by H. J. Vine.
The Lord’s Return
“Behold, He comes!” These words still await their fulfilment. When on earth, Jesus said, “I will come again!” And from heaven He has said, “Surely I come quickly!” and these are His last words to us in the inspired Book. “By the word of the Lord,” Paul said, “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout!” and in Philippians 3:20, “We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” from heaven!
Some of us have waited for His return for many years; and He has meanwhile taught us lessons of grace, which are valuable beyond estimation. We have proved the true joy which the divinely granted assurance of the Lord’s return gives, and the purifying effect, also, of the bright and blessed hope which we have in the Son of God. This hope has lifted faith’s gaze to Himself, and given to our hearts stability and holy gladness in what lies beyond this present, passing world. We rejoice in the word, “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry!”
It may therefore be asked, “Will He come soon then?” Most certainly He will! This has often been rightly said in the past, and it may be said with increased emphasis now, for obviously the Lord’s return must be nearer than ever it was.
Speaking in the ordinary language of men, it might be said, to come soon means in a few days, or a few weeks at the longest; but the language of the Spirit of God speaks thus, “Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.” Nay, for since His first coming the Lord has been away only two days according to the divine reckoning! A complete period of days is seven! and it has been said by some, The seventh day will probably be the day of the earth’s rest and blessing—the millennium—the thousand years of Christ’s public reign, the time so often spoken of in the Scriptures. It is a fact that we are at the close of the first six days—the first six thousand years of man’s history on earth—and the seventh therefore must be nigh. We may not speak with absolute certainty as to this, but is it not more than possible that the glorious reign of Christ will fill up the seventh millennium of man’s history?
This, however is quite certain. A great deal must quickly happen before that reign begins! When speaking of the preparatory judgments, and of His dealings with Israel in view of that time, Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly He finds you sleeping … And what I say unto you, I SAY UNTO ALL, WATCH.”
At that time He also said, “Learn a parable of the fig tree; when her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.” That distinctly refers to national life reviving in Israel; for Israel is the fig tree in Scripture. A national home in the land of promise through the foretold means of a maritime nation has become a fact and is being taken advantage of by numbers of Jews; and though serious interruptions will take place, as is clearly indicated in Scripture, nevertheless the present movement will doubtless go on, indicating that the Lord’s return must be near; that is, His return to establish Israel again in national eminence in their own land. That being so, how much nearer must be the moment of His coming to take out of the earth those who are saved by grace! His church, the out-called from the nations for His name now, will be the up-called from the earth to be with Himself then! We are told that our Lord Jesus Christ died for us; that whether we be watching or sleeping in the grave, when He returns, we may live in the glory together with Him!
Many of Israel’s scholars and teachers, after long centuries of contumely, are now speaking in terms of high esteem concerning Jesus, whom they designate, “One of Israel’s sons”; and some anxiety is observable among them as to their treatment of Him. What a blessed day it will be when, as Zechariah 12:10 says, “They shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” All Israel shall then be saved; and the other nations, as well as the peoples of the earth, shall be blessed through and in association with them, for the Lord Himself said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” But those who are already saved by grace must be glorified on high with Christ before Israel can be nationally blessed on earth. Christ Jesus is our Hope—the Son of the Father’s love! Christ Jesus is Israel’s Hope as the Son of David! Christ Jesus is the Hope of the whole world, for He is also the Son of Man! Glory, glory, glory to His holy name!
In 1 John 4:14 we read, “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”; and He will surely bring that world-wide salvation to pass. Long ago the prophet said, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” By His atoning death, our Lord Jesus Christ has laid the righteous foundation for this to be brought about. He died for us truly, but He also “tasted death for every thing,” and, being now glorified upon the throne of God, He will presently shine forth and FILL THE EARTH WITH HIS GLORY. The sweet singer of Israel sang:
“His name shall endure for ever, His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed.”
And David’s desires reached their climax when he concluded:
“Blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended” (Psalm 72:20).
David’s thoughts rose to the height of earthly blessing. Great David’s greater Son, exalted on high, has opened for us the heavenly heights of glory above. Therefore, the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven has awakened in our hearts desires accordingly; and all over the world now, among true believers on the Son of God, there are deep longings for His coming again, to translate them from earth to heaven, to be for ever with Himself. The mighty reality of this hope has a practical effect; and at any moment they expect that word to be fulfilled, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,” and we shall be caught up together “TO MEET THE LORD!”
Yes, it is for our all-powerful, all-loving Saviour from the heavens we look! the One to whom we owe all! the One who saved us! the One who brought us into divine favour and acceptance! the One who suffered first for our sins and is coming to claim His redeemed! the One whose death we show until He comes! the One to whom we righteously belong for time and eternity, both by creation and redemption! the One in whom all things in heaven as well as upon earth are to be centred! Therefore we deeply desire His coming again, that the riches of grace and glory may fill all things with redemption splendour, to the praise of the glory of God.
The feeblest member of the assembly, the body of Christ, is necessary for that day of heavenly rejoicing. Whether perplexed or prospered now, weak or well, persecuted or praised, distressed or happy, dishonoured or favoured, whatever our present earthly lot may be, we belong to Christ; He gave Himself for the assembly; and He will present all to Himself in glory and love, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, for His own joy and satisfaction.
Yes, “Behold He comes!” He will come! He cannot deny Himself! He must come! Jesus is David’s Son, and the throne awaits His return! He is the Son of Man, and universal glory awaits His outshining! He is the Son of God, our divine Saviour and Love!, the bright morning Star, and we know His own promise to come again cannot fail! Moreover, His feet are yet to stand again “upon the Mount of Olives”; and “the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:4, 9); but before that swiftly approaching day dawns, as we have said, we shall be caught up to meet Him! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Meanwhile, may divine grace keep our lamps burning brightly for Thy praise!
“Watching and ready may we be,
As those that wait their Lord to see.”
The Lord’s Supper
The supper of remembrance was instituted by the Lord, that His own might have a very definite way of remembering Himself together during the time of His rejection, and of announcing His death until He returns.
The special instruction in regard to it, given by the Spirit to us who are called out from among the Gentiles, is found in 1 Corinthians 11:17-26; and it was received from the Lord by Paul to deliver to us, so that we might know how to carry it out when we are “together in assembly” till He comes.
Those who know the Lord as risen, ascended, and as present in the midst of His own when thus together, will, as they sit thus before Him, be led by the Spirit to think of all that His great love endured for us and for the glory of God. The Lord and His love will fill the thoughts of our worshipping hearts. Those thoughts mature and deepen as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ., but we never outgrew all the grace and love and perfection seen in Jesus, but rather cherish them the more.
The study of the Word in relation to the remembrance of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us should be approached in the sense of the greatness of that love, and of the greatness and grace of the One who so loves us. “The night of His betrayal,” when the supper was instituted, will utter volumes to the heart then. The meaning of the broken bread and the poured out wine will deeply speak to our hearts of His body given for us and His blood shed for us, as we remember Him Who did this, the One we now know as victorious over death and the grave, and ascended to the right hand of God. All the Scriptures may be studied in view of this. All point to the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. The burnt offering, the peace offering, and the others in the early chapters of Leviticus point very wonderfully to the precious death of our Lord, and help us in the understanding of its profound import, as well as giving us a richer sense of His perfect love told out there.
The Love of the Brethren
“We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14).
When the purpose of God has come to full fruition in a reconciled universe; when the eternal results of the purpose of the ages in Christ Jesus our Lord have become the glory of radiant hosts; when the Saviour shines in supreme splendour as the Head and Centre of all; when, among the many brethren, who shall be fully conformed to His image, He is known as the Firstborn; then the love of the brethren for God and for one another will be fervent, full and unhindered, pure, perfect and eternal.
To be devoid of that love is to be devoid of eternal life—of life in the Son of God. “He that loves not his brother abides in death.” There may be a high religious profession, and a zeal for Christianity so-called, but to be destitute of love for the brethren is to be destitute of divine life. Any one, no matter what his pretentions, who is without this love is dead: he has not “passed from death to life.” Amidst the mixed state of that which uses the Name of Christ today, this becomes an essential and healthful test for us. The Holy Spirit foretold these times through Paul, so we need not be surprised by the present condition of things, but rather the Revelation.
Divine love is specially given as the vital test in what the Spirit of God has spoken through John’s writings. Having loved His own who were in the world, our Lord Jesus Christ loved them to the end, and “His own” are to love one another as He loved them.
It is cheering and edifying to see the way the apostles expressed their love for the brethren in their epistles. This stands out in vivid contrast to the cold statements of officials in religious documents today. The apostles showed zealous care for the flock; and they also preached the gospel with untiring earnestness; whilst, to them, all those who belonged to the assembly were brethren beloved, for whom, writes one apostle, “we ought to lay down our lives,” because the Son of God laid down His life for us. It is by this that love is known to the children of God.
Some may say, “How can we love those we have never seen?” Paul did so. He wrote to the brethren at Rome before he had been there. “I greatly desire to see you,” he said; “to have mutual comfort among you” (1:11-12). To the Colossians he wrote, “I would have you know what combat I have for you, and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in flesh; to the end that their hearts may be encouraged, being united together in love” (2:1-2); and he spoke in the same letter of their “love in the spirit” for himself; of their “love to all the saints”; of “Tychicus the beloved brother”; and of “Luke the beloved physician,” who saluted them. To the Corinthians—though he had to say to them, “I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1)—yet he affectionately called them “my beloved brethren” (1 Corinthians 15:58), for they were so. “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus,” he said, as he encouraged them to show love one to another. The letter to the saints at Ephesus, after the vast and exalted unfoldings which it contains, is concluded with words which fervently breathe strong affection, “Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption.” Do we also find the same Spirit-begotten desires in our hearts for “all” such? “God is my witness,” he wrote to the brethren at Philippi, “how I long after you all in the bowels of Christ Jesus” (1:8). “So that, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, thus stand fast in the Lord, beloved” (4:1). What true and deep love expressed itself then. James, in his letter, over and over again spoke to the brethren as his “beloved.” Peter also reiterates the same endearing term in both his letters; and exhorts the brethren to be “all of one mind, having compassion one of another—love as brethren.” The same expression of love is found in John. His last letter begins, “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.” All recognized the presence of the divine nature with the saints; and they knew well how to encourage and strengthen the gracious work of God in them; therefore this beautiful affection and trustfulness found free expression in holiness and truth. Why should it not be so now? The nature, the work and the grace are the same—divine and holy in their origin. Failure and difficulty existed then even as they do now; but that which is in Christ abides now as then. It is this which is to be furthered. The “elect of God, holy and beloved” are still so.
