SAFE KEEPING
Bill W Lovie
1 Samuel 22: 23; 25: 14-16
John 17: 11-20
Ezra 1: 7-11
I would seek help, beloved, to say a little about safe keeping. David says here in the verse that we began with, “for with me thou art in safe keeping”. Think of the Lord Jesus in His care and interest for each one of His own! The Lord has died for us; He lives for us; with Him we are in safe keeping. I suppose the context of the scripture is in relation to the time of the reproach and the rejection of David, and publicly that is the situation that we are in at the present time. The Lord Jesus is rejected here. The crucifixion was a public matter, the rejection of the Saviour publicly, but that, dear friend, if you have come to know Him, the way that He has gone, means that He is available as a Saviour to you. I trust that everyone has put their faith and trust in Him and come under the shelter of His precious blood. That is eternal salvation and security and safety. It is secured in that way for the believer who knows the Lord Jesus as Saviour. How vital it is that each one knows Him in that way! But the Lord not only wants to be your eternal Saviour, but He wants to be your present Saviour. Present salvation is a real matter, a necessary matter. The apostle writes in Romans, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? Far be the thought”, Rom 6: 1, 2. God has in mind, the Lord Jesus has in mind, that we should grow in our appreciation and knowledge of that and not only know the assurance of eternal salvation but be in the enjoyment of present salvation.
So, the Lord Jesus is in rejection, the testimony is in reproach, but with Him we are in safe keeping: “Abide with me”. Think of that! The Lord Jesus should have the first place in our hearts, the first place in our lives, and so everything else has to come after that. We are here in a scene of difficulty; we are here in days of difficulty; and we need to fulfil responsibility; but we need to stay near to the Lord Jesus. We have a hymn that speaks of keeping near to the side of the Saviour:
O Lamb of God, still keep us
Close to Thy piercèd side;
’Tis only there is safety
And peace we can abide (Hymn 256).
Think of the security of staying near to the Saviour and His pierced side, as the hymn says. That would help us in our movements and in our walk and in our responsible pathway. The Lord Jesus too, as having gone on high, lives to intercede for us. He is a wonderful, great High Priest, “living to intercede”, Heb 7: 25. In the days of the tabernacle system of old, the dwellings of the Israelites were round about the tabernacle and when the high priest went in, he had bells and pomegranates on the hem of his garments; as he moved about in service, if you were near enough to the tabernacle, you would be able to hear these bells, Exod 28: 33. What it speaks to us of is a living Man in glory in the presence of God, living and interceding, “living to intercede”. Think of that, the Lord Jesus “living to intercede”! What grace as we stay near to Him! His priestly grace and service is safety for us, safety for the believer, to stay near to the Lord Jesus in that way. He provides, intercedes, brings in what is required.
The high priest also had stones in his breastplate, v 17. It speaks of the saints in his heart; the Lord Jesus has each one of His own in His heart. And there were also stones on the shoulder pieces, which speaks of the strength and power and stability that there is in the Lord Jesus as High Priest if you stay near to Him, v 12. We prove that, prove His priestly grace, prove His priestly support. Whatever may come up in our lives, the Lord Jesus is available, and He has been here, here as Man, “tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”, Heb 4: 15. He is sympathetic. The One who is our High Priest is sympathetic to us. He is not sympathetic exactly with us if we go out in self-will and sin, but He is available. He is available too as an Advocate if we do that, He has already represented us before the Father in view of recovery. Stay near to Him! “With me thou art in safe keeping”.
When we come to know the Lord Jesus as Saviour, we are His . That is unchangeable no matter what happens. In Romans it tells us that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”, chap 8: 39. Nothing can separate us from that. There is a whole list of things, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. It is a fixed matter. How all-embracing this safekeeping is. It has to do with our whole lives; it has to do with our eternal salvation too. “With me thou art in safe keeping”.
