GOD WITH US
Matthew 1: 18-25; 18: 18-20; 28: 16-20
Haggai 1: 12-15; 2: 3-5
RHB One of the striking features of Matthew’s gospel is the way that the Lord’s presence with His people, the divine presence with His people here, is drawn attention to. It is significant in that context that there is no reference to the Lord’s ascension in this gospel. It begins with “Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, ‘God with us’”. We have the well-known reference in chapter 18 of the Lord’s own words “where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”. Then we have His word at the end in resurrection, “behold”. That word “behold” is to draw attention to something the significance of which may not have dawned upon them: “behold, I am with you all the days”. I read the verses in Haggai because God speaks there of being with those that are in a day of recovery, a day of small things, a day where people were giving up and the prophets were used to revive and stimulate them out of a state of apathy, and the promise was that God would be with them.
One thing that is noticeable about all these references is that it is not that the persons themselves claim the presence of God or the Lord’s presence among them. We live in a day when many people do that. In each case it is God speaking, committing Himself. I thought that might promote enquiry with us as to who these people are to whom God commits Himself in that way. I am sure we would all feel the necessity for the divine presence; however small and however weak things may be, we would feel the necessity for it. Perhaps speaking of it together would increase the desire for it. The brethren will remember that after great failure in Exodus, Moses says to God, “If thy presence do not go, bring us not up hence”, Exod 33: 15. If we do not have the presence of God amongst us, not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of conscious experience in our souls, we really have very little.
The presence of God among His people is something that is to be desired on our part, and it is certainly desired on God’s part. His desire to be with men is something that comes in very early in the Scriptures and it comes in at the end. The tabernacle of God, eternally, will be with men, Rev 21: 3. I wondered if these passages would stimulate enquiry with us as to the conditions that need to be provided in order that God’s presence among us restfully should be experienced. Do you think we could get some nourishment out of those few thoughts?
RJF Certainly, it should be a very strong exercise with us that God should be with us. Apart from anything else, there is so much strength that comes in. The scripture in Romans, “If God be for us, who against us?” (Rom 8: 31), comes to mind. This is much more of the inward side. I wonder if we see that with Joseph here; he “pondered on these things” and the result was that “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream”. When he heard the word, he was obedient to it. He woke up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord had enjoined him. Perhaps those are two things that are features that mark someone with whom God could be.
RHB Yes, and I think your reference in Romans is helpful, “If God be for us, who against us?”. You might say He would also be with us. The presence of God provides support, protection. We are really in the enemy’s territory here. We do not belong here. The hymn we sang has reminded us of that:
His presence is our home. (Hymn 12)
Our home is not here. We are in enemy territory and therefore conflict at any moment may be called upon. The presence of God among His people restfully is the great support and protection for them. I think what you have said as to Joseph is striking; there is not much said in this chapter, or indeed in the next, as to Mary. There is a lot made in professing Christendom as to Mary, but Joseph is spoken of here as “son of David”. He is spoken of by God as “a righteous man”. To him was entrusted the care of this little Child. This was the greatest thing that has happened in the history of the world, that God should be manifest in flesh. This Child was entrusted to a man who was obedient; he was righteous; and the writer says of the child that “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, ‘God with us’”. I thought this first scripture would establish us in that, the desire of God to be with men, so that He has been manifested in flesh. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14): among men. We can see that in these very limited circumstances, a family that was outwardly poor, there were moral features into which this precious Child was introduced.
DAB-w Could you say a little more as to why it is Joseph? Are you suggesting perhaps that it is these sorts of masculine features that are necessary to stand fast and hold fast. It is born out of affection; it is really being prepared to stand. Would that be a feature that marks those where the Lord would be pleased to make Himself known?
RHB Yes, it is a striking feature. The royal line is given in the first part of the chapter, “Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”, Matt 1: 16. It is Joseph that was in the line of David and something happened that on the face of it had the appearance of wickedness, and so he purposed in himself. He reflected upon it. I think there are features set out in this man for our instruction. He “purposed to have put her away secretly”; she was obviously the object of his affections, but that was not going to hinder him. If evil was there, it was to be dealt with. I think that is one of the features that is necessary if the Lord’s presence is to be known, that there is the preparedness to deal with wickedness when it arises. He does not rush to judgment. He is a man unwilling to expose, publicly, “he pondered on these things”. He reflected upon them. That gave opportunity for the divine mind to be made known to him. As we sang in our hymn,
How all things shine in light divine.
Light divine shone on this situation. It was not at all as it appeared.
