1 Chronicles 22: 2-16; 29: 3
2 Kings 2: 1-14
2 Timothy 1: 13, 14; 2: 1-3, 7
I wish to say a word about how the things of the Lord may be handed on from one generation to another. We were speaking in the reading of the perfect work of the Lord Jesus. No one worked like He did in absolute perfection, preparing vessels to fill their place in the testimony after He had gone to glory. I am sure it is a feature that has marked men and women who have been with God too all the way down this dispensation and, as seen in the scriptures we have read, in the previous dispensation. Anyone who has been with God has had a concern as to what will follow if the Lord does not come in their life time. Will they leave behind something locally, and maybe universally, that will be able to carry on the testimony in the grace that the Lord would give? I think it is quite an exercise for the older ones to look on the younger ones and to be able to recognise something that is coming to light in them that will form manhood and womanhood in relation to the testimony of our Lord. I think it is something for the young ones here to think about. Can you live above all for Christ, and perhaps draw on the experience of older ones who have been here a good while in the testimony? I can remember as a young man the many older ones who we looked up to and realised they had stood in their place in the inheritance and filled it out to the best of their ability, and I believe many of them left something valuable behind. The hymn we began with (No 424) touches on that, as the Lord’s servants are taken, and it happens often. It is well to think about what such persons may have deposited in relation to the testimony of our Lord and what can we learn from it. Are we going to take up the challenge and stand in our own day?
I read about these three pairs of persons - David and Solomon were royal persons. At the moment I am not thinking of them as types of Christ, which of course they are, but thinking of them as men who filled a responsible place in the testimony here. I believe they secured and carried through the royal line, and I would suggest that has been amongst the saints; dignity and royalty belong to those who belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. Elijah and Elisha were prophets, thank God for the prophetic line too that has been amongst the saints. That needs to be continued. Paul and Timothy were ministering servants. Paul was more, he was an apostle, but they were both ministering servants. The grace of the apostle comes out in many things to Timothy, instructing him and encouraging him.
I seek help to say a word as to David and Solomon - this chapter is beautiful. How much it meant to David! We read in the Psalms of his longings and affection for the house of God. He wanted to build that house, it meant everything to him, and he devoted so much to it. But the word of God came through Nathan that he was not to be the builder because he had shed much blood, and made great wars. While David was a beautiful type of Christ, and though his history as a whole was wonderful - beginning as a shepherd boy, meeting the lion and the bear and Goliath (1 Sam 17), and so on, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13: 22) - yet the failures of David were very serious. He failed in relation to Urijah the Hittite (2 Sam 11), and he failed in relation to his own household and as to Absalom, 2 Sam 13. Think of him mourning over Absalom, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died in thy stead” (2 Sam 18: 33); these things in God’s governmental ways stood out and David could not correct them. I do not want to dwell on that but it is a sobering thing for us to remember. We may be greatly helped in the Lord’s testimony, but there may be these things which come in. We should never let natural links intrude in the things of God. David failed grievously in relation to Absalom. He was a murderer, and David let him back under Joab’s influence; he did not exercise righteousness in relation to Absalom.
But there were beautiful traits in David. He was a man after God’s own heart and he is speaking here so wonderfully of what he had prepared. In this chapter it is in his affliction. He knew affliction, he suffered, sometimes because of his own failures, sometimes he suffered in battles of the Lord and many other things, but through all that, as the Psalms bring out, he provided the material for the house of God. It was so much before his heart and soul. The verse in chapter 29 says, “moreover, in my affection for the house of my God”. David was a lover. He loved God and God loved him. God loved Solomon too; God sent and named him, “Jedidiah, for Jehovah’s sake”, 2 Sam 12: 25. All this bears on the interest that God takes in His people, and the way He selects people for His testimony. He has selected you. None of us are like David or Solomon exactly, of course, but we have a part in the Lord’s testimony here and that is a great thing at the present moment.
