but at first he would not. However later on he said to himself, “If even I fear not God and respect not man, at any rate because this widow annoys me I will avenge her, that she may not by perpetual coming completely harass me.” (J. N. Darby). Mr. Darby did not like to translate it by saying the judge feared the widow woman would hit him under the eye, or give him a black eye, as the dictionary says it may be translated. And I do not blame Mr. Darby; yet, that is what the Spirit of God wrote down, to encourage us to come, and come, and come again in persevering prayer; and never give in to evil thoughts of discouragement. We ought always to pray and not to faint. And you remember in Isaiah 62:6 & 7 we read “Ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (margin). Think of the Lord Himself telling us to “give Him no rest”! After the war it was almost impossible to get a passage out to China. I wanted one very badly, and heard of a small ship that was going to Shanghai. It had no passenger accommodation, but it was a ship, and was going to China. Every day I went to that shipping office, and asked for a passage. The man in charge was most courteous, but always put me off: but next day I would be back again. At last he said to me, “It must be a great deal of trouble for you to come to see me so often: just leave me your telephone number and I will call you when I know if we can give you a passage or not.” I assured him I had nothing else to do at that time except to get that passage, and I would be down every day to see him, I would give him no rest. The next day we got our passages. But who would have thought of the Lord God Almighty talking to us like that? Oh, how little do we know of true prayer, and how little do we know of the heart of our God!

Chapter 13

Some Meditations on Diminutives:
Little Lambs — Arnia
Little Sheep — Probatia
Little Children — Paidia
Little Children (bairns) — Teknia
Little Daughter — Thugatrion
Little Does — Kunaria
Little Crumbs — Psikia

In our English language some of the tenderest, sweetest and most endearing, yet most elusive words are our diminutives. Webster’s dictionary tells us that ‘Charley’ is the diminutive of ‘Charles.’ Her Majesty the Queen might call Prince Charles, ‘Charley,’ but we may not do so: it is too intimate, too endearing a name, for a stranger to use.

Nor is it only to children that we use diminutives, I had an uncle by name of Charles, and he was ‘Uncle Charley’ to his nieces and nephews as long as he lived: so a diminutive may lose the sense of size, by being overpowered by the sense of endearment. Yet not all diminutives have the sense of endearment, though many have. ‘Rivulet’ is the diminutive of ‘river,’ and has no other sense than the smallness of its size. ‘Bairnie’ is the diminutive of ‘bairn’ and really means ‘a little bairn;’ but a Scotch mother may say to her boys and girls, even after they are grown up: “My bairnie!” and they will understand that she does not refer to size, but affection: and if they are nice children, they will return that affection with a kiss. We have various ways of forming our diminutives in English, as noted: rivulet, bairnie, lambkin, and so forth. In the Greek New Testament we also find diminutives, but they are formed by adding the letter ‘i.’ Thus, ‘teknon’ a child, becomes teknion in its diminutive. ‘Thugater,’ ‘daughter,’ has ‘thugatrion’ for its diminutive; but I know of no diminutive in English for ‘daughter,’ though a beloved friend tells me they have one in German.

We do not very often use diminutives in English; in a sense they are almost too sacred to be dragged into ordinary usage; and are reserved for occasions of special stress or feeling. The same, I think, is true in Greek. This makes them the more precious when they are used. To me, one of the loveliest diminutives in the Greek New Testament is ‘teknion’, mentioned above. The Lord Himself is speaking when we first hear it in the New Testament. It is on the same night in which He was betrayed; and He exclaims, ‘Teknia!’ (the plural of Teknion), “Teknia, Yet a little while I am with you!” That parting was before His soul, and well He knew what it would mean to His disciples: and so, with a heart full of love, He exclaims: “Teknia!” I know not how it can be translated. Our Authorised Version has, “Little Children!” Mr. Darby has, “Children”, Rotherham has “Dear Children.” All, in a sense, are right; but none seem to me to even begin to translate what was in the Lord’s heart, and what He expressed to His disciples that night, by that one little word, “Teknia.” One excellent dictionary suggests that the best translation of teknon’ is the Scottish word ‘bairn.’ Both come from a word meaning to be born.’ Those who have had the privilege of a Scottish mother or wife will know exactly what was meant when she said to her children: “Bairnies!” That, I think, is what the Lord meant when He said, on that dark betrayal night ‘Teknia!’

When the mother says ‘Bairnies!’ she knows they are her own born children, her very own! She sees them as still needing her tender loving care; she pours out the love of her heart through this word in a way, perhaps, no other word could convey. It does not mean they are good children; It is a word that may be wrung from a broken heart, because of the naughtiness and selfwill of the children. But above all else, it tells of the mother-love, and that must flow over in some way, and so she exclaims, ‘Bairnies!’ So was it that night when we meet this word for the first time in the New Testament.

You may stand and gaze on a lovely rose, in all its perfection, with its exquisite fragrance: but if you try and study it, and pull it to pieces, you ruin the rose; so one feels afraid to touch these exquisite words with clumsy hands, for fear we spoil the beauty of them: and yet they were written for our learning. But, alas, with most it is matter of complete indifference whether the Spirit of God writes Tekna’ or ‘Teknia.’

The next time we meet it is in Galatians 4:19: but the reading here is not certain: it may be ‘teknia mou‘ — ‘My bairnies’, or it may be ‘tekna mou‘ — ‘My bairns.’ I confess I hope Teknia is right. Paul had to write more severely to the Galatians than to any other of his children in the faith, and there in the midst of his stern reproofs, (if the reading is correct), we hear him exclaim: “My Bairnies!” This is the only time we find this word in Paul’s Epistles; and he used it to the naughtiest children of all: used it, I doubt not, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, and many tears. It seems to be one of the most touching spots in all that great Apostle’s writings. But diminutives are generally meant for the heart, not the head, and they are not meant to be explained, but to be understood by that wondrous intuition, that (in the things of God) the Spirit alone can, and does, give.