PSB You have drawn attention to something I was going to ask you about: he was “unwilling to expose her publicly”. It says in the footnote c that it was what was characteristic of him. These things are not just put on for the occasion; it is what should be characteristic and mark us for the Lord to be available and make Himself known.
RHB Yes, of course evil has to be dealt with when it arises, but it is not to be our occupation, we are not to live in those things or expose them. If what he thought had happened, it was a public scandal, not something to be exposed to public gossip and talk. It is remarkable how the activity of angels comes in to convey the divine mind to him. We get it in the next chapter too: he takes the little Child away to Egypt and then from Egypt to Galilee, and to Nazareth. These movements would have been unremarked in the world, of little account, but there was a great evil abroad, a wicked king who was going to slaughter all the children of that age. These outwardly insignificant movements were movements under divine direction. I find that a challenge as time goes by, as to whether I am leadable, whether I am adjustable; or whether I am opinionated. This man was a righteous man, he was unwilling to expose, but he was one that could be directed. It struck me that it is into those conditions, poor as they were, that the Saviour of the world was born.
DAB Is it interesting in that connection that Joseph is ready to embrace the idea that the Holy Spirit has acted? No doubt you have in mind too exercise as to our present relationships with God. We may be occupied with the difficulties and appearances, but we do need to be more attuned to the reality that the Holy Spirit is acting.
RHB What you say is even more remarkable, in that the Holy Spirit had not yet come as an indwelling Spirit, but He was active. That which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit; and we read elsewhere of a man to whom things were communicated “by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ”, Luke 2: 26. You might say the Holy Spirit was overshadowing this whole circumstance that was of such little interest in the world, but of such great importance to heaven.
DAB I was thinking in your opening remarks, that this prophecy that the angel quotes was more than seven hundred years old. The promise made to David as to his seed was more than a thousand years old, but it could not be fulfilled unless there were people through whom it could be fulfilled. That is where the Holy Spirit has operated. When God’s word and God’s promise comes to be fulfilled, the Holy Spirit has prepared conditions into which that can be brought.
RHB Yes, it is like a sterilised area, a sanctified area, into which this Babe, spoken of elsewhere as “the holy thing also which shall be born” (Luke 1: 35) could come; Something so precious. You think of what hung upon the birth of this Child: what hung upon Him for God and what hung upon Him for man, and how vulnerable and exposed it appeared to be, and yet “God with us”, which was His name peculiarly, would involve not only the birth of that Child but the Godhead involved in it.
PHM It is interesting that in each of the passages you have drawn from God is speaking, or the Lord is speaking. What we have been saying as to the Spirit is helpful because that gives us the understanding. It is not just knowing God’s presence or the Lord’s presence; it would involve communion with Him. John speaks of Him as a Shepherd: “My sheep hear my voice”, John 10: 27. If we apply these scriptures to our practical pathways, that is His desire. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to learn. One of the things that you are enquiring about is for us each to be able to have that desire, to know and recognise His voice and to hear what He may have to say to us. He has something different for each of us; it all involves blessing and there is a result of encouragement and confirmation in having this communion with Him, as learning from Him and following His actions.
RHB I think that; I think His presence is to be known by us individually. Then we shall have the ability to recognise His presence as we come together. That is very important, particularly in the first occasion of the week. There has been a lot of teaching and ministry and help as to that occasion, and as to what we sometimes call the order of the service, but we do not have a fixed order of service, like the professing church. What we have, if we have anything, is the presence of Christ. He has promised to make Himself known if the conditions there are suitable and as coming in amongst His own, as the great Head of the assembly, He will give directions. Hymns will be given out if His presence is recognised under His headship, not just because we know that this is a hymn that will fit at this time of the meeting, or because we have sung it before or like it. The great Head of the assembly will indicate a hymn that will strike the chord that He strikes and we shall prove guidance, not human guidance, but divine leadership as His presence is known. It is in the assembly; we are going on a bit further now, but it is in the assembly that the praises of God are sung by Him.
KJW We had an impression last Lord’s day as to the movements of the Lord, and the Lord’s movements are to be with us. This first scripture that you have read was one of the supreme movements from the divine side to be with His creature. Could you say something more? You mentioned in your opening remarks as to God’s desire, but that is behind all of these movements that we can understand through the Spirit.
RHB I think so. The Lord says in John, “I will not leave you orphans”, chap 14: 18. He says, ”I am coming to you”. That is characteristic; that is John’s side. I suppose this gospel brings out perhaps more the conditions that exist for His presence. We cannot assume it. We cannot come together and assume that because we break bread in this room as we have done many times, and with brethren that we have been breaking bread with many times, that the Lord will come to us. We must be in constant exercise that there are spiritual conditions provided for His presence to be known and enjoyed and proved by us.