In the revival of recent times, which partook of an apostolic character, these expressions of affection and confidence showed themselves with much emphasis at the beginning; but, all at once, save with some of the least known, they suddenly disappeared, like the warmth of summer before the chill of an early winter. One aged servant recently remarked, “Times of quarrelling and violence came upon us then.” He himself said, when speaking of 1 John, and of the love of the brethren which is given prominence to in that letter, “I have to judge myself for having so little of it.” Alas, this is where we all fail; though love itself “never fails.” This is a striking feature stated in 1 Corinthians 13, and we should all do well to ponder it. Those who have a professed zeal for certain teachings—mistaken perhaps in thinking they understand them better than other brethren whom they disparage—might benefit with us all, by heeding one of the last-written exhortations of an honoured teacher, flowing from matured judgment and experience “I do add, let not JOHN’S MINISTRY be forgotten in insisting on Paul’s.” His next, and latest dated letter in print, shows, too, that he looked for no narrowing of the testimony, but rather for a widening out, for he says, “I feel satisfied that if there be a God’s hand upon us, and lovely confidence in the purpose of the Father for THE GLORY OF HIS OWN SON, there will be a great deal of blessing, and the SPREADING FORTH into doors which He opens” (Letters J.N.D. Volume 3, p. 345. March 19, 1882). This must always be the way of divine love.
Love to God and to one another is inseparable. “Everyone that loves Him that has begotten loves Him also that is begotten of Him.” He that loves not his brother whom he has seen cannot have love to God whom he has not seen, though he may say he has. “But,” says someone, “we must keep His commandments.” Truly! “And this commandment have we from Him, that he that loves God love also his brother” (1 John 4:21). There is nothing grievous in this; for where the divine nature is, the desires correspond exactly to this commandment, which gives liberty to those desires to express themselves in obedience and truth.
Who are the Brethren?
The answer to this question is all-important to those who desire to respond to the Word which exhorts us to love the brethren. It is a vital matter; for if we do love them, we know we have passed out of death into life; and, today, we are surrounded with a worldwide brotherhood movement, which embraces those who are still in death; those who have not received Christ Jesus the Lord; therefore, in connection with our subject, it is necessary for us to know who the brethren really are, according to the Word of God; otherwise we may be led astray, and, though a true believer, be found amongst the dead like those addressed in Ephesians 5:14. The importance of this matter is also intensified, because of the existence of a proud ecclesiasticism on the one hand, and of a false evangelism on the other. The one is distant, cold and official, loveless and “dead,” though often ethical, being also a restraint to certain worldly and national dangers. The other knows little or nothing of this restraint, but, taking the line of good-in-all-men, bases its mistaken appeals and organizations on that ground. Neither is characterized by the scriptural marks which associate themselves with those spoken of in the Word as “brethren in Christ.”
I speak not now of individuals, but of systems. There are also petty parties, schools of opinion, sects and other evils to be avoided. We will turn, however, to the positive and vital side of our subject, for the Bible’s answer to our question will show us that which we are to associate with, and thus we shall be preserved from the dangers referred to.
The first thing to see is: The brethren are “the born of God.” The nation of Israel were the people of God by natural birth, the brethren have their beginning in a new birth; they are born of the Word and the Spirit. “Everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” There is consequently a new nature; therefore we read, “Everyone that loves has been begotten of God.” He would have a new family of this sort; even as James writes to his “beloved brethren”, “According to His own will begat He us, that we should be a certain firstfruits of His creatures” (1:18). If we are not of this company by our natural birth, neither does baptism, confirmation or church membership introduce us to it; nor joining a sect, school or party, no matter how scriptural the name claimed by such. The “brethren” of scripture are not thus denominated, and while the name may seem to express the truth, it is often used in an intensely sectarian way, the more subtle because it is scriptural. And when the names of special teachers are used as distinguishing and dividing how sinfully is the sectarian leaven manifest. It is a shame to us all, especially when we think of the fact that Christ died to gather us together in one—all the brethren—all the children of God, for they are all “BORN OF GOD.”
2. The brethren are the “forgiven.’’ Eternal and justifying forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in Him, is theirs; as it is said, “Your sins are forgiven you for His Name’s sake” (1 John 2:12). Again, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” They were remembered once upon Him, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree; therefore, “where there is remission of these, there is no longer a sacrifice for sin,” because the work is done once for all, and they are eternally FORGIVEN.
3. They are the cleansed. They stand in all the value of the blood of Christ. Judicially, before God, they are discharged from every sin, for the blood has met His holy claims. It is not that they are being met day by day, or moment by moment, as some think; but the value of the one sacrifice perfectly meets all, as we read, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin” (1 John 1:7, New Translation). “By one offering He has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14, New Translation). Once for ever they are judicially CLEANSED.
4. They are the sealed by the Spirit. It is true of all the children of God that they have received the Holy Spirit, as it is said, “Ye have the unction from the Holy One.” When we heard the gospel, and believed on the Christ of whom it speaks, He came to seal and indwell us; as it is written, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom having believed ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13, New Translation); and, “Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” The brethren are all SEALED BY THE SPIRIT.
5. They are the children of God. Some of them may enter into this wonderful fact with greater intelligence and appreciation than others. They may understand this great honour and act up to it better than others of the family. We see this even in an earthly prince’s house. Some members of his family show a greater sense of the dignity that is theirs than others; nevertheless, all are alike of the family. So great is the honour bestowed upon us, it is said, “Be ye followers of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1); and, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the CHILDREN OF GOD.“
6. They are the possessors of life in the Son of God—they have eternal life. “God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life: he that has not the Son of God has not life”; and we are told that the first letter of John was written that we may “know” that we “have eternal life who believe on the Name of the Son of God” (5:13). The brethren are POSSESSORS OF LIFE.
7. They are the members of Christ’s body, the assembly. Some may inconsistently be members of other bodies; but, surely, if God has brought us to be members of the body of Christ, if we understand the privilege and dignity of this, we shall avoid membership of man-made systems of religion. What can be greater than belonging to “the assembly which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all”? To seek other membership is not only to show a poor appreciation of the honour which is ours, but to slight the love which Christ has shown in giving Himself for the assembly, and also the care which He lavishes upon it. “No-one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the assembly: for we are members of His body; we are of His flesh and of His bones.” The brethren are THE MEMBERS OF CHRIST’S BODY.
Space and time forbid our dwelling at length on other distinguishing features of the brethren, as they are revealed in the Scriptures. In contrast to the world and to being still in sin, they are “in Christ.” As in Him they are saved, redeemed, and justified by God; they are taken into His favour for ever—“accepted in the Beloved”; yea, they are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). They have passed from darkness to light, from death into life, from Satan to God, from the authority of oppression into the Kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. They are now living stones, who have come to Christ the Living Stone, and are collectively built together for a spiritual house, an habitation of God in the Spirit. They are “the saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and that by God’s call, and not by man’s decree.
Finally, the risen Son of God, the Lord of Glory, speaks of them as His brethren (John 20:17). What infinite grace! We are also told, that, like Aaron’s priestly family, they are all of one with Himself, “for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). They are not of the world, He said, even as I am not of the world. Universal brotherhood and political-religious organizations are excluded by these words. To His brethren He makes known the ineffable grace of God, saying, “I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren.” They speak of Him as “LORD,” not as “brother,” or even “elder brother,” though their hearts may well rejoice greatly that He should speak of then as brethren.
Their Relationships and Responsibilities
We have partly anticipated our subject in examining what the Word of God tells us as to who are the brethren. It is necessary, however, to understand the relationships which are ours as “brethren in Christ,” otherwise we shall fail to carry out the responsibilities connected with those relationships; or, like many, nowadays, waste our precious time and energies in religious works which “brethren in Christ” are not instructed in Scripture to be engaged in at all. Through this, like Israel of old, who lost their blessing before Jehovah, many lose the enjoyment of that which is theirs in Christ, and consequently cease to respond practically to the grace and love of God.
It is therefore important to be rightly established in the truth which is made known concerning our relationships, then the response in carrying them out will not be found irksome, as abundance of grace and power are divinely supplied for this, and the will of God is found to be “good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2), as the Word says.
First, then, they stand in special relation to God as the subjects of His saving grace. That grace has righteously cleared them from the judgment which was their due in their former condition, and justified them freely through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, and He gives to them the sense of the new relationship which is theirs as the Sons of God, “a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” We do not now speak of natural relationships, which, indeed, are to be recognized and beautified in divine grace; nor of our place under government, where we are to be subject to the authorities (Romans 13:1); but those which are ours in redemption—which belong to “brethren in Christ.”
The same grace which has saved, and brought into adoption, has also given to the brethren the nearness and dignity of priests to God. They have access to Him now as priests, and their offerings are of a spiritual character, and acceptable to Him who is righteous and holy by Jesus Christ. They are loved by Him, washed from their sins in His blood, and made priests to His God and Father (1 Peter 2:5, and Revelation 1:5-6).
We have spoken of the adoption which is theirs; but they are also begotten of God, and are consequently His children. It is said, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.” In this precious relationship God is known as Father, and the love of that relationship is theirs to appreciate. Paul speaks mostly of our judicial adoption as “sons”; John, of our being begotten as “children.” It is in John 20:17 where their new and wonderful relationship is declared by the risen Son of God, that they stand in it as He Himself does, for he said, “My Father and your Father, My God and your God.” This was said in a message to those He graciously named, “My brethren.” Elsewhere we read that God has given the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Mark, that involves the Spirit of this relationship, as well as the relationship itself. How blessed this is.