We find this word again in the First Epistle of John, seven times. This need not surprise us, for the Disciple that Jesus loved, naturally loved to use the one word uttered just once by His Lord, (as far as we know), that told, as perhaps none other of his Lord’s words, the tender, yearning love of His heart for His own: and at such a time! These are the only times we find this word in the New Testament.

If you will turn now to John 21:5-17, you will find the Lord using three more diminutives. You all know the lovely story of that breakfast on the beach, with the fire of coals that the Lord Himself had kindled.

You remember how He stood on the shore, and called to the disciples who were in the fishing boat, “Children, Have ye any meat?” And they had to answer, “No!” In the Greek Testament the word the Lord used is not “Children,” but the diminutive of children, Paidia or, as we would say, Little children.” But I do not think He was thinking of their age or size: I think that diminutive was called forth by the Lord’s loving concern for their long, discouraging night of failure; and now no breakfast; for the very form of His question, as recorded in Greek, intimates that He knew the answer must be, “No!” Then the same love that asks the question in that particular form, tells them what to do: “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” And then the answering chord in the heart of the disciple whom Jesus loved tells him who is that “Stranger” standing on the beach, and he says to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

Then He invites them to breakfast: the breakfast His own hands have prepared, and after they have finished eating, you remember he asks Peter if he loved Him more than the other disciples. Peter dare not use the strong word (agapao) for love, that the Lord had used, but replies, “Thou knowest that I am fond of Thee, (phileo.) Then the Lord says, “Feed My arnia.” Arnia is the diminutive of ‘lambs.’ I suppose the most literal would be, “Feed My lambkins.” And I am not sure that it would be such a bad translation either. Rotherham has ‘dear lambs,’ and I think that brings out the thought intended. I doubt not that it was love, as well as size or age, that was in the Lord’s heart. This is the only place we find this diminutive, except in the Book of Revelation, where we find it 27 times or more, used of the Lord Himself: but in 13:11 we find it was the beast imitating the Lamb. Dr. Moulton thinks that on account of this the word had lost its special diminutive meaning of affection; but I like to think that the Disciple whom Jesus Loved, even at the end of his life, and when banished on the Isle of Patmos, could not breathe that word ‘Lamb’ without using a form that expressed the beloved Lamb;’ just as the Father would not say, “This is My Son,” but rather, “This is My beloved Son.” And is He not to you, to me, the ‘Arnion’: the ‘Beloved Lamb’? And so, I think, the Lord said to Peter, “Feed My beloved lambs.” And let us not forget that He meant size or age as well as affection. So let us not pass by the Children.

{Note: Moulton & Millican think there is complete absence of diminutive force: but I hope they are not entirely correct. End of not}

The Lord then again asked Peter: “Lovest thou Me?” And Peter replies as before, and the Lord says: “Shepherd My probatia.” ‘Probatia’ is the diminutive of ‘sheep:’ and I think what Peter understood by the Lord’s use of this word was just this: “Shepherd My dear sheep,” or, “My beloved sheep.” The size of the sheep has been forgotten in the dearness of it: and how sweet to the soul, whether we are young or old, are these words: “My beloved lambs,” “My beloved sheep.” And you, Beloved, and I, are truly the Lord’s beloved sheep and lambs; even though so often we are selfwilled and failing, yet to Him we are ‘beloved.’ And it may be the Lord has entrusted you with the care of some of His lambs or sheep: perhaps you have a class of children that are lambs of His, and it may be that sometimes they are noisy and trying and disobedient. Or it may be some of my older readers know what it is to seek to shepherd some of the Lord’s sheep, and you find them stupid and contrary and hard to get on with, and you lose patience with them, and find them a sorry lot. It will help us if we remember the Lord calls them “My beloved lambs, My beloved sheep.” That memory will help to make them dear to us also, and love suffereth long and is kind. And may we never look at them as our sheep, for the Lord calls them, “My dear sheep, My dear lambs.”

And then came the Lord’s third question, and He changes the word for ‘lovest’ from the word He had just used twice, to the word that Peter had used: the weaker word for ‘love:’ “Simon, son of Jonas, are you fond of Me?” That is what cut Peter to the heart. It was not that He asked three times if he loved Him, but it hurt terribly to think that the Lord would change the word for ‘love’ to the weak word; as though He questioned whether he really loved Him at all. And he bursts out: “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I am fond of Thee.” And the Lord says: “Feed My probatia:” “Feed My dear sheep.” Those are the only times we find ‘sheep’ in the diminutive in the New Testament, as it is the only time we find ‘lamb’ in the diminutive, except in Revelation. But what a depth of meaning the Lord adds to His words, by just including that little ‘i’ three times: and you know, the Greek ‘i’ does not even have a dot to it!

Let us next look at a lovely cluster of four diminutives, strung like four rare and sparkling jewels, in Mark 7:25 to 28. We find the story also in Matthew 15:21 to 28, and we have to ponder both Gospels to get the full beauty from this exquisite portion of Scripture. It is the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman. Mark tells us that her ‘thugatrion’: (diminutive of ‘daughter’) had an unclean spirit. Matthew tells us she was “miserably possessed” (kakos daimonizetai) by a demon. Jairus had come to the Lord not so long before, using the same diminutive for his daughter. Mark 5:23. These are the only places in the New Testament that we find this word, and notice both are in Mark; for it was Mark, more than any other, who tells us the minute detail of some special word or look. How can we translate it? I know not, for in English we have no diminutive for ‘daughter’. The translators have done their very best: ‘little daughter’, or ‘young daughter’, or ‘dear daughter,’ but I am sure it does not tell half the story. Perhaps for Jairus the nearest we could get in colloquial English would be something like this: “My wee girlie is near her end!” Can you not hear the pleading love in his words: “My wee girlie.” She was twelve years old, but to the broken-hearted father she was still his ‘wee girlie’, — his ‘thugatrion!! — and she was dying: he dare not use the word for ‘death’ so he says ‘she is near her end.’