And another great comforting matter is “both if we should live then, and if we should die, we are the Lord’s”, Rom 14: 8. That is a great comfort, is it not? Our brother in this locality has been taken, our sister in Edinburgh, how many persons we have known and loved that have gone to be with Christ, the Lord Himself having come in. The Lord Himself is going to come and raise the dead that believe in Him. But it is also the Lord Himself that has put the believer to sleep. It is a wonderful comfort, is it not? The Lord Himself has done that, He has not sent anyone else to do it. It is not simply a matter of someone dying, maybe alone, outwardly alone. The Lord has been there and put the believer to sleep. It is His own action in love for His own, so that “both if we should live then, and if we should die, we are the Lord’s”. The dead in Christ are in wonderful safe keeping; nothing can challenge that position. The side of responsible life and all these things is over, but for the believer in the Lord Jesus, “asleep through Jesus” (1 Thess 4: 14), what safe keeping they are in! What a comfort that is to the soul! What a scope we find in this verse, “for with me thou art in safe keeping”. Let us stay near to the Lord Jesus, and know His love!
So, we read in chapter 25 about David’s men. It is interesting that David speaks to them and gives them direction. These men that we were speaking about in the reading came out in the same character as David, dwelling with David, abiding with David. They came out in the same character as David; so these persons here were “a wall” to Nabal’s servants. They said, “And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we companied with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding the sheep”. The assembly is a sphere of salvation. I suppose these men were like persons enjoying fellowship, like the brethren, like the local meeting. Well, “as long as we companied with them”. What company do we keep? There is a place of safety. It is not a matter of eternal salvation, but it is present salvation, and the assembly is the sphere where that is enjoyed. I remember hearing about a young sister a few years ago that she had said that when she was among the brethren she felt safe. Do you feel safe? Do you feel safe this afternoon amongst the brethren? What a place of safety it should be amongst the brethren! You say, ‘Well, we do not live in meetings’ . No, and that is right, but the meetings are important. Local meetings are important. We are glad of bigger occasions when we are able to be together and see brethren that perhaps we do not see so often or very often at all, and we enjoy things together. That is what fellowship is; it is enjoyment of our common portion. It is wonderful, is it not? And it is to be a place of safety. The local meetings are to be a place of safety. Perhaps you have come from a meeting where there are only a few. Still, it is a place of safety because the Lord’s word comes in. You get the Lord’s mind as to things, go over the Scriptures, be occupied with Jesus, occupied with divine things. How wonderful that is! You might say, ‘Well, I do not understand too much of some of these chapters’, but it is a place of safety; it settles your spirit. You come in amongst the brethren, and sing a hymn. The brethren are set together in unity in that way, singing together. It is a place of safety; it is a place of salvation; it is where the truth is enjoyed. You say, ‘I can enjoy things by myself’. Absolutely! Of course, we do, but when we come together it is like a remark by Mr Stoney. He speaks about how a bee finds some nectar and brings it back to the hive, vol 1 p217. It is brought into circulation, together. You might say all these bees have been out bringing back impressions of Christ, and they are enjoyed there. He says that the wasp on the other hand eats the nectar itself. Well, the assembly is a wonderful sphere of salvation.
So, these persons, these men of Nabal’s, or Abigail’s as they become, say, “They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding the sheep”. It is an area of protection. These things are real; Christianity is real; the working out of it is real. Where Christ is loved is a place of safety, and it is a place where we can be built up, built up in our souls, so when we go out in circumstances that are adverse, we are strengthened through the priestly grace of Christ. We have been built up; formation is taking place in the hearts and souls of believers. It is a practical matter, present salvation is a wonderful practical matter. It means, speaking simply, that we are in the enjoyment of our Christianity.
John 17 is a wonderful chapter. The depth in it is tremendous. The Lord Jesus is about to go to the cross, but He is amongst His own. He has brought in certain teaching in previous chapters, but chapter 17 is a prayer. He is speaking to the Father. Think of that! It is the last prayer He leaves His own with in this inside position here. He is speaking to the Father and He is speaking to the Father about His own. He says, “And I am no longer in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee”. When He says, “these are in the world”, He is speaking about the apostles, the disciples, but where we finished reading, He says, “And I do not demand for these only, but also for those who believe on me through their word”: so it comes down to us. It is coming down to you and me, coming down to us, “those who believe on me through their word”. “And I am no longer in the world”. The Lord says, “I come to thee”. He is going to the Father: “I come to thee”. Think of what was before Him, the cross, as we read in these following chapters. John was there. John writes as a witness that was there to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross, but here the Lord says, “I come to thee”. Think of what was in His heart! He made the Father known. “When I was with them I kept them in thy name” - that is the Father’s name - “those thou hast given me I have guarded”. Think of the care the Lord Jesus expended on His own! Just in the next chapter they came to take Him. “When therefore he said to them, I am he, they went away backward and fell to the ground. He demanded of them therefore again, Whom seek ye?”, chap 18: 6, 7. He gave Himself up to them. They could not take Him. I think these verses in chapter 18 give us an unfolding of the deity and power and glory that was there in Christ. It was generally hidden in His pathway here. Those that loved Him could take account of things, but publicly it was not recognised, but here in the glory and majesty of who He is, “they went away backward and fell to the ground”.