The relationships we have spoken of are to God, and there are those also in which brethren stand as to Christ; the Holy Spirit being the power of them. Moreover, they all involve relationships with one another. Even the individual blessings have what is collective in view. It is so with the subjects of saving grace; with those who approach as priests; and with the family of God’s children; and when we speak of the “ONE BODY IN CHRIST,” the exercise of their different “offices” in that body can only be rightly carried out with reference to others. “For, as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; thus we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other.” The relationship in view here is not quite the same as that of the body of which Christ is Head. This is “in Christ”; and the members have offices and gifts which they receive through divine grace—“the grace given.”
There is then the further relationship of being MEMBERS OF CHRIST’S BODY, the assembly, of which He is the Head. This is more intimate, and involves not simply union, but unity. The members are one with Christ. The members are united to their glorious Head, as well as to one another. When, as Man, He was exalted above all, the Spirit came down from Him, and took up His abode in those who belonged to Christ, baptising them into one body, and livingly uniting them to their exalted Head in heaven. All who have heard and believed the gospel since, have been brought into that vital body. The relationship begun then exists now, however little it may be understood. What joy the heart experiences when it sings in truth—
“Lord Jesus! are we one with Thee?
O height! O depth of love!
And crucified and dead with Thee,
Now one in heaven above.
Ascended high, in glory bright,
Life-giving Head Thou art;
Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height,
Thy saints and Thee can part.”
The grace of God having justified them, and a spirit of adoption being given, so that the brethren in Christ are not only freed from judgment but brought into a place of favour with God, the responsibility to respond to such grace—shown to them through our Lord Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection—becomes a matter of true liberty. Having got their freedom from sin, now, by serving God, fruit appears unto holiness, and the end eternal life (Romans 6:22). The Spirit, too, being given to them; as they walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in them, though they are “not under law, but under grace.”
And what is to be expected from those who are made “priests to God”? from those who are favoured with access to Himself in virtue of the work of Christ? Surely it is that they approach to God, and by Him offer up their spiritual sacrifices. The exercise of this office is not to be neglected. Sad results followed in the nation of Israel when the sacrifices to God failed. The sacrifice of praise should arise to Him in full measure; and this will be the case as we first receive from Him; for it is of His own that is given back to Him in thanksgiving, and praise, and worship. What a magnificent spiritual offering that is in Revelation 1:5-6, “Unto Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father: to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.”
When we think of the brethren as the children of God, what responsibility is to flow from such a relationship? What response is there to be to the love shown in giving us that relationship?—to the love which was expressed in the sending of the Son to put away our sins, and to bring us into the life of our new relationship? Let the Word of God answer, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” It seems remarkable to speak of love as an obligation. Yet it is so; indeed, it is commanded; but not as though it was a grievous burden put upon the brethren, for such “love because He first loved” them; and “everyone that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.” Moreover, it is distinctly stated to such, “His commandments are not grievous.” Brethren in Christ are never told to love God, though they are exhorted to keep themselves in His love to them; but they are told to love one another, and this is intimately connected with love to God, as we read, “Everyone that loves Him that has begotten loves him also that is begotten of Him.” In this case their responsibility is to do that which their nature as God’s children delights to do.
Special service is in view in connection with the one body in Christ. It is moreover individual, for the members have different gifts; “all the members have not the same office,” we are told. One has grace granted to him for teaching, another for exhorting, another for leading. This being recognized the members would be preserved from letting all the service fall into the hands of one brother. One may have grace given to him of God for giving—he is to do it in simplicity; another for showing mercy—he is to do so with cheerfulness. Love is to mark all, and to be unfeigned. Evil is to be abhorred, and good is to be cleaved to. All is to be carried out in relation to Christ, and to one another; for, though the service is individual, yet we are reminded, “we are each one members one of the other.” This would preserve from magnifying the service of one to the detriment of that of another, and keep us all serving with the divine objective in view. Just as the Levites served as a body in relation to the tabernacle, where the presence of the Lord was known, and where He was approached. One Levite might carry a rope, or a peg; but he was as necessary as another who was fitted to carry a larger burden. Each fulfilled the divinely appointed office. That was enough, and it is all God asks. Brotherly love, kindly affection, showing honour, diligent zealousness, and fervency of spirit, are to mark them in thus “serving the Lord” (Romans 12:1-11). Rejoicing in hope, enduring in tribulation, persevering in prayer, distributing to the necessities of the saints, showing hospitality, blessing, and not cursing are to be manifested by the members.
Then as the members of Christ’s body, the assembly, of which He is the Head, it is expected of them that they respond to the grace and dignity bestowed upon them; first by avoiding all other sources of teaching, and second by, “holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.” The gifts were given in view of the edifying of this body; but in speaking of the brethren, the members themselves are before us; and they are to see to it that they hold fast the Head, the Christ, and grow up to Him in all things; also that they fill the place and fulfil the function which are theirs; for according to the working in its measure of each one part, it “works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love” (Ephesians 4:16, New Translation).
Those who own Him as Lord, and stand thus in relation to Him, are responsible to depart from what is not consistent with this. “Let everyone who names the Name of the LORD withdraw from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19, New Translation). Then they are to follow with others, who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, that which is pleasing in His sight. It seems almost inconceivable that anyone can truly know what the love of Christ really means, and what it has done for them, without desiring in every possible way to be agreeable to Him. As those therefore who are so richly blessed through and in Christ Jesus our Lord, may we, as brethren,
“Go forth and serve Him while ’tis day,
Nor leave our tweet retreat.”
The Brethren’s Hope and Home
“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3).
The hope of the brethren, thank God, is a sure and certain one. Their home too is safe and secure. The death, resurrection and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ has made their hope sure and certain; and the presence of the Son of God in the Father’s house, as the glorified Man, has made their home safe and secure. Their hope is in Him, and their home is where He is. Though all else change, He abides ever—He remaineth; therefore nought can fail that subsists by Him, of whom it is said, “Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”
The brethren’s hope does not centre in anything on earth, like the hope of the nation of Israel, for it is “laid up … in the heavens”: theirs is a heavenly hope. Nor can it be touched by death or corruption; for they are begotten to a living hope—to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven. They are “saved in hope.” Saved already, they yet look on to the full realization of their hope. They look not to the political heads of nations to bring it to pass; and, though thankful for any measure of good government, their hope is not in the best administrations; for, instead of bringing salvation, the most prosperous will probably be the most forgetful of God, and eventually fall under the wrath to come. They are not appointed to wrath, “but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ “when He comes again; therefore they do well meanwhile to have the seat of their thoughts well covered by the helmet, which is “the hope of salvation.”
No national or empire greatness is their hope; but being justified by faith, and taken into divine favour, they rejoice in hope of the glory of God, of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the Head and Centre. Neither is any betterment of conditions of living in this world their hope. Along with it will increase not only the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, but also the “pride of life.” Their hope is for “the life which is in Christ Jesus.” Already eternal life is theirs, for “He that has the Son has life”; as it is also said, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36); but they look on to the fullness of it, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. They look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come as Saviour, to transform their bodies of humiliation, to conform them to His own body of glory. Their life interests are not on earth, but in heaven, where He is; and they await His coming. They look to be like Him, and to see Him as He is. Their hope is in Him. The salvation, the blessing, the redemption, the life, and the grace are all in Christ Jesus, who is their hope. No wonder the Spirit speaks of it in the inspired writings as “the blessed” or “the happy hope.”
“Hope of our hearts, O Lord, art Thou,
The glorious Star of day.”
He said to His own, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye maybe also.” This brings us to the home of the brethren. He had told them of the many abodes in the Father’s house; and of His going away to prepare a place for them. That place was to be where He Himself dwells. Not the abode of angels, or of other glorious and holy beings; but, oh, how wonderful how ineffably blessed! their home is where He is! Eternal praise be to His holy Name for such transcending grace.
Before the foundation of the world He was the Object of the Father’s love, the delight of His heart. God’s purpose centred in Him. That purpose of love involved His glory as the Son in the home we speak of. Counsels of love and wisdom kept that same object in view; and even when God called those who were to be Christ’s brethren in that home, He “called” them “according to His purpose.” God loved them into loving Him, without demanding love; and He makes all things work together for their good. He foreknew them, and not only called them, but justified them, and predestinated them to be conformed to the glorious image of His beloved Son. But why? “So that HE should be the First-born among many brethren” in that home of indescribable glory, and blessedness; in that radiant circle of divine pleasure; where, in redemption glory, God has gathered those whom His Son calls brethren; where He Himself as First-born is the adored Object of every heart, even as the Father’s love finds its eternal joy in Him too; and the Holy Spirit pervading all, in plenitude of life and grace and power, gives both perfection of appreciation and response in that home of divine love.
“Oh, what a home! But such His love
That He must bring us there,
To fill that home, to be with him,
And all His glory share.”
The Mighty Men of David
David was the anointed of God, and the throne of Israel was his; but it was during the time of his rejection that the sterling qualities of his mighty men were tested and proven in hardship and warfare. So it is today; our Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed of God, is rejected by the world, He is not yet owned as universal Lord, and to us “it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29). We know that His final exaltation is assured, and that, like David, He will reign supreme; then those who suffer with Him now will reign with Him.
