ANSWERING TO CHRIST
John C Gray
Genesis 41: 53-55
We may say that generally, although thankfully the gospel is still preached, in every place, or most places, there is what these verses speak of as dearth in the land of Egypt, a need for bread. The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, says, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven”, John 6: 50.
There are three things here that I would like to draw attention to particularly in what Pharaoh said. We know from the teaching that this Pharaoh may be taken to represent God in this setting, which is different from what the other Pharaoh was in Exodus; and Joseph is a type of Christ. So that there are three things that are said by Pharaoh: “Go to Joseph”, one; “what he says to you”, two; “that do”, three.
The first thing is, “Go to Joseph”. That is an important matter, that we go to Christ for what we need. There is always a tendency to try to look for solutions ourselves, our own way, especially when we get older: the older ones will know that things become difficult and anxieties grow. But I suppose even when you are younger there are anxieties. The need is always to go to Christ. “Go to Joseph”: that is the first thing; Christ is the Centre of all God’s purposes, all God’s promises. “Whatever promises of God there are”, Paul tells the Corinthians, “in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”, 2 Cor 1: 20. That is, that He is the Yea and the Amen. There is a certainty about it and a conclusion about it, so that there is no one after, no one else to look to; that is what “the amen” suggests.
So, “Go to Joseph” is very important. Persons in Christendom have gone to all sorts of trouble to make formalities, and look religious in clothing and buildings and all the rest, but they have left out Christ. In these last days, beloved brethren, we need to ensure that in every matter that comes up, whatever it is, we go to Joseph, we go to Christ. That is very important for all of us. It is not just in assembly matters that we find resource in Him, because He is everything for God. Righteousness, reconciliation, and many other things that we could mention, everything that has come out of the heart of God is centred in Him. It has been revealed so that we would understand and know it. “Go to Joseph”, go to Christ. It is very important, therefore, that in these last days when there is so much to distract, and so many opinions and everything else, we go to Joseph. We find the answers in Christ, because God has set Him as Head over all things. It is not just that He is Head to the assembly so that we find our resource and draw our resource from Him, but He “the head of all principality and authority”, Col 2: 10. Whatever there is in the universe God has set Christ as Man over it. Of course it does not mean that God is not supreme, and that will be so in the eternal day when Christ’s reign concludes, and He delivers up the kingdom, that God will “be all in all”, 1 Cor: 15: 28. Nevertheless, men will only know God through Christ. So it is, “Go to Joseph”: go to Christ.
So the second thing is, “what he says to you”. Well, what is the Lord saying? He said many things in His lifetime here, of course, many precious things: “Follow thou me”, (John 21: 22), “Abide in me” (John 15: 4), “have love amongst yourselves” (John 13: 35), “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. Many things the Lord said, and He said a lot of things in parables to the crowds too that they might, in the light of the work of God in them, answer to it in repentance. The Lord introduced great and wonderful things. How pleased the Father was not only in the private life of Jesus, which was manifested by His word at the anointing of Jesus in His baptism at the Jordan, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, (Matt. 3: 17); there were thirty years of comparatively unknown work and the Father had delight in it. But then God also delighted in what was seen publicly in the way in which the Lord could handle every person that came to Him and heal every person that came to Him who was in need of healing. Wonderful matter that is.
So that it is, “what he says to you”. The words of Christ for us come through the Spirit. Christ is Head of the assembly in heaven, and the Spirit brings to us what the Lord Jesus has in mind for the assembly: “what he says”. So in Revelation He says to the seven assemblies there, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, 2:7. Well, the Spirit is saying what He hears in heaven. That is what the Lord Jesus said about Him: “whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”. Wonderful thing that is therefore, that the Lord’s speaking is still going on, and that we hear it by the power of the Spirit amongst us. It is important, therefore, that we pay attention to it and grow by it. There is increase; we have said a lot about fruit recently and that is very good and very important too, “the fruit of the lips confessing his name”. So the service of God can take place; we can actually, from the power of the Spirit in our hearts, express something to God which God is pleased and satisfied with.
So it is important that we listen to what is said from Christ, through the Spirit, at the present time. There has been much that has been expressed. The early believers had it in Jerusalem and round about: “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, Acts 2: 42. And then in the days of recovery we have had much, very diligent ministry, about the Scriptures which is very valuable. The young people should read some of it because that is what the Lord has been saying over the years of the recovery. And He is still saying what is current, and we get that not only in our meetings here but in what is printed, and in what comes through other persons. We see all that as the Lord is speaking to us and giving us the assurance that not only is He soon coming for us, but that He will protect us and see that the work that He has begun in each one of us will go through into completion.
Then the third thing is, “that do”. Well, there is no use hearing the words if we do not do them. We had in Matthew about the two sons. “I go, sir”; that is what one said, but then he did not do it, chap 21: 29. That, of course, was typical of Israel. It could be that there are many that profess the name of Jesus saying, “I go, sir”. They may profess that they are believers when in fact they maybe are not; there is no real repentance with them, no faith. It is important that we express what is said to us: “that do”. But then it is not just what comes generally through the gospel, but what may affect us in our assembly life. I struggle for words to express it but what we do is for the pleasure of God. We say things under the power of the Spirit; what the Spirit brings out is good. That is what we do, we express things. We are thankful for the young people who have grown in the past years and the sisters as well. And the sisters should grow in the same way as the brothers who take part. So that the Lord will find that there is a wonderful answer in display in the time to come in relation to persons who have answered to what He has said, “that do”. It is like “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19.
Well, it is all very well listening to it but the thing is to do it: “this do in remembrance of me”. That is a word for the young folk in the gospel. There is a word for all of us that we answer to, what the Lord may indicate in ministry by the Spirit. It comes to us in different ways and we are subject to it because kingdom persons who own the Lord Jesus as Lord are always subject. You never get very far if there is no obedience. God has in mind that when we do that we are in His presence in complacency. Reconciliation has in mind that we are complacent before the presence of God. There is no need for nervousness or want of expression but we are complacent because Christ is our all and our everything.
May we be helped in these things. Despite the dearth that there was in the land of Egypt, Joseph had the bread. It is despite the barrenness that there is in the world which is occupied through Satan with all sorts of things, except God and except Christ, who is the living Bread which has come down out of heaven.
May we be helped for His Name’s sake.
Word in Ministry Meeting in Bo’ness
4th November 2021