There is a beautiful abundance in these verses, things that were required for the house of God, valuable things, gold and silver, timber and so on, prepared abundantly before David’s death. He knew, as a result of God’s word, that he was not going to build this house. That must have been a disappointment to David, but he did not give up because God had said, ’No, it is not you who will build the house, I have someone else, a man of peace”. Both of them are sometimes types of Christ: Solomon sets out the millennial glory of Christ, and he was the One whom God had selected to build the house. David is listing these things here and he called for Solomon his son and “charged him to build a house for Jehovah the God of Israel”. Earlier he says, “Solomon my son is young and tender”; that is a beautiful touch. I think the Lord looks round on a company like this, and the older ones would look round on the younger ones and say, ’This young man, this young woman, they are young and tender’; the potential is there that will make a man or a woman who will consider for Christ, who will be here in relation to His testimony. It has not come to full maturity yet, “Solomon my son is young and tender” - I lay that upon the saints. The older ones should be looking for that in younger ones and having in mind that the features of what is young and tender should develop into full maturity, and there should be conditions amongst the saints - and I believe there are - that will help that development forward. As you sit in a meeting like this, maybe the young ones do not always listen. The Lord wants you for His testimony, and the older ones want you to commit yourself to Christ and to his people and to be available in relation to the work that is going on.
So, “he called for Solomon his son, and charged him”, and then David explains that he had had in mind to build the house, but God had said he should not, “for thou hast shed much blood”. And God said to him, “Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about”, all these details God had been over. That is true of the company here; God has been over the history of each one, and He has set you in a particular place and He has given you certain features that can be useful in His interests, that can be patterned after the Lord Jesus Himself. You can grow up to be a brother or a sister that is devoted to the Lord’s work and available to Him. The older ones might look to the younger ones too to come forward and carry the burdens of the testimony. This is a beautiful touch, the building of this house. It was to be a magnificent house, a wonderful house, and represented a dwelling place, at that time, for God. Things are not material now, as we know; God’s dwelling is in the assembly. So our committal now is to the assembly, and in serving the assembly we are serving Christ. We are looking after and furthering what is for His own peculiar joy and interest at the present moment. David goes on here, “Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee, that thou mayest prosper, and build the house of Jehovah thy God … Only, Jehovah give thee wisdom and understanding, and place thee over Israel, and to keep the law of Jehovah thy God”. This idea of God giving Solomon wisdom began with David. We know that when Solomon became king after David had gone, God gave Solomon the chance to ask for what he would. Solomon asked for wisdom that he might be able to judge so great a people, 2 Chron 1: 10. He had a respect for the people of God and he asked for wisdom and God was pleased with that. When we pray and ask God for something, it is a wonderful thing if we have a sense that God is pleased with what we ask, “Because this was in thy heart, and thou has not asked riches”, v 11. God gave him what he asked for, wisdom. There was no one as wise as Solomon anywhere; he was the wisest man in all the earth. Along with that, God gave him things that he did not ask for. What a God we have to do with! David is touching those things here, “Jehovah give thee wisdom”.
I wanted to speak of the last verse we read here, “Arise and be doing and Jehovah be with thee” - it is a good word. No doubt it goes for all of us; we need to get up and get on with the work under the direction of the Lord, the Master - “serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work”, 2 Tim 2: 21. We should have that in our hearts and minds for ourselves, but in relation to younger ones too that they might be serviceable to the Master. David says here, “Arise and be doing and Jehovah be with thee”. It has been seen abundantly in the history of the testimony that if persons commit themselves, and make themselves available in a way that is serviceable to the Master, the Lord will take such on and use them in a way we may not have thought of.