Before David was enthroned, Saul was ruler. He proved himself to be an oppressor, and illustrates what the flesh is today; and yet though he was the king of the people’s choice, they afterwards owned that they gained more through David than through Saul, even when the latter was king (1 Chronicles 11:2). The world owes infinitely more to our Lord Jesus Christ than to the men of its choice, even though He is still rejected by it. Saul owned Jehovah, but persecuted the chosen of the Lord; and though at one time he attempted to rid the country of the spiritists of that day, as the word of the Lord commanded, yet, when a time of testing fell upon himself, he turned to spiritism for aid, thus asking for punishment according to his own dealings with others; so he died for his transgression, and also “for asking council of one that had a familiar spirit to enquire of it” (1 Chronicles 10:13). Christendom, too, will hasten its doom by a revival of this dark science as we are “expressly” told in 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 18:2; and numerous other passages; but just as this preceded the day of David’s public exaltation, so will it be also before Christ shines forth in majesty and splendour. “David waxed greater and greater; for the Lord of hosts was with him” and he sat upon the throne and ruled the people as the king of God’s choice.
“With David”
The mighty men of David shared in his glory even as they had shared in his rejection. They had suffered with him, and now they reigned with him. That is the divine order. Before the day dawns of Christ’s glorious reign, it is granted to us to suffer with Him; and thus, like David’s soldiers, we shall know our Lord Jesus Christ and His perfections in a peculiar sense, and prove Him indeed to be “our life, our all.” Then “when Christ who is our life shall appear, we also shall appear with Him in glory.” The knowledge of Christ and His love will make us “more than conquerors” in all the trials and conflicts of the present time. The mighty men were David’s. They knew the one to whom they belonged. They had confidence in the one they served and suffered with. That is the secret.
Before speaking of the devoted service of these men we must point out that previous to David’s reign at Jerusalem he was anointed king at Hebron. Now Hebron means alliance, or friendship. There “David made a covenant” with the elders before the Lord, “and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.” “Behold,” they said, “We are thy bone and thy flesh” (1 Chronicles 1:11). That is very striking, for the assembly, which is presented to Christ, the anointed of God, before He publicly takes up the kingdom, is said to be “of His flesh and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30). It says of those who went to David, “They came with a perfect heart to Hebron,” and they were “with David” three days eating and drinking, and there was joy in Israel. Who shall tell “the exceeding joy” that shall fill every heart when we are presented blameless before Him to whom glory, majesty, might and authority belong.
Afterwards David took Zion, the true earthly centre of rule—for God’s Anointed is to be set as King upon His holy hill of Zion (Psalm 2:6); and Jerusalem is to become the city of the great King. There Christ is yet to be worshipped by all the nations and all the families of the earth (Zechariah 14:16-17). David’s greatness, and prosperity, and name was sounded abroad; “and the fame of David went out into all lands; and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.” What a day of supreme splendour will it be when that which faith substantiates to us now, actually lights up all with its radiance! Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; myriads of angels, the universal gathering; the assembly of firstborn ones, enregistered in heaven; with our Lord Jesus Christ the Sun and Centre of all—rising as this does from the earthly to the heavenly—like the ladder Jacob saw, set up on earth and reaching to heaven, ascending far above the earthly glory of David to that of our Lord Jesus Christ,—in Whom shall be headed up all things in heaven and earth.
“The First Three”
David reached the throne to which God had appointed him at last. Through suffering, misrepresentation, rejection and conflict he was sustained by the Lord, who brought him through all his afflictions triumphantly and made him ruler over His people. The sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow are wonderfully illustrated in David; therefore lessons of great value are to be learned from the records of the Holy Spirit concerning those who shared in David’s suffering and glory. Three are singled out specially, and are called variously—“The first three,” “The three,” also “These three mightiest” (1 Chronicles 11:19-21). Then we have mention of a second three mighty men; and others too are spoken of in the same chapter.
David’s three nephews—Joab, Abishai and Asahel—were bound to the anointed of God by ties of relationship and affection, and they shared his trials when all seemed to go wrong with David. Devotedness to Christ (known and loved in closer and abiding relationships) will keep us in the path which leads to glory during the present period. Joab was the “chief and captain” (11:6) of all; and his brother Abishai was chief of the second three (verse 20); while Asahel’s career was cut short through overmuch zeal, unbalanced by the necessary grace and wisdom; and what might have been a brilliant path of service was ended suddenly by the spear of one of God’s own people, a distinguished soldier, whom he insisted upon pursuing, notwithstanding timely warning. It is not for the servants of Christ to seek the hurt of any of God’s children. Let a lesson be learned from Asahel’s sad mistake. David never chased Saul, though Saul often sought David’s life. We must learn of our Lord and Leader. “Learn of Me,” He said, and for this we must be with Him in separation.
Joab, the chief and captain of all, had a path of extraordinary success. Among the mighty men of David he stood head and shoulders above every one for military prowess and zeal. The Jebusites held the key position in the land. The fortress of Zion was in their hands. Joab took it from them; and, according to the word of David, this secured for him the chief place among the mighties. The importance of this capture was great, for it is the chosen centre of government on earth; and, in a future day, which will eclipse the brightest of the past “out of Zion shall go forth the law,” and then men shall “learn war no more.” Along with government, joy and songs of praise are to characterize Zion. Strange to say, it was the stronghold of the “treaders down,” for that is the meaning of the name Jebusites. The “blind and the lame” were there, and they became the hated of David’s soul, for he was taunted that they could defend the castle successfully against him, because of its strength. There are always those who hold key positions that tread down God’s heritage; and they are usually accompanied by those whose sight and walk are both wrong. Government they may attempt like Diotrephes and others, but joy and praise wither away under their oppressive influence.
Even with Joab himself there was a serious lack. Zeal, ability, diligence, devotedness to David’s interests and quick perception plentifully marked him; but he never learned anything of David’s grace. He conducted many a brilliant campaign, and often marched from victory to victory; but whoever stood in the way of what he thought necessary for David’s honour, had to go under at all costs. The greater conquests he did not understand. His repugnance to numbering the people of God was right, but He was a stranger to moral triumphs over self; and David’s victories through forgiveness, reconciliation and grace, he was therefore sadly in opposition to. He killed Abner after his reconciliation to David; and when he had slain Absalom contrary to his father’s wish, he reproved David’s grief over the death of his son. The feelings of the king’s heart Joab never seemed to appreciate. He slew Amasa whom David had called to his service, and ended his days by being slain himself at the command of Solomon, after rebelling against David’s wishes concerning his successor to the throne. Up to that time he had been a tireless soldier for David—a mighty man indeed, but he was graceless. “Too hard!” were the words of David concerning Joab and the other sons of his sister Zeruiah. Their father he did not mention. The natural element seemed to dominate; for this appears to be the force of David’s language: “These men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me.”
Zealous, able Joab, the mightiest of David’s mighty men, showed no grace to others, and he found none for himself at the end. He was truly too hard, and often thought that his chief (a greater soldier by far than he) was too soft; therefore he ran counter to the wishes of David several times; and thus too he unhappily finished his course. Ah, the mind might reflect, how different it would have been had Joab learned of David as diligently as he served him! God grant that we may learn of the One who is greater than David, of the One who is meek and in heart lowly, of the One we desire to serve more devotedly, till the day breaks in splendour when He shall reign over all.
Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, is one of the three mightiest mentioned in 1 Chronicles 11. He lifted up his spear against three hundred of David’s enemies, and he slew them in one tremendous fight. This is the triumph that brought him into distinction, and he became “the chief of the captains”; nevertheless the true secret of his success was his attachment to David, whose rejection and sufferings he shared. Afterwards we find him still with David in the glory of his kingdom, and “over the first course for the first month was Jashobeam” (1 Chronicles 27:2). There may be something distinctive in our service for the Anointed of God now, as there will be in the kingdom rewards by-and-bye, but it is as we ourselves are constrained by the love of Christ to cleave to Himself, that faithful and fruitful service will result, service that will benefit all the children of God, for it must be remembered that David’s soldiers served David in view of the good of all Israel, and not a mere section only.
Eleazar is the next named after Jashobeam. “He was with David at Pas-dammim”; and when all “the people fled from before the Philistines, they set themselves in the midst of a parcel of ground full of barley,” and defeated their enemies so completely that they delivered it from them. This victory is divinely put to Eleazar’s credit; and he was one of the first three of the mighty men of David; but the two words “with David” explain why he was so successful. Others might flee in a time of stress, but not Eleazar—he was with David at “Pas-dammim,” which means the boundary of blood.” There David first defeated the enemies of the God of Israel and slew the giant. It speaks of Calvary, where Christ overthrew the giant enemy that would have enthralled us in misery for ever, and saved us with an everlasting salvation. To serve Him well we must ever remember that the “boundary of blood”—“the blood of His cross”—is the ground of our eternal triumph and divides us from all that is against our Lord Jesus Christ.
“These three mightiest” shared together in one of the most touching incidents which is recorded of those hard and trying times. They were with David in the cave of Adullam, while the host of the Philistines held the valley, and had a garrison at Bethlehem. It was then that David’s thoughts turned to the sweet water of the well which is at the gate of Bethlehem. His thirsty soul was set longing for a drink from its refreshing spring; and, without addressing any of his hardy, trusty companions, be exclaimed, “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!” The three mightiest caught the exclamation! They brake through the host of their enemies! They drew the water from the well and safely brought it to David! He “would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord.”
His pious act revealed two things: he esteemed its value as too high for him and becoming the Lord alone; also that the fear of the Lord was always before him. A greater than David, however, the Son of God (David’s Son according to the flesh) does drink of the springing water which is brought to Him now, before He takes the throne of His glorious kingdom and dominion.
His enemies will be made his footstool! Every foe will be overthrown! Kings, and kingdom, and nations will be overturned to make way for His reign of righteousness, peace and joy! but, meanwhile, we are told, “He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall He lift up the head.” The three mightiest needed no command! David desired the water, that was enough! Is there not something He desires from our hearts? Shall we not be found with those who share His rejection—in “the cave” it may be (figuratively speaking)—where His mighty men learn in His company what He longs for? Someone asks, “What is that?” Did He not say to the sinner at Sychar’s well, “Give Me to drink”? and was it not to her also He spake of the water that should be in us springing up to eternal life, and likewise of worship? Does He receive the worship we bring? He does! for He is David’s Lord as well as his Son, his Root as well as his Offspring. Do we gather with those who worship our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we seek to win others too, who also may become worshippers?