The Syro-Phoenician woman uses the same word. The Lord had walked very far, some fifty miles, to reach that woman of Tyre and her ‘wee girlie,’ and doubtless, as on another occasion, He was weary with His journey: and He kept wishing (Imperfect) that nobody would know the house he had entered: but He could not be hid: for this woman of Tyre hearing of Him, came and kept crying (Imperfect): “Pity me, Lord, Son of David!” But He answered her not a word. The disciples did not like her constant crying, and they kept asking (Imperfect) Him to send her away, because she keeps crying (Present) after us. But He answered, “I have not been sent but unto the lost sheep of Israel’s house.”

She came as to the “Son of David,” which was His true title, but to the people of Israel: and as such she had no claim at all. So He replied: “Let the children first be filled:” The Lord used the word tekna: the ones who have the dignity and position by birth: (not teknia the diminutive): “for it is not right to take the children’s (same word) bread, and throw it to the wee doggies.” The poor mother had been pleading for her ‘wee girlie’, and the Lord takes up her term, and speaks of the ‘wee doggies’: the diminutive. Now notice, had the Lord used the ordinary word for dog, and not the diminutive: — and this story is the only place in the New Testament where the diminutive of ‘dog’ is found: — then this woman could not have replied as she did: for literally, as well as spiritually, in the East, ‘without are dogs.’ The fierce, horrible dogs of that land were not allowed in the houses, but the “wee doggies’, the cute little puppies, could come in: and so the Lord gently and skilfully leads on her faith, by giving her this special, unusual word to encourage her; and she takes it up instantly: “Yes, Lord, and the wee doggies under the table eat of the wee crumbs (another diminutive) of the wee children (another diminutive, but not the honourable word for ‘children,’ teknia, but paidia, one that could be used of a servant).

She had watched her wee girlie eating, and knew how often she dropped wee crumbs. In our house the wee doggie used always to sit under the chair of the littlest one, because it well knew most crumbs dropped there. And, says she, I’m not asking for a lot; only for a ‘wee crumb’. Has Jairus’s wee girlie not dropped a wee crumb for a wee doggie over in Tyre? The children, the tekna, have been having a grand feast over in Judea; their sick healed, their lepers cleansed, the devils cast out of their children, even their dead raised to life: and is there never a wee crumb for a poor wee doggie in Tyre?

What joy that conversation brought to the Saviour of the world! Why, (I doubt not), it was just on purpose to bring a wee crumb to this wee doggie, — this wee girlie, — that the Saviour had made that long, weary journey; and when she had got her wee crumb He turns round and goes back again to ‘the children.’ Do you think that the Holy Spirit put those four little ‘i’s’ into that story by accident? Sure I am He did not. Is that exquisite cluster of jewels nothing to you? Ah, Beloved, talk not slightingly of the Greek Testament; and discourage none from seeking to read the very words the Holy Spirit wrote. There are such treasures hidden there that none can ever exhaust them.

Only one more example. In John 6:9 we find the word ‘Paidarion’, the diminutive of ‘pais’, ‘a child.’ It might be either a boy or a girl; but in the 6th of John there is later a pronoun in the masculine, so we know it was ‘a little boy.’ It was this ‘little child’ who provided the five barley loaves, and the two little fish, with which the Lord fed five thousand. This is the only place we find this word in the New Testament; but we find it twice in Genesis 22. This is the Chapter that tells of Abraham offering up Isaac. What Abraham seems to have said to the servants was something like this: “Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the dear child, or, little child, will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven, and said, “Lay not thine hand upon the dear child, neither do thou anything unto him.” May the tenderness, the pathos, of these passages fill our hearts; for, as we have said, diminutives are for the heart, not for the head.

Chapter 14

I Retreat — Ana-Choreo

“By weakness and defeat, He won the mede and crown; Trod all His foes beneath His feet, by being trodden down.”

I do not think we have the word ‘retreat’ in our ordinary English Bible, though we do find ‘retire’ several times, and a good many times we find ‘withdraw’: words which have a very similar meaning. There are, I think, six different Greek words that are translated ‘withdraw’, (though they are also translated in many other ways).

I would like to ask you to look for a few minutes at the word ana-choreo. This word has the meaning of retreat in war. (Liddell & Scott), Moulton & Milligan say that retire is too weak for it, “The connotation of ‘taking refuge’ from some peril will suit most of the New Testament passages remarkably well.”

This word is used 14 times in the Greek New Testament: ten of these are in Matthew’s Gospel, of which six refer to our Lord Jesus Christ: Matthew 2:14; 2:22; 4:12; 12:15; 14:13; 15:21. We also find the same word used of our Lord Jesus in Mark 3:7 and John 6:15. It is also used of the Wise Men in Matthew 2:12 & 13; and of Judas in Matthew 27:5.