Well, He is going to the Father: “I come to thee”. The Father was looking forward to that. He is looking forward to the Lord Jesus going back into the glory as man: “I come to thee”. He is going to the Person, going to the Person of the Father. How wonderful! What complacency there is in that verse. Think of what lay before Him, but, “I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one as we. When I was with them I kept them in thy name”. The Lord kept them in the Father’s name. When He was speaking with them, He was unfolding the revelation of the Father to them. Philip says, “Lord, shew us the Father ”, chap 14: 8. The Lord had said things that were wonderfully attractive so you can understand why Philip would say such a thing. The Lord says, “Am I so long a time with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip?” v 9. The Father was there. The Father was there in Christ. He could be taken account of by those that loved Him and He “kept them in thy name”. It is what the Lord was doing. He was making the Father known. All through John’s gospel He is making the Father known. He kept them in that name, that wonderful name of relationship, the name of love. John’s gospel does not exactly give us the side of children; that is more, I suppose, the synoptic gospels. John speaks about the Father’s care, and that is true as well. The Father cares for His own. We are children here in this world and we need care; children need care. But in John’s gospel, I think, it is more elevated, the Father is seen as the wonderful name of relationship, and we brought into the dignity of sonship which awaits the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in John 20: “I ascend to my Father and your Father”, v 17. How wonderful that the Lord when He was here kept them in the Father’s name.
But now He says, “And these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in them. I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world”. The Lord Jesus was always morally separate from the world. He was in the world, and believers are in the world, and the Lord here is considering for us who are in the world. “I do not demand that thou shouldest take them out of the world”. We are not converted to go immediately to glory. There was no delay with the thief on the cross: “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23: 43), and for any believer who comes to know the Lord Jesus who is at the point of death, there is no delay, but we are left here in view of formation. We are left here for two things, as we are often reminded, the testimony and the service of God. We are left here in view of formation, which I think the Lord is speaking about here. “I do not demand that thou shouldest take them out of the world”. The Lord could do that; the Father could do that. It is not His mind but that there should be a testimony in the scene of Christ’s rejection, a testimony in those that love Him. He says, “but that thou shouldest keep them out of evil. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.”
Then the Lord says, “Sanctify them by the truth”. Sanctification involves being set apart, and the truth would have that effect on us. What is the truth that the Lord is speaking about here? I think it is what the Father thinks about Christ. Think of that perfect complacent love that the Lord Jesus enjoyed. He says, “Sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth”. Think of what the Father would delight to bring before us! The Father would delight to bring His well-beloved Son before us, and that has a sanctifying effect; it has a separating effect in the hearts of believers. How wonderful this is! It is inward; it is like the building inward in David’s time.
“As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world; and I sanctify myself for them”; that is what the Lord Jesus was going to do in setting Himself apart. He was in the world; He is no longer in the world; He is in glory, and we are to be occupied with Him where He is. “I sanctify myself for them”. He was going to the cross; He was going to suffer and die. He was sanctifying Himself for them. He has done that for us so that we may be occupied with Him where He is in all His glory and greatness. What a wonderful occupation! What a safe occupation - “For with me thou art in safe keeping” - if we are occupied with Christ where He is, what the Father is saying about Him where He is, bringing in touches as to His love. It is very wonderful. It should have a separating effect, a sanctifying effect, in the hearts of believers, and it all involves building up. “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth”. I wish I understood more about it, but how attractive it is, beloved, that the Lord Jesus where He is is available to us that we may be occupied with Him, and we are drawn into another world,
Where nought of sin can enter,
Where joy eternal is (Hymn 259).