The three mightiest served David long and earnestly, but there is a sweet sense of devotedness to himself expressed by bringing the water of Bethlehem’s well, that surpasses all else recorded of them. When we share in the kingdom and glory of Christ the opportunity of doing what this signifies will have passed for ever, even though we worship Him eternally, for there will be no enemies to break through then—no difficulties to overcome! Mary’s alabaster flask of precious ointment cost a great deal, but the One she brought it to unasked set its price above silver and gold! If we serve Him together on the field of battle, let us not neglect to worship Him together in the sanctuary.
The Second Three
There are peculiarities in the record which God has given to us concerning the second three of David’s warriors which seem inexplicable at first. One of these mighty men is not even named. Abishai is chief, and Benaiah is mentioned next, but we cannot be sure whether he was second or third, for we are not told. This is the same in the list of 2 Samuel 23 and in that of 1 Chronicles 11. There is some good reason for these deliberate omissions. In the early list, which is given after David’s last words, the mighty Joab’s name is left out altogether. What we have said of him already explains this. Shammah the Hararite is put after the other two instead; though it is not said he was one of the three mightiest. Indeed, he is mentioned again in the ordinary list in the proper order in verse 33; but his devotedness to David evidently shone where even Joab, the greatest, failed. This honourable mention should encourage every servant of Christ to serve Him sincerely. He knows how to value true service for Himself.
According to man’s responsibility Joab is left out of the list in Samuel, yet according to divine grace he stands at the top in Chronicles; but in neither is there any mention at all of one of the mighties of the second three. This is very solemn. There were men of Belial even among the mighty men of David. A man may be very prominent in the service of the Anointed of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and yet be lost and perish eternally. It was so with Judas. Thank God, no true sheep of Christ can be lost. They may wander and stray and even doubt, but “they shall never perish”, said the One who gave His life for them. Service may be taken up by a man for various motives—“for wages”, for “his own glory”, without having been born again, and without being sealed by the Spirit. Having been saved first, the service of faith which follows is pleasing to the Lord, but “without faith it is impossible to please Him”.
Abishai, “the brother of Joab”, is so designated, for he was like him in many ways, showing similar traits; but if he shared his brother’s graceless hardness of heart, he was nevertheless ready to obey David’s word, and so was preserved from most of Joab’s mistakes; therefore, although he “attained not to the first three”, we find honour and distinction given to him without reserve. “He was chief of the three” (i.e., the second three), we are told; and he was “more honourable” than the other two. This was the result of heeding the word of David while cleaving to him. When a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ heeds His word and keeps near to Him, although there may be a great deal to try him, much that is pleasing to God will be found in his service.
When Saul chased David for his life, and lay one night in a trench with his people round about him, David asked, “Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp”? Abishai said instantly, “I will go down with thee”; and when he stood with David by the sleeping monarch, he desired to smite him to the earth at once, saying, “I will not smite him the second time”. David, however, checked his haste, adding, “Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless”? Abishai heeded the word and was kept back from this sin, though he thought God had delivered David’s enemy into his hand. We may be tested today in a similar way, but the word of the Lord will preserve us. When Abner was slain, Abishai fell under Joab’s influence; but in many a stubborn battle he gained the victory for David and for the people of God.
He could brook nothing that dishonoured the king; and when Shimei called him “a bloody man”, he asked leave to “take off his head”; but David again stayed his haste, and in due time punishment came from the Lord upon Shimei. To the capable hands of Abishai was committed the third part of David’s army for the campaign which broke the rebellion under Absalom. In the Edomite war he slew eighteen thousand in the valley of salt, and then put garrisons in Edom making it tributary to David. In the Ammonite-Syrian battles he was entrusted by his brother Joab with an army to fight against the Ammonites, whilst he faced the Syrians; and, although they were at a great disadvantage, being beset before and behind, Joab exhorted his brother to be of good courage and do valiantly, and both the Syrians and the Ammonites fled before them.
When the king was old, and giant Ishbi-benob, with his spear of three hundred shekels weight, thought to have the honour of slaying David in battle, “Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, succoured him and smote the Philistine and killed him.”
The special act which is singled out for mention, in the list of the mighty men in 1 Chronicles 11, is a remarkable one indeed. He faced no less than three hundred of David’s enemies alone! Nor did he stay his hand until he had slain them all! After the hardships and trials he experienced with David during the time of his rejection, we may be sure he learned much and enjoyed a near place to the king in his glory. David might well say to him, as another will to His mighty men by-and-by, “Well done thou good and faithful servant!”
Benaiah’s record is full of stirring incidents. He was true to David, and carried out the desires of the king even after David’s death. His trustworthiness must have been a great comfort to his chief. We have small conception of the great pleasure our Lord Jesus Christ finds in a reliable servant of His. It is said of Himself, as the servant of God’s will, “Behold My Servant in whom My soul delighteth.” The apostle Paul tells us he laboured to be agreeable to Him.
Benaiah was with David when many were against him, and he was with him when the multitudes owned him king and bowed before him. His communion with the anointed of God seems to have been uninterrupted whether in adversity or prosperity, in the cave or on the throne, in the wars with innumerable foes or in the government of God’s people. No wonder David set him over his guard. He would be glad to have such an one close to himself.
He is specially singled out for his victories over (1) two men of Moab; (2) a lion; and (3) an Egyptian. How these three remind us of (1) the flesh; (2) Satan; and (3) the world. It is a great day when in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ we accept the condemnation of the cross upon sin in the flesh, and henceforth walk and war after the Spirit; when it is experimentally true of us, we “boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh”. Of the young men we read in 1 John 2:14, “Ye are strong; and the Word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one”; but at once—strong though they be—the exhortation is given to them, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world”. This is not said to the fathers in Christ, for they have the knowledge of “Him that is from the beginning”, and therein lies the secret of victory over the world, for the Father’s love enjoyed in the heart, and learned in the Son, excludes the love of the world.
Satan acts upon the flesh, and the two men of Moab were “lion-like”, but the one who was “with David” slew them both. The lion himself occupied a pit, and doubtless went about seeking what he could devour when not occupying his stronghold. Benaiah would gain the gratitude of many for his victory on that snowy day; just as a Greater has won our eternal praise for overthrowing Satan by going into his stronghold of death (Hebrews 2:14), so as “to deliver them who through fear and death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. The Egyptian was a man of tremendous stature, and he wielded a spear like a weaver’s beam; yet, with just a staff in his hand Benaiah defeated him; and, plucking the spear from him, he turned it against the owner and slew him. It is through the cross of Christ we get the victory over the world by faith in the Son of God who makes known the Father’s love to us. The world lifted up its hand against Christ, and yet by the death He died the world was defeated for faith; so that one could write, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world”.
Although Joab was out of communion with the thoughts of David concerning Solomon sitting on the throne, Benaiah shared the king’s God-given desires with others of David’s mighty men. If “the Christ dwells in our hearts through faith” we shall be preserved even when many turn aside. Rebellion broke out against King Solomon; and, remarkable to relate, Adonijah, the head of it; Joab, the energy of it; and Shimei who cursed David, all fell at last by the sword of Benaiah. “With David” in his rejection and fightings; “with David” as captain of his bodyguard; “with David” in his kingdom in positions of honour; he was now exalted to be captain of the host of Israel with David’s son Solomon, sharing in his glorious reign when wars were passed. Tried and proved to be trustworthy, he richly reaped a blessed reward. How welcome to the hearts of those who follow our Lord Jesus Christ now will it be in the glories of the coming day to be “with the Lord” whom they have loved and served; yea, throughout the endless ages of divine rest and peace and joy to be “for ever with the Lord” in the Father’s house; as He said, “That where I am, there ye may be also”.
The Thirty and Three
Besides those already named, thirty more are mentioned in the list of the mighty men of David. They are called “the thirty” and “the thirty captains”. Then we read of others who shared David’s rejection, “when he kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish”. They came to David to Ziklag, and “they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war” (1 Chronicles 12:1). When the time of conflict and stress was over how their hearts would rejoice that they had been honoured to share with David those days of struggle! And when the day of Christ’s glory dawns in heavenly beauty great indeed will be the joy of those who have shared today in the conflicts for His Name’s sake and for the good of all His own. To behold the rich results of the sufferings of Christ which He alone bore, in which none could share and without which we should have remained unsaved—will fill our hearts with still more exceeding gladness; and then we shall see fully what was “the joy set before Him”, for which He endured the cross despising the shame!
Meanwhile the warrior looks forward! The fighter looks toward the goal he longs to reach!—the results of victory and triumph he presses on to!—his eyes look right on to the time when the King shall be seen in His beauty reigning gloriously! “That day” Paul often called it, for he knew every true soldier would know what he referred to. Those who laboured with him in view of that day he called his “fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God”; and with all sorts of difficulties besetting him he wrote, “In all these we are more than conquerors through Him that has loved us.” There was the secret of his triumphs, the known love of Christ, that nothing could rob him of! Yea, he asked, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ”? In answering his own question, he shows that the greater the trials the more pronounced are the triumphs we gain through the One who loves us with an infinite love (Romans 8:35-37).
Asahel’s name stands at the top of the list of the thirty captains. His soldier career was a short one as we have seen; but we cannot help remarking that David’s sister’s sons head the three lists. Joab was chief and captain; Abishai the chief of the second three; and Asahel first of the thirty. There was no partiality merely in this. Rather does it prove that the sense of a known relationship with the Anointed of God produces a good soldier. We find this constantly in the epistles. We are not only spoken of as the companions of the Christ, “the Anointed”, but we are His brethren! He is “not ashamed to call us brethren” it is said. Wonderful grace! David often sang Jehovah’s praises in their midst during those trying times; and doubtless they would join in harmoniously with “the sweet singer of Israel”, and be cheered on their rough road to the glory of the Kingdom. A sweeter Singer than David draws His servants aside today, and in the midst of the assembly sings the Father’s praises, and they are gladdened on their upward way.