You will notice that Matthew uses this word far more often than any other of the New Testament writers: indeed besides those mentioned, it is only found in Matthew 9:24 and twice in Acts. Our readers will recall that Matthew presents to us our Lord Jesus as KING. How very remarkable that in this Gospel we find the King of kings, the Captain of our Salvation, the Captain Who has never lost a battle, and Who never will lose one, — here we find Him six times in retreat. In this Gospel we do not see Him destroying His enemies, as He could so easily have done, but retreating before them. In this Gospel we see Him who is the King, “meek and lowly in heart.” It is in this Gospel our Lord says: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (26.53). But He did not pray for those legions: instead He allowed Himself to be bound, to be abused, to be scourged, to be crucified by wicked men. It looked like utter defeat, after years of retreat. Little did the enemy know that this was the greatest Victory that has ever been won: and won “by weakness and defeat.”

And through the centuries the soldiers of the King have often passed the same way: often has defeat seemed to be our portion; and retreat instead of advance has taken place. What a sad retreat we have watched with breaking hearts in China! But let us remember that the Captain under whom we are fighting is still in command: and He will yet prove to be the Victor, even in these sad, dark days of weakness and defeat. So, beloved fellow-soldiers, Take heart! Let us press on! Let us never be discouraged! We have a Captain in Whom we may implicitly trust: and the last words He says to us in the Gospel that tells so plainly of His retreat: are these: —

“All power is given unto ME in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore!”

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37).

Chapter 15

Inns, Guests, and Guest-Chambers — Kata-luma, Kata-lusai, Pan-docheion.

I suppose we all know well the lovely story of Zacchaeus, the Chief Publican of Jericho, told us in Luke 19:1-10. But the full beauty of this scene, it seems to me, does not appear on the surface. The words ‘to-be-guest’ are only one word in Greek: kata-luo: a verb. From this word we get the word kata-luma: a noun. This is the word used in the story of our Lord’s birth, in Luke 2:7, when “there was no room for them in the inn.” Here kata-luma is translated ‘inn’. The only other occasion on which this word is used in the New Testament is when the Lord ate the last supper with His disciples in the large upper room: told us by both Mark and Luke. The Lord instructed Peter and John to say to the goodman of the house, “The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples?” (Luke 22:11). And in Mark 14:14 we find the same question, but (in the better reading of the Greek text) one word is changed: “Where is My guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples?” Yes, it was His guestchamber; His disciples; and His supper.

Though kata-luma, the inn or guest chamber, is only used these three times, the verb, kata-luo is used some seventeen times; and with the exception of Luke 19:7 and Luke 9:12, it always means to ‘unloose,’ or, ‘undo’, to ‘pull down,’ or ‘destroy.’ See, for example, the Law in Matthew 5:17; or the Temple in Matthews 27:40; or its stones, in Matthew 24:2, etc. In the two exceptions, the word in Luke 19:7 is translated ‘to-be-guest’ (as we have seen already), and in Luke 9:12 it is translated ‘lodge.’ I think the thought is that when we lodge, or be a guest of someone, we relax, we loosen our clothes, we ungird, both ourselves and our beasts of burden. This gives us the fundamental thought in the noun, translated ‘inn’ or ‘guestchamber.’ But our Lord did not come to this world to rest or relax or ungird: He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister: and so it would have been utterly unfitting that He should have been born in an inn that had such a meaning as we have seen. And so He chose the stable. As we follow our Master’s footsteps through Luke’s Gospel, we find the foxes had holes, the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of man had not where to lay His head.

And now we find, again in Luke’s Gospel, that as He entered and passed through Jericho: the very last journey of any length our Lord ever took along these weary paths of earth: a man received Him; Yes, received Him joyfully, to be his guest. The Spirit of God is careful to use the same word (only a verb) as He had used in the second chapter of this Gospel to tell of the place where there was no room for Him, and they sent Him out to the stable. But here, in the house of Zacchaeus the publican, He has found a place where He may ungird, where He may relax, may rest. Full sure I am that in this home there was water for His feet, and oil for His head, and kisses in abundance: all of which were denied in Simon’s house in the seventh chapter of Luke. But Zacchaeus is a sinner, and Simon is a Pharisee. To the one much had been forgiven, to the other little: so the one loved much, while the other loved little. And it does not say that He went ‘to-be-guest’ (this lovely word) with Simon.

But there is another difference between the inn in Bethlehem and the home of Zacchaeus in Jericho. The inn where there was no room for the King of kings was located in Bethlehem, first, by interpretation, ‘The House of Bread’, the place where there was an abundance: and second, the birthplace of King David; the town foretold by the Prophet where the Messiah must be born. But Zacchaeus lived in Jericho, the ‘City of the Curse.’ (Joshua 6:26). Bethlehem’s inn had its opportunity to welcome the King of kings, the Lord of Glory, but the inn-keeper, who is not even mentioned, did not know “Jesus, who He was”, as Zacchaeus learned that day to know Him. Had he known, he would not have turned the Lord of Glory out to the stable.

In the 10th of Luke a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house, and she was careful and troubled to prepare a great feast for Him: but even that did not warrant the Spirit of God in using this lovely word, gone ‘to-be-guest’, in describing this visit. That word, kata-luo, is reserved for the home of “a man that is a sinner.” He, and he only, supplies to the Son of God what was refused Him at His birth: a loosing-down place: a place where He might ungird, and rest. And what rest and refreshment must that day have been to our Saviour, as He saw something of the travail of His soul, and in part was satisfied.

But there is a little more. The people who watched Him grumbled that He was “gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.” The Greek work is more than just ‘gone.’ It is rather, “He has entered in to be guest.” This seems to me to be much more vivid. I see Him walk up the path, and pass through the doorway, and enter right inside the house. And if there was joy in the presence of the angels that day, as we know there was, we know there was equal, nay, rather, there was greater joy inside that “sinner’s” house in Jericho. Joy for the sinner, truly: but joy that exceeded for the sinner’s Guest.