MIW One of the features of Joseph was obedience. He was given directions as to the Lord’s name and remarkably in this gospel it says, “he called his name Jesus”. I wondered whether that is another feature that is important that as we become conscious of the word of God coming in, it is incumbent upon us to take that up in the spirit of subjection.
RHB Yes, I think so. That was the matter in which man failed originally, the matter of obedience. It is quite remarkable that he is referred to not only as a righteous man, but as one who immediately answered to the light he was given, and as a result he had more light. In the next chapter there is fresh direction and movement, and it is all for his protection and blessing as well as the protection and blessing of the little Child. I think the Lord speaks often in the scriptures of the importance of keeping His word, keeping His commandments, and that being the proof of our love for Him.
DHB God’s desire has always been to dwell with man. I was thinking there were different conditions in Genesis, but when sin came in Jehovah Elohim said to man, “Where art thou?”, chap 3: 9. He felt that distance and ultimately man was expelled from the garden. Conditions were not right for God to dwell with man and He would feel that.
RHB I think what you say is right. It has always been God’s desire to dwell with man. Man was taken up for that purpose. It has not always been man’s desire to dwell with God. Man would often prefer that God should remain in heaven at a distance and leave him to his own devices. There is actually a reference in the Psalms to that.
The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah,
but the earth hath he given to the children of men, Ps 115: 16.
That is how persons have often thought of things. In Christianity everything is changed. Instead of God being in heaven and man on earth there is a living Man in heaven and God is dwelling here by the Spirit. The Lord Jesus, though He dwells in heaven, has promised to come. He is able to do that; though He is seated at the right hand of the Father, He wants to find a home and a dwelling. You might say He wants to find a Bethany here on earth where His love can be at rest and where He can unfold what is in His own heart, not just minister to us, but to lead us on to the knowledge of divine Persons and divine things.
DAB-w Can we say that such a company always does exist? You spoke about a Man being in heaven and God here upon the earth, but the Holy Spirit is working that there would be conditions where God makes Himself known. There always has been. The question is, am I exercised to be numbered among them?
RHB I think that is right. Therefore, if I have found the Lord’s presence, I do not enter into debates about whether other companies have the Lord’s presence or not. Sometimes there is a lot of speculation about that, and people say the Lord is there, or there are good Christians there: if I have found “him whom my soul loveth” (Song of Songs 3: 1), as the espoused says in the Song of Songs, why am I concerned about what is proceeding somewhere else? The Lord’s presence not only gives support, and protection, but it also gives satisfaction of heart and soul. We need that.
DAB-w We have just started Exodus locally in the week. We found that there were two Hebrew midwives, “And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses”, Exod 1: 21. Then there is a man of the tribe of Levi that takes a woman of the tribe of Levi, chap 2: 1. God had those people even in such a dark day that were committed to Himself and He was able to move in accord with that. I am just linking on with your thought of satisfaction, which perhaps links to the thought of God making them houses.
RHB Each of these scriptures really anticipates a dark day. When Herod the king in the next chapter heard that the king of the Jews had been born it enraged him and he carried out a terrible slaughter against young children. What a dark day, what a sorrowful day it was outside. There was a sphere where God was operating, where everything was safe and everything was blessed, “God with us”.
In our second scripture it speaks of where saints “are gathered together unto my name”. It has often been said that it was not exactly a promise: it is a consequence. Where persons are gathered in that way He is there.
RJF The conditions in that chapter are at the beginning: “Unless ye are converted and become as little children” (Matt 18: 3), and “Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens; and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me”, v 4. Becoming as a little child, having that position of humility, that is the circumstance to which the Lord can say He is there in the midst. It is not an assertion by the individual.
RHB No, nor an assumption. You read of persons in the beginning of Luke that assume that Jesus was in the company of their friends and relatives and they went on for a period of time on their journey assuming that He was there and He was not. He was not there. Steps had to be retraced and they had to be reminded about His prime occupation which was “my Father’s business”, Luke 2: 49. Those that are committed to that will find Him.
STE This is not about a theory; this is experience and reality; that is individual. Divine faithfulness is consistent. Our faithfulness may wane, but there is one thing we can be assured of which is that the Lord loves the company of the individual in a company however small it is and we prove it through reality, not theory.
RHB Yes. We want to be real, not imaginary. There could be nothing more blessed than to experience consciously the presence of Christ in the midst. What troubles me a little bit is that we often speak of that, but actually the experience of it would be transforming. It is not a commonplace thing to experience the Lord’s presence.
STE It has an effect. That is the reality. Your heart and affections, all where the love is, are stirred in relation to the Lord.