The thirty mighty men that were with David had a near place to him; and they doubtless learned from him lessons which secured the distinctions that became theirs. They owed all to David. They would rightly esteem Joab and the other captains, but David was pre-eminent in all their hearts and minds. He was God’s anointed one. There must be no rival. All others are fellow-helpers in the war. It is just so today. We are to esteem those who are at the forefront in the Lord’s service, “very highly for their work’s sake”; yea, we are told they are to be regarded “in the Lord” with “exceeding love”, but there is only One who is to have the first place; for God has decreed concerning the Son of His love, the Head of all things, the Head of the assembly, “that in all things He should have the pre-eminence”. Every true heart responds, He is worthy!—He alone is worthy!
Jonathan, Saul’s son, saw that God was with David and that he would sit upon the throne of Israel. He tried to dissuade his father from persecuting him, but he could not prevail. Saul would not even leave him alone, but chased him “as a partridge on the mountains”. At times it seemed as if David must fall by the spear of his relentless pursuer. God watched over him, however, and when at Ziklag he was hiding from the one who sought his life, He drew many others to David, to share in separation his path of difficulty which led up to the throne. They were loyal and true, and were also among the mighties. Some were “even of Saul’s brethren” we are told. It was through the death of Christ, when “we were yet enemies” we were reconciled and called to serve the Lord.
“Of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle” (1 Chronicles 12:8). Amasai brought some from Benjamin and Judah to David, and said, “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse”! Some of Manasseh also fell to David, mighty men of valour. “At that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.” Separated to David they were ready for the service of David. It is the same in 2 Timothy 2. Those who are separated to the Lord, and call on him together out of a pure heart, are ready for His service—“sanctified and meet for the Master’s use.”
It was not simply that they purged themselves from Saul and his supporters. That they did; but what put them among the mighties was their actual coming “to David.” It was not for them to be thinking of what they had left; they were with David and ready for the battles that cleared the way to the throne. Their work had a positive character about it, and therefore success was secured even though it involved energy and conflict. Can we truly say we are separated to Christ? Are we with those that are with Him? Is the hope bright before our hearts of the coming glory? Are we serving the Lord in view of “that day?”
“That day” will surely come! Its brightness will light up the earth with the glory of God! Our Lord Jesus Christ will be Head over all, and the assembly will be with Him! Like the fleshly king Saul, many mere professors of Christianity will turn away at the end to spiritism; they “will depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1). We are told of “a strong delusion” which will carry off those who “received not the love of the truth that they might be saved”. The “man of sin” having dark, supernatural powers will drag them with him to destruction. Saul met his doom after going to the woman that had a familiar spirit. Then David was proclaimed king. The overthrow of the man of sin will mean the appearing of Christ in power and great glory. He shall be exalted and be extolled and be very high. Loud hallelujahs shall greet the ear of the One who was once despised and rejected. Israel shall own Him then as their Messiah, King David’s greater Son. The nations shall own the King of kings; yea, to the uttermost parts of the earth all peoples shall acknowledge the Lord of lords; and the Son of Man shall be supreme. From the heavens on high which now hide Him from the sight of men He shall come forth to reign in splendour and majesty, and men shall be blessed in Him, while all nations shall call Him blessed.
Meanwhile it is our high honour to be separated to Him, to sincerely serve Him, to look forward to the day of His glory, and to press onward through every difficulty like David’s mighty men, proving the truth of that word, “We are more than conquerors through Him that has loved us”; for unto us “it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake”.
The Mystery of God’s Will
We live in the day when this has been made known to those who are the subjects of God’s redeeming grace, who have heard and believed the Gospel, and who are saved and are sealed by the Spirit.
It centres in Christ, but it concerns us. It is according to God’s good pleasure, but it for us to find pleasure in it also. It is for the blessing of all in heaven and on earth eventually, but it will be through Christ and the assembly in the unction and power of the Spirit. It is according to eternal purpose purposed before times began, but it will be seen in resultant splendour when “the fullness of times” shall have come.
“Then all shall see with wondering gaze,
And fill the heavens with endless praise.”
God’s Will
Much is said about man’s will, and the sad results of it are in flagrant evidence on every side. It is the will of God, however, that the redeemed need to understand better, and the Holy Spirit enables them to do so, for it is desired that “the full knowledge of His will” should be theirs, and that they should “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 1:9; 4:12). The former is necessary if the latter is to characterize us.
Whatever God would have to be—whatever is His good pleasure—is His will. We find this abundantly expressed in the inspired writings. “Thy good pleasure” (Psalm 40:8, New Translation) is cited by the Spirit as “Thy will” in Hebrews 10:7. More often than otherwise will is spoken of in ordinary parlance as something which wills—something in a person similar to his spirit or soul which is called a will—but Scripture speaks of it more as that which the person himself would have come to pass; and when we have the definite expression, “This is the will of God,” are immediately told what He Himself would have. Two verses may suffice to show this fact: (1) “This is the will of God even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3); (2) “This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life” (John 6:40). When this is grasped we shall better understand the Scriptures which speak of God’s will in different ways, in different times, and in different relations, for no one thing can be said to be the will of God to the exclusion of all others, whatever may be said as to the mystery of that will.
When the day is reached for the manifestation of the supremacy of Christ, and all things in heaven and on earth are headed up in Him, as we said before—the mystery of God’s will being consummated—we can readily perceive that His will in every part of that glorious administration will be done by all. Meanwhile the elect are being called out to obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and also the glory of which we speak, but this calling out takes place now, when, on the other hand, God is allowing man’s will—during the period which is called “man’s day”—to expose its folly. This, pursued without subjection to God’s will, eventually culminates in the “wilful king”; and a trinity of evil—Satan, the false prophet, and the imperial beast of Revelation—will plunge the nations—out of which the elect have been called in grace, and also by power from earth to heaven—into a vortex of strife, darkness, and blasphemy, bringing swift judgment upon both the deceivers and the deceived to make way for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The Gospel by which God calls out the assembly today is shown in the parenthetical chapters of Romans (9, 10 and 11) to be quite in accord with the calling out of Israel and the promises specially given to that nation. The will of God is recognized as the basis of that consistency. His “I will” of Exodus 33, made known to Moses at Horeb, is quoted to prove this. Showing mercy and feeling compassion towards sinners of the Gentiles as well as those of Israel is His way (Romans 9:14-24); and, because all have sinned, “God has shut up together (Jews and Gentiles) all in unbelief, in order that He might show mercy to all” (11:32). This was necessary if His will was to be given effect to. Moreover, not only had we all sinned in practice, but we are all sinners by nature; therefore a work in us was also necessary, and so we read, “According to His own will begat He us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). This sovereign work of God is not said to be by His will, but according to it; the end in view being that He should have us as a kind of firstfruits. In John 1 we are told that those who are born of God are those who receive Christ. They are the children of God. The right is given to them to take that place. How great the honour to be of the family of God! They “were born not of blood”—as those of the priestly family or the royal family of Israel must be to have their place of privileged nearness to God—“nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (verse 13). According to His will He has so wrought to have them as His children.
It is said of this family, They are not of the world even as Christ is not of the world. They are in the world, however, and need to be kept from the evil of it. The Son prayed to the Father in regard to this (John 17); and one reason why He gave Himself for our sins was, “so that He should deliver us out of the present evil world according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4). Note again, it does not say that this is the will of God, but “according to” it. When, however, apartness to God in well-pleasing and in honour is viewed on its positive side, we read. “This is the will of God even your sanctification”; and it is the same in regard to our having eternal life through seeing and believing on the Son—“This is the will of Him that sent Me,” the Lord Jesus said. There is, we may say, that which is pre-eminently the will of God, just as there is His will in relation to certain persons and things; and there is also that which is according to His will.
“To Do Thy Will”
The very first writing of which we have any knowledge records these words. In that most ancient roll of Divine counsel in the past eternity they are inscribed concerning our Lord Jesus Christ and the will or good pleasure of God. That which is written therein are words which express the devotedness of the Son to the will of God—“Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.”
How sublime! How divinely becoming! God’s will and the doer of it are pre-eminent in that first record! Here was One able to estimate the infinite value of the good pleasure of God, and notwithstanding all the toil and suffering involved in bringing it to pass, His wisdom, love and power are abundantly sufficient to enable Him to undertake the tremendous task, and though days and weeks and months and years and even ages may roll by before its full accomplishment be manifested in redemption splendour, yet He could speak in the consciousness of the infinite resources that were His, in the unquestionable assurance of the perfect result which should crown His labour, and with the deep joy of knowing that His work would eventually bring praise and honour and glory to God; and, having so spoken, He came forth to do His will.
Moreover, none of the redeemed who know who He is that has thus spoken—whose words are indelibly recorded in the heavenly roll—who has come out to accomplish God’s will—can entertain even a shade of doubt as to the final issue—the establishment in abiding blessing and glory of the good pleasure of God. Let each redeemed one, however, settle this in his own mind once and for ever, not one of us, not even all of us together, could accomplish it; none but an infinite Person could secure such an infinite and glorious result. The Son is this—He is an infinite Person—therefore He can bring it to pass, all is safe with Him. Centuries before He came, the prophet wrote, “The pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand” (Isaiah 53:10). Glory be to God! this is true beyond all question.
He came! He entered upon the path for the accomplishment of God’s good pleasure! He is seen in incarnation—a Man upon earth! “Mine ears hast Thou opened” or “prepared,” He said (Psalm 40:6). “A body hast Thou prepared Me” is the beautiful and arresting citation of this by the Spirit (Hebrews 10:5)! The prepared ears involved a prepared body, the ears being designated because He took the place of subjection and obedience to carry out the will of Another. It was in this He found pleasure! “I delight to do Thy will, O My God”! He said, again, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” This was the meat which the disciples knew not of! Yet, in this lowly path He was Himself “the Bread of Life.” To appropriate Him thus is to appropriate life, for He said, “As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me even he shall live by Me.” Of course His death was necessary for this. He died that we might have life eternal, and that is God’s will concerning us. His own words we again quote, “This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life: and I will raise Him up at the last day” (John 6:40). This speaks of persons, verse 39 refers to distinctions of glory. “This is the Father’s will which has sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” These two verses amplify the important statement of the verse before, “I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” Glory and life in resurrection are the result, and that according to the mystery of God’s will.