But let us look a little at the other kata-luma, the other ‘Guestchamber’, of which we read in Luke 22:11. And we have noted that Mark, who so loves to tell us little details of our Lord’s path down here, tells us that He called it ‘My guestchamber.’ I do not remember any other place in this world that He claimed as His own. And in this kata-luma, this ‘loosing-down-place’, instead of ungirding Himself, as we would have expected: we find He takes a towel and girds Himself, to do the slave’s work, of washing His disciples’ feet. But then He “took upon Him the form of a slave (doulou)” when He made Himself of no reputation. (Philippians 2:7). Years later Peter wrote, I doubt not recalling that evening in this Guestchamber, “Gird ye on the slave’s apron.” See note. 1 Peter 5:5. If we have the privilege of being the Lord’s guests in His Guestchamber, let us remember what the Lord did there that night, and also the words He added: “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.” But don’t forget, to do this we must first gird on the slave’s apron of humility.

{Note: eg-komboomai: from kombos, a knot, whence egkomboma, a garment tied on over others, used especially of a frock or apron worn by slaves. (Abbott-Smith’s Manual Greek Lexicon of the N.T.) End of note.}

In Ephesians 3:17 the Apostle prays that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” The word translated ‘dwell’ is the same word as in Matthew 2:23, “He came and dwelt at Nazareth.” The Greek word is kat-oikeo. The first part is the same word as is used in kata-luo, — to-be-guest; and the other part is from oikos, ‘a house.’ The whole word means ‘to settle, to dwell.’ Some think ‘To make one’s home’ is nearer the true meaning; or, perhaps, ‘to settle down.’ Either translation seems to bring a lovely thought: “That Christ may make His home in your hearts.” When I am in my ‘home’ every part of the house is open to me: nothing is hidden or closed: all is, in a sense, mine. I doubt not this is the meaning here in Ephesians. But before He can do this we need to receive Him joyfully, like Zacchaeus, and He must be able to claim my heart as His Guestchamber. And not only will He come in and sup with us, and we with Him: but we will find He makes our hearts His very home. In John 14:23 He tells us much the same: “If a man love Me he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” The word for ‘abode’ is the very same word translated ‘mansions’ in Verse 2. “In My Father’s house are many mansions: … I go to prepare a place for you.” He is preparing the mansions for us in the Father’s House; shall not we prepare a ‘home’, an ‘abode’, for Him now, down here? And the secret of preparing that ‘mansion’ for Him is to keep, not His commandments, as in Verse 21; but His words: which go further. Lord, help us so to do, for Thy Name’s sake!

One night, years ago, I was trying to tell a little group of Chinese refugees in Hong Kong about this wondrous promise. They mostly lived in Sik Kiet Mei, at that time one of the most miserable of all the refugee settlements in Hong Kong. Many of the ‘homes’ there were more miserable shacks than anything, I suppose, my readers have ever seen; just piled up at random on a wild, rough, steep hillside. One I knew well was only a hole in the earth dug under a great boulder, to form a sort of cave. I pointed out that He who was born in a stable was quite willing to make His Home with them at Sik Kiet Mei, if they kept His words. They looked very incredulous, and at last one asked, “Mr. Lee, have you ever seen Sik Kiet Mei on a dark, rainy night?” I had to admit I had not: there were no roads, hardly paths; and it was hard enough to find one’s way in the daylight: but yet I could assure them that if they kept His words, their Lord, the Lord of Glory, would gladly make His Home with them, even in Sik Kiet Mei. And another replied, “Yes, in our hearts, and that is the best place.”

But there is one other ‘inn’ mentioned in the New Testament, and I believe the only other. Once more we find it in Luke, chapter 10:34. A certain man went down from Jerusalem, the city where the holy Temple of God was built; he was going down to Jericho, the city of the curse: the home of Zacchaeus. But on the way he fell among thieves, who left him naked and wounded and half dead. A priest and a Levite passed by, but did nothing to help the wretched man. Then came ‘a certain Samaritan’, and as he journeyed, he came where he was; and he had compassion on him, and went right down into the ditch with him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; I am sure he clothed him with his own clothes, and he put him on his own beast, and he took him to an inn. Ah, but there was no room in the only other inn we read about in the New Testament: will there be room for him in this inn? Yes, Thank God, there is room, abundance of room, for him: for the name of this inn is not kata-luma, but, pan-docheion: the ‘place that receives all.’ Not one has ever been turned away from this inn. Poverty, wretchedness, sin will never keep a person outside the inn call Pan-docheion.’ It is God’s own inn. Never yet has an applicant been told there is ‘no room.’ It ‘receives all.’ “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out,” is, I think, inscribed over that door.

And this inn has a ‘Host,’ and the Spirit of God tells us His name: His name is ‘Pan-docheus’: the Person who receives all.’ And the Samaritan only stayed a short time, for he went away the next day; but before He left, He promised to come back, and in the meantime, He left orders with the ‘Host’: the ‘pan-docheus’, to take care of this poor man. He left Him two pence, but added, “And whatsoever Thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay Thee.” (Luke 10:35). Since He only paid ‘two pence’ the poor man knew that his good Friend meant to come again soon; and I am sure he kept watching down the road to see if He was coming.

“Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.”

Chapter 16

Christian Graces

Endurance — Hupomone

This word is generally translated “Patience” in our Authorized Version, and by “Endurance” in the New Translation by J. N. Darby. The original meaning of the Greek word is “Remaining Behind.” It comes from the verb, “I remain behind”, which in Luke 2:43 is translated in this way.

We find a very beautiful example of this word in the lovely story of Shammah in the field of lentiles in 2 Samuel 23:11-12. “After him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles; and the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great victory.”