We do not have to wait until we are in glory to enjoy glory, but we can enjoy these things in the Spirit’s power now at the present time:
Where deceiver ne’er can enter,
Sin-soiled feet have never trod;
Free, our peaceful feet may venture
In the paradise of God (Hymn 206).
It involves what is spiritual. That is what Paul was concerned about in his epistles, especially perhaps in Corinth. He was exercised that the saints might grow in spirituality. How I feel the need for that myself, to enter into these things. What a safe realm we are introduced into, beloved! May we be helped in these things! May this inward building go on and may we make way for the Father’s word, make way that we may be sanctified by truth! Think of the truth as it is in Jesus! We are occupied with that blessed, glorious Man. Paul in writing to Timothy at the end of the first epistle says, “O Timotheus, keep the entrusted deposit”, chap 6: 20. Keep it! That is our responsibility. We are responsible for that. I think most of us here have been brought up amongst the brethren; what has been entrusted to you? The most wonderful things have been entrusted to you. Well, keep it, “according as the truth is in Jesus”, Eph 4: 21. We have to keep it. From our side that involves a certain responsibility. How attractive John 17 is!
I read in Ezra, who writes of days of recovery. It is under God’s hand: God had spoken about Cyrus long before Cyrus was born. Israel went into captivity because of their unfaithfulness. God used that to bring about His own ways and His own end, but what we have here where we read is that what went into captivity is coming out of captivity. These vessels are persons. It is wonderful to think that we are in days when the truth has been recovered, or rather we have been recovered to the truth because the truth stands. It has been brought out, “brought … forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer”. I do not want to stretch Scripture, but think of what has been committed into the hands of the Spirit! We sometimes sing,
Blest Spirit, who art here in charge of all
God’s interests great (Hymn 333).
All God’s interests have been committed into the hand of the Spirit, a divine Person. There is no failure in divine Persons and what they do, no failure in the Spirit. Everything that has been committed to the Spirit from the outset of this dispensation has been carried through. Think too of what has been committed to the assembly, and of that glorious vessel, “the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Tim 3: 15! That stands too. How wonderful these things are!
So, what is recovered? “And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his god”. None of God’s thoughts has been lost. Here we are, at the end of the dispensation, 2,000 years on, and none of God’s thoughts have been lost; and, in fact, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”, Hag 2: 9. Think of those days of recovery! Later on in the book we have “two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold”, Ezra 8: 27. The moral side is upgraded in days of recovery, “two vessels of shining copper, precious as gold”. But here all that went into captivity is brought out, “thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine-and-twenty knives …”. I do not think that means that one is missing. All that has been committed into the hands of the Spirit is in safe keeping. But now they are counted out, “counted them out”. I suppose it is a bit like 2 Timothy 19: “The Lord knows those that are his”; and John 10: 3: “he calls his own sheep by name”. They are counted out and given “to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah”, wonderful type of Christ. “And this is the number of them”, every one counted out. “The whole did Sheshbazzar bring up, when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem”. Well, it is our day, the day that we are in. How wonderful it is to have part in the service of God! That is where these vessels, I suppose, are displayed:
Brought to rest within the circle
Where love’s treasures are displayed (Hymn 136).
These vessels are ‘love’s treasures’, persons like you and me, beloved, brought into the very centre,
Where love’s treasures are displayed.
Think of what God has expended! Think of “the riches of His grace” (Eph 1: 7), “the glory of His grace”, (v 6), ‘love’s treasures’! How we appreciate the love of God, and it is in the hand of Christ! At the service of God, the Lord comes in and He leads. Think of that: “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3: 35. Everything is safe there. I suppose it is a bit like what we have read of here, everything was counted out, persons in the service of God in the hands of Christ. How wonderful, beloved, not the side of responsibility but the side of privilege:
Where love’s treasures are displayed!
These vessels are seen. They are in the hand of Christ. They are in safekeeping there, are they not?
Well, may we be helped and encouraged in these things! May each one of us know and appreciate in a greater way the love of the Lord Jesus and know what it is to be in His safe keeping!
May it be so for His Name’s sake!
Linlithgow
3rd December 2022