The new eternal covenant with all its glorious system of blessing was to be brought in, and the first covenant, thus made old, was to be set aside; therefore we read in Hebrews 10:9—which speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ coming forth for the doing of God’s will—“He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.” Believers were to be sanctified in view of this; those of Israel were to be set apart from the old system and established in the new, and this was by God’s will. The means could not be through the offering of the “burnt-offerings and sacrifices” in which God found no pleasure, but through the offering of the prepared body of which we have spoken. The others were but types which found their perfect fulfilment in this one offering; so it could be written, By God’s “will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all” (verse 10, New Translation). His death became the means of our being sanctified by the will of God. The sanctification is “through” the one and “by” the other.
All this is sound and healthful teaching for us—Behold, however, the cost! Behold the depths of sorrow and anguish into which the Doer of that will went! Behold the garden of Gethsemane bedewed with His sweat as blood! Behold the tree of Calvary crimsoned with the sacrifice and the offering of the body of Jesus! He knew all that was involved in undertaking to do God’s will: the price to be paid was fully estimated by Him: As He knelt in prayer upon the soil of Olivet, being withdrawn about a stone’s throw, from His disciples, He looked into the dreadful cup which he must drink, and the very perfection of His holy sensibilities deprecated it; nevertheless, though His soul was very sorrowful even unto death, though a deep depression came upon His spirit, though the sweat became as great drops of blood and fell upon the earth, He was in conflict and prayed more earnestly; yea, though amazement, oppression, and inexpressible grief were then His, yet, in all the strength of His holy devotedness to His Father’s will, and in a depth of communion which is beyond measure, He said, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass from Me unless I drink it, Thy will be done.” He alone could do it! He had come to do it and there was no other way! The awful depth to which He must go had in anticipation been fathomed! “THY WILL BE DONE,” He says to His Father! In the past eternity, in the roll of the book, His words had been recorded—“Lo, I come to do Thy will”; and now, from the most dreadful deeps of suffering in spirit that had ever been known His devoted language is …
“Thy Will be Done”
He rises up in the calm of unbroken communion. He tells His disciples that the betrayer is at hand, that the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners, and that the hour has drawn nigh. A rabble band with officers, lanterns, swords and staves come and take Him. False witnesses before the chief priests and scribes testify against Him, but nothing takes Him unawares or moves Him from the place of dependence and peace. Mocked and stricken before Herod and Pilate, bearing the heavy cross as they lead Him to Calvary, hanging between two malefactors with pierced hands and feet, His communion with His Father remained full and complete. Yea, the love of the Father was called forth to Him as never before, and the Son knew it, and quietly rested in it when all else was adverse. In holy confidence and peace He could say, “FATHER.”
Nevertheless, the depths of the three hours of darkness were known by Him, when His soul was made an offering for sin, when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, when the judgment that we deserved was His portion, when He suffered that we might be saved, when He resolved the question of good and evil for God’s glory, when, toward the close of those dark three hours, He cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Mark, He did not say, “My Father” then; but the depth to which sin had taken man from GOD had to be known by Him, to bring man near to God according to His will. He knew the darkness and the distance that we might have the sunshine of God’s favour in Him risen and ascended in the nearness that is His. The redemption that He secured is an “eternal redemption,” and it is ours now in Him where He is.
He has gone up to the throne! He is no longer on the cross! He is glorified as Man in heaven! The offering has been made! The Offerer is exalted! No longer crowned with thorns and dishonour, He wears the crown of glory and splendour. The work is done that the mystery of the will of God might be fully consummated in the appointed Head and Centre of all in heaven and on earth—in Christ Jesus, Hallelujah!
Notice the results of the work of Calvary in relation to the will of God;
1. Deliverance: “According to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4).
2. Sanctification: “By which will we have been sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10).
3. Eternal life: “This is the will of My Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes on Him should have life eternal” (John 6:40, 54).
4. Glory: (Ephesians 1:7, 9-10). Eternal praise to God.
Proving and Practising it
Our Lord Jesus Christ alone could bring to pass the good pleasure of God in its fullness, but we are to prove the will of God in relation to ourselves, and also to practise it according to what is written.
This can only be done by those who are “in Christ,” as we see in Romans 8. There is “no condemnation” in Him (verse 1); “the love of God” is in Him (verse 39); all true believers are in Him; and God has called them “according to His purpose” (verse 28). Chapter 12 of the Epistle, which gives us the teaching of the gospel, shows that believers are not “in Christ” simply as individuals, but are “one body in Christ” (verse 5). This truth prepares us, and puts us on the line of the will of God at the present time.
Mark the way the Spirit speaks in this chapter, for we do not jump into it all at once. We passed out of darkness into light, out of death into life, from the power of Satan to God, from unbelief to faith, at our conversion, swifter than words can express; but we are told to “think so as to be wise” (verse 3) now that we are saved. In response to God’s compassion toward us therefore we are to render the intelligent service of presenting our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. Through the offering of the prepared body of Jesus, as we have seen, we are sanctified by God’s will, and our bodies are to be for His will. To this end three things must mark us:
1. Nonconformity.
2. Transformity.
3. Conformity.
1. “Not conformed to this world.”
2. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
3. “That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”
—being thus conformed to it. These three things are necessary to the proving of what that will is in relation to each one of us, so that we may carry it out as being “one body in Christ.”
We have seen from Romans 8:28 that God called us (when we heard the gospel of His saving grace) “according to His purpose,” and the “one body,” the assembly, is formed now in accordance with that. We “prove,”—we make sure to ourselves,—the particular place and function which we are to fulfil—which is not only “good” but “acceptable and perfect,”—that which each is fitted for, and that which is fitted for each one in the “one body,” for which grace is given, and the proportion of faith too; and then, having made proof of this, we are to make it our business henceforth, occupying ourselves in it as the good pleasure of God concerning us, each filling his own place in well-doing; for spiritual health, happiness and holiness, too, are the portion of the members that thus do. One may be able to teach, another to exhort, another to give, or to lead, or to show mercy with cheerfulness. All are to love and honour one another, walking in lowliness, so as to express the excellencies of Christ.
There may be testings and trials in the daily pathway of such, but these are not to be allowed to divert us from the other. Rather should they cause us to value and pursue with increasing zeal the revealed mind of God concerning us. Paul again and again tells us he was an apostle “by God’s will” (1 and 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1, etc.). Yet in the pursuance of his service, he found obstacle after obstacle in his path, but with purpose of heart he pressed onward. Peril, hunger, nakedness, persecution, misrepresentation, imprisonment and many other things only called into greater activity his unswerving faith in Christ, and showed him to be more than a conqueror. As the end is kept steadily in view by the grace of God, we shall be found treading the right road in the right way, be it rough or smooth, stormy or pleasant, till the goal is attained; and, as we have said, details will be understood aright.
Look at that purposeful man! He wills to reach the distant gold field, amass a fortune, and return to dwell in a mansion! He attains his object. Others had perished on the way. The mountains to be scaled, the ravines to be traversed, the gorges and torrents met with on the way, the frosts and deep snows, had proved too much for them; but with purposefulness, strength and wisdom, he overcame every difficulty and accomplished his will—he attained the end in view. With the way to it he experienced many and great discomforts and difficulties; on the other hand, beautiful weather and magnificent sights at times attended his way. Chilled to the bone, crouching to shelter from the bitter blasts on a lonely, wild moorland, hungry and thirsty, he might say, “I never expected such dreadful experiences!—this is not my will!” Again, refreshed, and full of healthful energy, he enjoys the pleasant sunshine, the blue sky, the bright atmosphere, and the grandeur of the scenery, with views of towering heights, mighty forests, shining rivers and lakes, and then he might say, “I just wished for this!—this is my will!” Neither conclusion is correct. His will was the fortune and the mansion, the rest came in by the way, according to it. In willing the one the other was involved.
The difference with ourselves is this. There is no question that the end will be reached by everyone, and it is the will of God (not our own) which is to be known and pursued by us; and on the way to the full fruition of it, we “know” that all work together for our good, in view of that, which is before the mind of God—the mystery of His will, to head up all things in Christ for the coming glory. We are therefore not to be downcast by difficulties, nor become slack when the path is smooth, but dominated by the will of God, press forward with divine joy filling our hearts, having the double assurance that the end is secure and all is for good on the way. There is a great danger, however, and that is, having an end short of God’s end; a present earthly ambition short of the glory of God. Sure disappointment awaits this. Being justified by faith, and standing in the favour of God, it is characteristic of even the youngest believer to rejoice “in hope of the glory of God.” As this joy in hope is bright, and becomes deeper and not shallower, we shall be enabled in faith to surmount all difficulties and all snares.
We see, then, the importance of proving what is that “good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” so that being “filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” we may “walk worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing” (Colossians 1:9). It was the setting aside of this latter which brought condemnation on the religious boaster of Romans 2:18, Thou “makest thy boast in God and knowest His will, … thou who boastest in law, dost thou by transgression of the law dishonour God” (verse 23)? He was connected with Israel and law, we are connected with Christ and grace. There is the “one body in Christ” as we have seen, and we are each one set in that body to fulfil our function. When complete, when glorified with Christ, all will be perfect. But we are to know even now and answer to the will of God concerning us. “If any one desire to practise His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine,” said the Lord (John 7:17). We are told not to be foolish but to, “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). The day is coming when the earthly disciples’ prayer will be answered and the Father’s will shall “be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There will not be “one body in Christ” on earth in that day, however, for Israel and the nations will be ordered in blessing in relation to Jerusalem according to the earthly promises. The one body, the assembly, will have been taken to heaven before that time. We shall have been glorified with Christ in view of the culmination of the mystery of God’s will.