Shammah “remained behind.” Shammah “endured.” There are, perhaps, few things more difficult than to endure. When others have given up, to remain behind, is not easy. I suppose Shammah’s friends and fellow-soldiers told him it was hopeless, it was certain death to stay where he was, and anyway for a field of lentiles (in the Chinese Bible it is “red beans”) it was not worth remaining behind. I expect David had given that field of lentiles to Shammah to defend. And you and I have been given a field of lentiles to defend, in the midst of which ‘great David’s Greater Son’ has placed us. Our field of lentiles may be our home, or the office, or the shop; it may be the little feeble company of two or three gathered to our Lord’s own Name, that others have despised and forsaken for something greater and more attractive. Our field of lentiles may not seem worth defending, and we may feel like giving up, or perhaps we are turning our eyes to fields that seem to us more attractive, and more worth while. Let us remember Shammah. who remained behind when the others fled. Let us endure, as he endured.

Our God is called “The God of Endurance”; “The God of Endurance and Encouragement.” (Romans 15:5, New Trans.) Many years ago some kind friends were urging a young man to give up some work the Lord had given him to do. He went in his perplexity to a dear old brother. He will never forget the way he exclaimed: “Give up? All giving up is of the devil!” Yes, our God is “the God of Endurance.”

I suppose every Christian is willing to “boast in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2. New Trans.), but now many of us can truthfully add: “And not only (that) , but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works endurance.” The word tribulation comes from the Latin word “tribulum”, “a flail.” The flail I used when a boy was a cruel looking instrument, made of two sticks of wood fastened together at the ends with a thong. You held one of the sticks, swinging it so that the other came down with a terrific whack on the wheat. The result was that the chaff and straw were separated from the wheat. The chaff and straw were blown away, while the wheat remained. The wheat endured. The flail brought tribulation to it, right enough, but by that tribulation the wheat obtained endurance.

It may be you have been having some pretty heavy blows with the flail. You may feel that you have been having more than your share of tribulation. May the God of Endurance give you to boast in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation works Endurance. You will have noticed the way James opens his epistle. Immediately after the greeting, (which only takes one verse), he plunges straight into his subject. “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various temptations (Peirasmos: An Experiment, a trial, a testing, a temptation. We are put into the crucible, like the chemists do the substances they are testing). “Count it all joy when ye fall into various temptations, knowing that the proving of your faith works endurance.” Bishop Ellicott says: “In the noble word hupomone there always appears in the New Testament a background of andreia (manliness) … it does not mark merely the endurance, but the perseverance, … the brave patience with which the Christian contends against the various hindrances, persecutions and temptations that befall him in his conflict with the inward and the outward world.”

Yes, Endurance is so precious, and of such inestimable value, that we may count it all joy when we fall into these trials, because we know they work endurance. “But let endurance have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-3). And the passage we looked at in Romans, says: “We also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works endurance; and endurance, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not make ashamed.” Yes, Endurance works experience. That is what our hymn tells us:
“His love in times past
Forbids us to think
He’ll leave us at last,
In trouble to sink.”

This is experience, and it was endurance taught it. Do you think Shammah would have missed the experience he gained by that fight in the lentile field? Never! And when we get Home, we will see that some of these hard places on the road were the bits we would not have missed for anything. They worked Endurance.

The first mark of a true servant of God is “Endurance.” “In everything commending ourselves as God’s ministers (or, servants), in much endurance,” (2 Corinthians 6:4). The false servant, the hireling, fled when he saw the wolf coming; but the Good Shepherd “remained behind.” He endured. Endurance was also the first sign of an Apostle. “The signs indeed of the apostle were wrought among you in all endurance …” (2 Corinthians 12:12).

Years ago my work took me to the woods in the North of Canada, far from any Christian services. One Lord’s Day morning I was reading the first chapter of Colossians. I got as far as the eleventh verse, and I read: “Strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory …” and I stopped there, somewhat overwhelmed by the stupendous display of mighty power. And as I stopped, I dreamed of the great deeds I would some day do for the Lord, with all this mighty power on which I might so freely draw; what crowds might be converted; how the heathen might be won for Christ! Then I decided to finish the verse: “Strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy.” It was a bit of a shock, for in those days I had never thought very much of endurance, or of patience either, as it is put in our ordinary English Bible. But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; and God knows the true worth of Endurance, and just the power that is needed for it, especially when “longsuffering”, or “suffering-for-a-long-time”, is connected with it; and the whole is done not with a spirit of being sorry for ourselves, but, “with joy.” Ah, my brothers, my sisters, you will find you do indeed need to be “strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory”, if you are to have “all endurance and longsuffering with joy.” We never, never can do it in our own strength, but Thanks be to God, He does not ask us to use our own strength, and He offers us all this vast store of power on which to freely draw, with unlimited demands, and all for the sake of Endurance: “Endurance and longsuffering with joy.” It is not easy, but, Thank the Lord, He can do it for us; He can work it in us.

The Apostle used to boast about the Endurance of his dear children in Faith, the Thessalonian Christians. “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and Endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). And their Endurance kept up, for in the Second Epistle we find he is still boasting of it, “Your faith increases exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all towards one another abounds; so that we ourselves make our boast in you in the assemblies of God for your Endurance and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations, which ye are sustaining.” (2 Thessalonians 1:4). They had the real, genuine thing; their Endurance did not break down.

There are some things that pursue us, press after us. This word “Dioko”, “Pursue” or “Press after” is an intensely interesting word, but we may not stop to pursue it now. The things that press after us are very often troubles, (not always: for Goodness and Mercy are amongst the things that very earnestly press after us, as well as other good things); But we are to press after quite a lot of things; you will find a list of some of them in 1 Timothy 6:11-12; and amongst these you will find Endurance. Yes, we are to press after Endurance. These days are apt to be soft days, and we do not like to endure hardness if we can help it; but remember, it is not wealth, nor ease, nor comfort, nor learning, we are to press after; but Endurance, as well as other blessed graces we may not mention now.