I trust we might get some impressions of these two men, the affections of David coming in in relation to his son Solomon. It is not recorded that Solomon said anything here, but when Solomon did begin to speak there was no doubting the wisdom of Solomon’s words. His Songs were a thousand and five (1 Kings 4: 32); we only have one of them in scripture, the Song of Songs. What a man Solomon was. He spoke about all sorts of things, from the cedars of Lebanon, to the hyssop that springs out of the wall, v 33. What words! God had Solomon sovereignly ready, but I see too the provision and the influence that David had as his father, as an older man; he brought in the sense of blessing for Solomon, he directed him in the way he should go and he left him with all this material that when the moment came he should get on and build the house. I love this word and trust it might touch every heart here, “Arise and be doing and Jehovah be with thee”. God makes way for what you and I might do, and that we might take it up and do it. We see that repeatedly in the history of the testimony.
I go on to Elijah and Elisha, another beautiful pair. These two men were prophets and Elijah had thrown his mantle over Elisha while he was ploughing, 1 Kings 19: 19. Elisha was a young man who had taken up his responsibilities seriously. He was ploughing with twelve yolk of oxen, Elijah cast his mantle over him and he left the oxen and followed Elijah. It says “and Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal”; you might have thought that it would be the other way round. You would expect the older man to give the lead, and in the rest of the section he did, Elisha went with Elijah; but in the first instance Elijah went with Elisha. I just wonder whether that is a word to the younger ones that you might not necessarily always have to wait for other persons to ask you into things, but you might take the step yourself, you might make yourself available. No doubt Elisha loved this man of God who had taken him into path of service with him. So Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal, the place where the flesh is cut off. What a journey it was, and Elisha was learning. He was a young man who was learning from this older, more experienced man. Elijah was communicating things to Elisha. It speaks of the vantage points that they visited. It says “they went down to Bethel”. No doubt Elisha would have learnt something of the truth of the house of God. We all need to do that, and if you want help as to the house of God, the first epistle to Timothy is rich. Read about Jacob’s history too; he found the house of God quite early but he said it was a dreadful place. But when he came back to it in his spiritual history he found that it was a place of blessing and he was recovered there to God’s great thoughts in relation to himself, Gen 28: 19; 35: 6.
Here they are, these two, at Bethel. Then, “Jehovah has sent me to Jericho”. No doubt Elisha would have understood something of the judgment of the world’s system. Men like Elijah would have had a very strong judgment of Jericho and all that it stood for. It had been rebuilt in spite of the curse that was laid upon it, 1 Kings 16: 34. This was part of his education. There is that, beloved young ones, for all of us, we have not finished our education yet but, for the young ones particularly, it is the time of the education. You have a lot to learn, I do not say that in any hard way, but it is true.
Then they went on, and at each point you have these “sons of the prophets”. They were not at all helpful, they were not in things vitally. Elisha was getting into things vitally in company with Elijah. Then they go to the Jordan, and at each point Elijah challenges him, “Abide here, I pray thee: for Jehovah has sent me …”, but Elisha was not having any of it; if Elijah was going on, he was going on with him. How worthwhile it was. Elisha was not willing to be separated from Elijah; he would go on. The whole blessing and basis of his service for God rested upon that and his link with Elijah until the point when Elijah was taken up from him.
So, they carry on and cross the Jordan - that is a point in soul history that everyone has to come to, and especially those who are going to serve the Lord in any measure. Anyone who is going to serve in the prophetic word has to face the truth of the Jordan - our death with Christ. We come to an end of all that the natural man is and see the light of another order opening up on the other side, life that is in Christ, a link with Christ in relation to the heavenly realm of things. That is the way of the blessing, where Elisha comes into this. They get across the Jordan - I think this is very beautiful: “they went on, and talked”. Think of the converse between these two men, Elijah a man with considerable experience, he had a history with God, and they talked. This talking was in the light of resurrection on the other side of the Jordan. Elisha would be learning all the time. Young ones must come to a meeting like this with the object of learning about Jesus, learning of the sphere where He is and the sphere that is here amongst the saints too, a sphere of blessing in which you can find your part. Then Elisha gets this great opportunity, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee”. What does Elisha ask for? He asks for, “a double portion of thy spirit”, and Elijah says, “Thou hast asked a hard thing: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee”. Elisha must have kept his eyes on Elijah; he must have riveted them there: he was not going to be deprived of this wonderful gift. He had asked a hard thing, but if he had his eyes on Elijah when he was taken up it would be so. He did not have to wait too long, “And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens”. What it must have been to see that, to see another taken up, his teacher, the one whom he loved, taken up “by a whirlwind into the heavens”. There are only two ordinary men in scripture who are recorded as being taken up without going through death, the other being Enoch. The wonderful thing here is that Elijah completed his service and the power of heaven intervened and took him up, and Elisha saw it; so he got the double portion of Elijah’s spirit and that was no mean thing, the spirit of Elijah was a great thing. He had served in that power himself as used of God. But Elisha had a double portion of it. It speaks of the wonderful dispensation in which we are, the spirit of grace that marked the service of Elisha. He served in the light of a man gone up, and the power of that spirit here, which is very much like the position, dear brethren, in which we are.