Meanwhile, the doing of His will is of the last importance. Let it, however, be His will, and not some imaginary service of our own devising. As we have seen, we must know and understand it first, and then put it into practice. “He that does the will of God abides for ever” (1 John 2:17); and God hears the petitions of such: “If any one be God-fearing and do His will, him He hears” (John 9:31): “If we ask Him anything according to His will He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Even in our demeanour toward the king as supreme, and rulers, we are to behave becomingly, “Because so is the will of God, that by well doing ye put to silence the ignorance of senseless men” (1 Peter 2:15); and if suffering come upon us for our “good conversation in Christ, it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing” (1 Peter 3:17). Again, it is said, “ye have need of endurance in order that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. For yet a very little while He that comes will come, and will not delay.” As His coming is thus before us we have a powerful incentive to do His will. Moreover, the Lord Jesus claims such as being in the most intimate relationship with Himself: “Whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” for they are born of God.
His Good Pleasure
It is important for us to know also that even the desire to be well-doers does not originate with ourselves. Both the willing and the working according to God’s good pleasure are the result of His working in us as Philippians 2:13 tells us. If Paul praises the brethren of Macedonia to those at Corinth, and speaks of the grace of God seen in their free-hearted liberality in helping others, he says their willingness and their giving were “by God’s will” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). James shows us that even in the affairs of this life, instead of saying, “I will do this or that,” we should say, “If the Lord will.” In all things that should be pre-eminent with us.
If we think of the great matter of salvation, we are told He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; neither is it His will than any little children should perish (Matt. 18:14), for the Son of Man came to save them. Indeed, it is said, He is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9); and, again, He “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This salvation is in Christ Jesus, and is according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself before time began; and if it be written, “By grace ye are saved” (Ephesians 2:8), we are also told in 2 Timothy 1:9, He “has saved us, and has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.” It is the same in regard to the wonderful relationship of sons into which the saved are brought by redemption—He “marked us out beforehand for adoption (or sonship) through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5, New Translation); and verse 9 tells us that the mystery of His will to centre up all things in Christ is also “according to His good pleasure.” From the start to the finish—from the first moment when this was purposed right on to the moment of its full accomplishment in glory—this has been kept always in view; and between the time when the design was divinely conceived and the time when its glorious attainment shall be universally seen, God has been ordering all after the counsel of His own will for the praise of His glory.
God has made known “the unchangeableness of His purpose,” and from the first thought to the final display, we are shown the great outstanding features as the mighty strides onward are taken to its complete attainment, as well as a multitude of intervening and necessary, details that are according to His good pleasure, leading forward to the glorious culmination when all things shall be headed up in Christ. Here are five of those distinguishing features.
1. HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE which is “in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11).
2. CREATION, which has the same end in view; “for Thy pleasure (or will) they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
3. PROPHECY, too—the spirit of which is “the testimony of Jesus,”—came not “by the will of man” but by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21).
4. REDEMPTION—which is ours in Christ through His blood—also has the pre-eminence of Christ in view as Head of the body the assembly (Colossians 1:18), according to God’s good pleasure.
5. THE UNIVERSE—“all things,”—“the breadth and length and depth and height,”—filled with beauty and order and honour and glory—centring in Christ—resounding with the praise of God—shall display the full outcome of “the mystery of His will” (Ephesians 1 and 3).
“Loud Hallelujahs then shall lift the song.”
Throughout the whole realm of universal rejoicing and splendour the will of God shall be done by all. The good pleasure which He purposed in Himself will have come to pass to His everlasting praise. On earth and in heaven not one will be found acting contrary to His will. Darkness will have overwhelmed the wicked—the unrepentant—for ever; shut out from the scenes of light and life and liberty and love eternally—shut out from the realms where our Lord Jesus Christ is exalted and loved—they will have perished from the way, from the way that leads to life eternal, from the way to the abodes of God’s good pleasure, and, away from that, they exist eternally in what is called “the second death” (Revelation 20:14). The glories of immortality and incorruptibility are not there though eternal existence is.
Wonderful indeed is the exceeding greatness of God’s power which has quickened us and set us apart from the ways of death, placing our feet in the path of life according to the great end He has in view. Our hearts may well be grateful and our lips speak forth His praise! for, if—(1) “This is the will of God, even our sanctification,”—and, (2) “This is the will” of God that we “should have life eternal,” and be raised up at the end, as we have seen; so also, (3) “This is the will of God in Christ Jesus” concerning us: “IN EVERY THING GIVE THANKS!”
Thanksgiving is indeed most fitting and becoming! Saved and sanctified according to the good pleasure of God, to share in the scenes of life eternal—knowing that all things work together for the good of such—for grace has called them according to God’s purpose—what could be more suitable than giving thanks “IN” everything, though “FOR” everything it may not always be possible? Yes, such is the reasonable and striking exhortation given to those who are of the “one body in Christ,”—literally reading—“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus towards you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Colossians 3:15 also says, “Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be ye thankful” (New Translation).
In a far higher sense than the sweet Psalmist indicated shall the hosts of heaven and earth praise and bless His holy Name: “The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all,” he sang, “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.” This will be truly glorious: the blessed responding to the Blesser in praising and blessing. It reminds us of the end of Luke’s Gospel, when the risen Saviour ascended to heaven from Mount Olivet with His hands outstretched in blessing, and the disciples rejoiced with great joy, “Praising and blessing God continually!” Begun here on earth, it shall never end even when universal glory is established in Christ Jesus for God’s glory in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.
The result of those divine words recorded in that first writing—“Lo, I come to do Thy good pleasure,”—shall be seen in abiding blessedness—“The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand!” The result of the cry heard by God in the loneliness and agony of the garden of Gethsemane shall be full with abiding joy—“Thy will be done!” The result of the good pleasure of God’s will, the revealed mystery of His will, and the work done according to the counsel of His will, shall be to the praise of His glory, when all heavenly and earthly things are headed up in Christ in the fullness of times for an administration which will surpass in wealth and wisdom and power and honour and splendour the administration of the wise and royal Solomon, even though the priesthood and the ark and the cherubim and the temple and the city of the great king—the earthly metropolis—were associated with his great throne of ivory; for, in the administration which has Christ Himself as its Centre, there shall be seen the all-varied wisdom of God, and the city—the heavenly metropolis—the bride—the Lamb’s wife—shall be illumined with the glory of God; and her radiance like unto a stone most precious, clear as crystal, shall shine undimmed for ever. “The throne of God, and the Lamb,” shall be in that city! (Revelation 22:3).
“God and the Lamb shall there
The light and temple be,
And radiant hosts for ever share
The unveiled mystery” (Revelation 21:22).
The words of Christ, the prayer of Gethsemane, the many prayers of the saints, shall have a perfect and abiding answer—His will be done: His good pleasure accomplished.
Meanwhile, may it be ours to prove and practise His will on the way. Shall we not pray as the Psalmist, “Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God”? Surely, this is our desire. Only One could accomplish it in the fullest degree, as we have seen, and He said, when on earth, “I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” Not that His will was ever contrary to the will of the Father, but that which governed His activities was the Father’s good pleasure. The Son quickens whom He will and that in accord with the Father’s will. Likewise, “the willing and the working” (Philippians 2:13) which God produces in us are not in anywise at variance with His own good pleasure; but it is in Christ we see the perfection of obedience and subjection; not in ourselves. We are told to behold Him, to consider Him, yea, to consider Him well. There we see the truth—the expression of what is true, even as the full display of the mystery of God’s will shall be seen in Him universally very soon.
“O gracious God! Thy pleasure
Is in Thy Christ made known,
In Him Thy glory’s centred,
In Him Thy purpose shown.”
The riches of the grace of God have abounded in securing not only our present and eternal blessing in Christ, but also in giving us even now intelligence as to the mystery of God’s will, according to His own good pleasure to centre up all things in the heavens and on the earth in Christ, in whom we are granted an inheritance in the vast realm of glory of which He is the Head, for we shall share it with Him as the assembly, as His body and His bride. When the glorious administration takes place in the fullness of time Christ will be supreme as Head and Centre of all, and meanwhile in view of this God works all things according to the counsel of His own will, so that we should be to the praise of His glory in the day of Christ’s pre-eminence. Having marked us out for sonship according to “the good pleasure of His will,” the present working out therefore of the “counsel of His will” has in view the full display in glory of the “mystery of His will.” It is the latter of these three which He has made known to us (Ephesians 1:5-10).
From God’s side this is so, but on our side—Do we understand it? It is one thing to have it told to us in the Scriptures, it is another to make it ours “in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” The importance of this should be rightly valued. A kindly father has planned for the good and pleasure of his family, friends, and household, as well as for his own good pleasure, to lay out his gardens and grounds in a certain way. His son is in his fullest confidence. They design together, but he desires all the others in the family circle to know also, that they may be in communion with him and have his mind while all is being wrought out. They will benefit when the desired end is reached, but how greatly will the father value their present interest in his interests before the end is attained; and how their ways, their instruction, and their communion with the mind of their father will be affected as they enter into his designs. It will surely be so with ourselves, and that increasingly, as we get apprehension in what is before the mind of God. The end which He has in view will certainly be reached, but as it fills our own hearts many minor matters will be understood better by us. The molehills which we had magnified into mountains will assume in our eyes their right proportion, the giants will become as grasshoppers, the difficulties as food for faith, and many inexplicable happenings will be seen clearly to be working for our good as we hourly draw nearer to the full fruition of God’s rich designs of glory, honour and praise. With spring in our steps and patience in our souls we shall hasten along the upward way, whilst our rejoicing increases and our communion deepens, for to that end the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has disclosed to us the “mystery of His will” even now.
This ends our reading for this session. Until next time, have a great day, and God bless.
Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded 
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