The Apostle could say to Timothy, his son in the faith: “Thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my … endurance.” (2 Timothy 3:10). Yes, Timothy knew how Paul had remained behind when John Mark gave up and deserted him; He knew how Paul had endured when Peter gave up the truth at Antioch, and all the others with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away; but Paul remained behind in the true faith. And in Second Timothy 4:16 the old Apostle, Paul the Aged, tells his child in the faith how “all deserted me.” But Paul Endured, he remained behind, and faced Nero alone; “and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.” Few there are indeed who have Endured like Paul, and few were acquainted with his Endurance like Timothy.

Paul tells Titus that the “elder men” were to have Endurance, though this would indeed include patience (See Titus 2:2, New Trans. Note). It may be that as we get older we learn to value this quality more. The urge and impetuosity of youth has passed away, perhaps. But, Thank the Lord, Endurance is one quality we old folks who are not good for much may, and should, have. Keep on in the race, dear old Friend, the goal is almost in sight, “Press toward the Mark!” Endure!

And Hebrews 10:36 tells us we have need of Endurance in order that, having done the will of God, we may receive the promise. We can see “the streaks in the sky.” The Bright and Morning Star will soon appear, and make good all the promises. But now, in the darkest part of the night, just before the dawn, “Ye have need of Endurance.” And those who have Endured, we call happy. “Ye have heard of the Endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful.” (James 5:11). Sweet attributes are these to link up with Endurance. It did not look like tender compassion and pity in the early chapters of Job. But it was true for Job, and it is true for us. Tribulation did work Endurance, and if we let it, tribulation will work Endurance for us too, and we also will prove the Lord to be “full of tender compassion and pitiful.”

And in that famous addition sum of Peter’s (2 Peter 1:5-6), we find our word once again: Endurance! To our Faith add Courage: to our Courage add Knowledge: to our Knowledge add Self-control: to our Self-Control add Endurance, and to Endurance add Brotherly Affection: and to our Brotherly Affection add Love. May God help us so to do.

“Let us therefore, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight, and sin which so easily entangles us, run with Endurance the race that lies before us, looking steadfastly on JESUS the Leader and Completer of faith: who, in view of the joy lying before Him, Endured the cross, having despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider well Him who Endured so great contradiction of sinners against Himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds.” (Hebrews 12:1 to 3).

Endure hardness as a Good Soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:3)

Chapter 17

On Throwing — Ek-ballo, Dia-ballo.

One of the commonest words in the Greek New Testament is Ballo, ‘I throw,’ or its derivatives. There are a number of words formed from this word, by adding a preposition to it, as, for example: Ek-ballo, ‘I throw out.’ We get our English word ‘ball’ from this word ballo, so every time a boy or girl talks about a ‘ball’, he can be reminded of this word in the Greek New Testament. Actually it is very rarely translated ‘throw’, but rather, ‘cast’, ‘put,’ or occasionally, ‘lay.’ In Mark 12:42, the poor widow ‘threw’ in two mites; and in Acts 22:23, the mob who tried to kill Paul ‘threw’ dust into the air.

I want you to think for a little while about the word ek-ballo, ‘I-throw-out.’ It is translated in a number of different ways: ‘cast out’ Matthew 7:5; ‘send forth’ Matthew 12:20; ‘drove out’ John 2:15, etc. The thought is, I believe, forcibly sending something, or someone, out: as a boy forcibly sends a ball out, when he throws it. The ball is not consulted as to this, the force and power all come from the one who throws it. If you will turn to Matthew 9:38 or Luke 10:2, you will see words something like these: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” The word translated ‘send forth’ is ek-ballo in each of these Gospels. The Lord of the Harvest Himself is the one that sends forth, or, thrusts forth (New Trans.) these labourers. It is not left to the labourer’s own choice as to whether he will go or not. No man, not even a mission board, has the authority to send forth these labourers. No, the Lord of the harvest alone has right to send forth a labourer. And I need hardly add that if the Lord of the harvest sends forth a labourer, He will make Himself responsible for the support and care of that labourer: even though he may share some of the sufferings of the Apostle Paul, described in 2 Corinthians 11; such as ‘weariness and painfulness, watchings often, hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold and nakedness’ and, Oh, so many more. But the Apostle reckoned that these sufferings, which were but for a moment, were not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. See Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.
“I will give her My cross of suffering,
My cup of sorrow to share:
But in robes of white, in the Glory bright,
All shall be righted there.”

But there is another word we must consider in this Scripture, and that is the word that the Lord used here for ‘Pray.’ “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.” There are a number of words used in the New Testament for pray, but this is the strongest of them all. It is deomai: it might be translated ‘beseech’, or ‘supplicate.’ Mr. Darby uses ‘supplicate’ in his New Translation. Now, Beloved, I wonder how many of us obey the Lord’s command (for it is a command) given to us in these verses. I wonder how often in our own private prayers we supplicate the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth labourers. I wonder how often in the Prayer Meetings do we hear this earnest, fervent supplication. I fear not very often. Is it for this reason that the labourers are so pitifully few? The harvest is just as great as ever, and the right sort of labourers unspeakably few: so this prayer the Lord taught His disciples is just as applicable as ever for our own day.

The next word I would ask you to consider is Dia-ballo. It means literally ‘I throw across.’ It is only used once in the New Testament as a verb, that is in Luke 16:1. Here it is translated ‘accuse.’ It may remind us of the old proverb, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” And the meaning of the word has come to be, ‘To slander, defame, accuse falsely or maliciously.’ Where it is used in Luke 16, it tells of someone who accused the unjust steward to his master. Now the use of this word lets us know that it was not out of love to the master that he did this, but out of spite to the steward.