The ministry of Elisha was remarkable, full of blessing, interesting stories; the things that he did were quite remarkable, the double portion rested upon him. What a wonderful thing, what a gift. I encourage the young ones here: the Lord will bless you too. You need to set yourself, and ask the Lord for these things. As you are asking for great things, He may not give you them all at once, He may not give you what you ask for either, but He will give you something, I am sure of that. It is a wonderful thing to set yourself in relation to Him, in the way of divine blessing so that you might be useful amongst the Lord’s people.
I love to come to the beloved apostle and Timothy. These two men were in our own dispensation; so maybe we can link on more easily with Paul and Timothy. Where we began Paul is instructing Timothy as one he could trust. Timothy was nearer to Paul than anyone, “I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”, Phil 2: 20. He was a relatively young man but he had endeared himself to Paul because of his committal and faithfulness to the Lord. I have often wondered how Paul knew all these things about Timothy but I suppose it must have been as they walked on together and served together. I think above all Paul must have listened to Timothy’s prayers and, of course, Timothy listened to Paul’s prayers too and that was even more wonderful. What it would have been to listen to the beloved apostle outpouring his soul and exercises to God and to the Lord in prayer!
Here he is saying to Timothy, “Have an outline of sound words, which words thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus”. What an exhortation that is. How much Paul had said to Timothy we do not really know. There must have been a great deal they had conversed about as Paul ministered and Timothy listened, and Paul sent Timothy to various localities and Timothy comes back and reports upon it. Paul relied on him, and that is a wonderful thing. That is what I am thinking about for this occasion that the older ones might be able to rely on the younger ones, not without good reason of course: you do not have confidence in anyone or rely on persons unless they have really proved themselves. That is fine, if you see a young brother or a young sister proving themselves in relation to the things of the Lord. The older ones greatly appreciate that and the Lord Himself greatly appreciates that too. Paul had found something reliable in Timothy, “no one like-minded”; there were others, of course; according to this epistle, “Luke alone is with me”, chap 4: 11. There were others, fellow-citizens and fellow-labourers and fellow-servants with the beloved apostle, but Timothy had a distinct place. This word of exhortation here is very beautiful, “Have an outline of sound words, which words thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus”. Then in the second chapter he goes on, “Thou therefore, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus”. We know that Timothy was not literally Paul’s child, but he was so spiritually; Paul had been a father to him in a spiritual sense. I can look back to my young days and there were persons who were men in the assembly who were regarded as fathers in that way; you learnt from them, men of experience. We are not without those today either, but I would like to encourage the younger ones in this, and to encourage the older ones too to look for the same features which were found in Timothy in a measure in one and another: “Thou therefore, my child”.