There is one very striking example of a man who ‘threw across’ stones and dust with a malicious intent. His name is Shimei, and we may read the story in 2 Samuel 16:5-13. “Shimei went along on the hill’s side over against him (David, his rejected king) , and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.” David is a picture of our Lord Jesus, the true King, but rejected and cast out. How many there are who like to throw stones at Him today, or at His followers. And, sad to say, there is many a true Christian even now who seems to spend his time throwing stones and dust at his fellow-Christians: and it is much to be feared, sometimes doing it with malicious intent. In fact he is doing the work called in the New Testament, dia-ballo.

Now, there is one, more than any other who does this work. In fact so constantly is he employed in it, — the work of casting stones and dust at the Lord’s people, — that in the New Testament this personage has won for himself the name, Dia-boles,’ ‘The one who throws (stones) ,’ or ‘The Slanderer.’ This word is used many times, and with three exceptions, (1 Timothy 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3) it is always translated ‘devil.’ This ought to pull some of us up pretty sharply. Are we doing the work of the devil: helping him in his own special work of accusing the brethren (Revelation 12:10)? (And even Peter could do the work of the devil).

This is a very solemn question for us to ask ourselves. Are we helpers in the Lord’s harvest fields today, by supplicating the Lord of the harvest to thrust forth (ek-ballo) labourers into His harvest fields? or, Are we weakening the hands of His labourers by throwing stones and dust across at them (dia-ballo)? There are, I doubt not, labourers today standing idle; while the harvest fields are white, waiting for them: and all because some of us have been employed in dia-ballo instead of ek-ballo.

I can hardly leave this word dia-ballo without a reference to the three places where it is not translated ‘devil.’ The first (1 Timothy 3:11) refers to the wives of the deacons, and tells them they are not to be slanderers, — not to be ‘devils,’ for ‘devil’ means ‘slanderer.’ The second scripture is 2 Timothy 3:3, and tells us that in the last days men shall be … false accusers: that is ‘slanderers.’ This is one of the marks of the times in which we live: and brothers and sisters alike are liable to fall into this horrid sin. The third time this word is used in this way (Titus 2:3) is in a special message to the “aged women” that they are not to be ‘false accusers.’

Some of the stones and dust that we throw hurt far more than ever we intended they should; and let us bear in mind that we can greatly hinder the work of the Lord, on the one hand, or greatly help it, on the other by our use of ekballo or diaballo.
Which is it going to be???

Chapter 18

The Last Lap of the Narrow Way — Thlipsis, Plateia.

The “Narrow Way” begins at the “Strait Gate.” (Matthew 7:13-14). The Greek word here for “Narrow” is thlibo, meaning ‘compressed.’ It is also translated ‘afflicted’ (2 Corinthians 1:6); ‘suffer tribulation’ (1 Thessalonians 3:4); ‘troubled’ (2 Corinthians 7:5). The Greek word thlipsis (formed from thlibo) is used over and over again to describe the normal path of the Christian through this world. For instance, in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” we have thlipsis used. In Romans 5:3, “We glory in tribulation,” we find this word again. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, “Our light affliction,” it is the same. And the examples might be greatly multiplied. The Bible makes it unmistakeably clear that the “Narrow Way” is a way of tribulation.

We must remember that the word ‘strait’, in the expression “The strait gate,” is an entirely different word in English to ‘straight’. We speak of a ‘straight line;’ but a ‘strait gate’ means a ‘narrow gate.’ The Greek word is a ‘stenos’ gate. It is used three times in the New Testament, and always means ‘narrow.’ From this word stenos another word is formed, stenochoreo. This word is used seven times in the New Testament, including the noun formed from it. In 2 Corinthians 6:12 we read: “Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.” In Romans 8:35: “Shall … distress?” 2 Corinthians 6:4: “In necessities, in distresses;” 2 Corinthians 12:10: “In distresses for Christ’s sake.” So we see that the ‘Strait Gate’ by which we enter the ‘Narrow Way’ is one that brings us distress and pressure. That is the proper, normal path for the Christian in this world. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12). True, we may seek to reign as kings down here, and dwell in our ‘ceiled houses:’ but that is not the path marked out by our Master for His servants.

And what is the ‘Last Lap’ of this ‘Narrow Way’? It leads us to “The Street of the City,” the Heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:21; 22:2). The word for ‘Street’ here is plateia or platus. It means ‘Broad’ or ‘wide,’ and is the word used for “Wide is the gate” in Matthew 7:13. We walk the ‘Narrow Way’ down here: but when we get Home, we will find that it led to the ‘Broad Street,’ paved with gold where are the ‘Many Mansions.’ And then we will find it was no mistake when the Apostle said that our light thlipsis, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, (that is the length of the Narrow Way compared to the length of the Broad Street above), worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17).

And what is the ‘Last Lap’ of the ‘Broad Way’ that is entered through the ‘Wide Gate’ that leadeth to destruction? Romans 2:9 gives us the answer: “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” ‘Tribulation’ here is thlipsis, and ‘Anguish’ here is stenochoria, the very words we have just seen that mark the path of the Christian through this world! The Christian starts with the ‘Strait Gate’ and the ‘Narrow Way’ that tell of Tribulation and Anguish, but they are but for a moment,’ and he ends in the ‘Broad Street’ and the Many Mansions, for Eternity. The Unbeliever starts with the ‘Wide Gate’ and the ‘Broad Way’ that perhaps tell of ease and luxury: but they end in thlipsis and stenochoria, — Tribulation and Anguish, — for Eternity!

“CHOOSE YE TODAY!”