Then he says, “the things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men” - this is a verse which is very often referred to, and rightly so, illustrating that which I have been seeking to bring out in this address, that there is a line in the testimony of our Lord that has gone through. The testimony is Christ Himself; He has set things on. It is then empowered in the coming in of the Spirit, giving life and buoyancy and power to the testimony as it flowed out in those early days in the Acts. It has gone through. The word to Philadelphia shows that it will go through, “a little power”, but it is there, the same character of power that was there in the beginning, going through, Rev 3: 8. It is above all by virtue of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, but it has also gone through by faithful men and women who have filled their part in the testimony: “these entrust to faithful men”. It is not suggested here that there would be any time when such persons would not be available, and I think you can say that through much weakness and much difficulty and maybe much failure too, there has been this line of faith, of faithful men and women. It has run through and been passed on from one to another, older ones to younger ones. Then it says, “the things thou hast heard of me”; that was Paul’s own teaching, but under Christ. His own ministry was distinctive; the ministry of the assembly, the heavenly ministry, the line of the truth, came through Paul distinctively, and it was to be entrusted to faithful men. Then it says, “such as shall be competent to instruct others also”; that was the third level. I suppose that is where we are today. This line of instruction, persons have availed themselves of it, “faithful men, such as shall be competent to instruct others also”. Paul is laying this on Timothy with the confidence and assurance that Timothy would take it up and work it out. I think that is very fine.
Then he says, “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”. No doubt there were many things which Paul said that Timothy did not fully understand. There are lots of things which might be said in ministry in a meeting like this, some of which may not be understood, but the answer is here - “Think of what I say”. Take time for the contemplation of what is said; what Paul said would amply repay contemplation. Like the Bereans, “receiving the word with all readiness of mind, daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”, Acts 17: 11. That is a good line of exercise which has often been laid upon us. Understanding is to be greatly coveted. It is much the same, in one sense, as wisdom, but I have an impression that understanding relates more to the heavenly side of things. The truth is not something you can study like you study science, mathematics or other subjects at school, but it is something that has to be understood in the spiritual sense, and affection for Christ is a wonderful start. Then the words have to be taken in and you have to think about them. Think of all that Paul said. Perhaps very little is recorded in scripture; some of it is and thank God for that, for his words in the epistles and so on, but they do require our attention and we are to think about them. Some of those wonderful epistles, all his writings, sit down and think about them and ask the Spirit of God to help you. It may mean that you might need to look at the books too, and see what others have said about the Scriptures and their wonders, and gradually you will begin to get a picture of what the Lord has in mind for you and has in mind for all His people. That is where we began, “Have an outline of sound words”. You need to get an outline. There is a very interesting piece by Mr Stoney on the Scope of the Truth (vol 3 p239), where it is pointed out that all departure from the truth, whether in our own hearts or in Christendom, flows out of taking an aspect of the truth out of its true setting and emphasising one aspect at the expense of another. What we need is some impression of the scope of the truth and for that we need the help of the Spirit of God. None of us can take in the whole truth at one time, but there is such a thing as the scope of the truth and the Spirit has that in His heart and mind for us and as we make way for the Spirit in listening to ministry I believe we begin to grow and we begin to see how various aspects of the truth fit together. They are not opposed to each other. We are not like some who take up an aspect of the truth and press it at the expense of everything else; we are to see how it fits in to the whole scope of Christian truth.
I think this is beautiful here, “the Lord will give thee understanding in all things” - I trust that the younger ones here will have a desire for that. You want understanding in all things, and I believe what we have been saying this afternoon might help us a little on that line of things. If you give time and attention to the things of the Lord and the words that are spoken, the words of the scripture and the words that are spoken in meetings like this, then sit down quietly and think about it. Maybe you only got a few phrases, but think about them. You might get the others and more help later on. That is the way, here a little, there a little; that is the way that the truth takes form in our hearts and becomes formative in us. I think that is what the Lord and the Spirit of God are looking for at the present moment.
May we be encouraged in these things, thinking about these three pairs of men. There were very different circumstances and a different lesson in each case and each is profitable and put together in this idea of the old and the young going on together, with the old looking for blessing and help for the younger ones, and the younger ones looking too for what is in the older ones that it might strengthen them and establish them in understanding the truth as to our Lord Jesus Christ at the present moment.
May the Lord bless the word.
Malvern
21st February 2009