RHB It must be so. Response to Him is not stilted or formal: it is spontaneous. A young brother once asked an older brother when he thought he should take part in the meeting. The answer was, ‘When you cannot sit on your seat any longer’. That is really the essence of it. It is not just, ‘Is this an appropriate time for me to make my contribution?’. There is some view of Christ touching and quickening the affections, there is a response that is spontaneous and God dwells in that. He “dwellest amid the praises of Israel”, Ps 22: 3. One has been thinking about that expression. It is a remarkable expression uttered by the Lord prophetically in the time of His suffering. “And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”. I came across a reference; someone spoke of God coming out clothed in the responses of His own, as His glory; God is glorified. That there should be such a spontaneous response to Himself and to Christ is all the fruit of His own gracious work and God is glorified in that. We think of what the service of praise may be for us, the encouragement that we get and the strength to go on in difficult times, but do we have a view of what it means to God that out of a scene of such contrariety as we live in, where apostacy is rampant on every hand and affecting every walk of life, there should rise a note spontaneously in affectionate intelligence to Himself? How exquisite that is to the heart of God.
NJH The service of the Spirit develops manhood according to God in the saints and in that is a divine dwelling. In the second tables of the writing of God, the ark of acacia-wood was introduced (Deut 10: 3), which could hold what was of God amongst His people. You referred to the indwelling Spirit at the beginning, it involves another order of man, that has been formed in the saints in which God can dwell.
RHB Yes, in which God can dwell. That is really envisaged in this reference to persons “gathered together unto my name”. As we know this is the only gospel of the four that speaks in specific terms of the assembly. The Lord speaks of building His assembly and in this chapter in relation to sins He says, “tell it to the assembly”. You wonder what the disciples made of that when the Lord said it. The assembly was not yet in function. I think what you say is helpful; it has in mind persons indwelt by the Spirit being “built together to form a habitation of God”, Eph 2: 22.
NJH At one point in the dark history of Israel the ark was taken out of its place into the scene of battle, 1 Sam 4: 11. They proved that whatever they would claim, God was not with them in that.
RHB It was very humbling for Israel at that time. Even when it came back it was humbling the way it was treated, chap 7. It shows the importance of being exercised ourselves that there should be conditions that are suitable; there should be nothing that would hinder something so precious.
DAB I wondered in that connection about these people in Matthew 18 asking for things. Do you think such people would put high on their list the prospect that the Lord might be among them? Not to make a claim, but they would not think of asking without being very exercised that conditions should be congenial if He were to answer that prayer.
RHB Do you think that lies behind the Lord’s own prayer in John 17 to the Father, that they should be kept in His Name (verse 11), that they should be sanctified by the truth, John 17: 17? In making those requests did He not have in mind that there would be a company here where He would be free to manifest Himself?
DAB If you make that connection, I have thought it right that the Father has answered some of the things the Lord asked for in sending the Spirit. We have here the Father answering. The Father is not going to answer where there is not a moral condition suited to what was asked for. If there is, then the presence of the Holy Spirit would be the means whereby the presence of the Lord Jesus would be a known reality.
RHB That is very precious. It is to be known by us. He says, “whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”. It implies that the requests are being made as the Lord’s own request made as Man here, that they are made in full accordance with the Father’s will. The intelligence for that is in the gift of the Spirit.
RMB Can I ask what it means to be gathered unto the Lord’s name?
RHB The first thing I would say about it is that it underlines the fact that He is not here. We are publicly in a scene, not only from which Christ has been rejected, cast away as worthless by men, but a scene which He has left. “I leave the world” (John 16: 28), He said. One has felt the solemnity of that as coming to the Supper and looking at the emblems on the table. We are gathered in a scene that is characterised by the absence of Christ. What a desolate scene it is; to be living in a world where Christ is not. What a provision therefore the supper is. In such a desolate scene His presence can be realised. Although He is not here His Name is here, which would seem to me to involve the testimony to Him and the reproach associated with that. I would be glad of help on it myself.
RMB Would it include that such persons would be exercised that everything that they are going on with would be in accord with His Name, exercised about the maintenance of His rights, exercised about honouring Him and honouring His precious Name?
RHB Yes, there is a scripture that says, “whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus”, Col 3: 17. I think each of these words in this verse 20 are important. They are “gathered together”; they are gathered together with one common purpose to make much of Christ. Where that is the case - and each of us can exercise our hearts as to whether it is the case - we get this blessed word, “there am I in the midst of them”. However small the conditions, where those conditions exist the Lord’s presence is a consequence for them.
AJET Linking with your quotation from Colossians 3: 17 as to doing all things in His Name, “And everything, whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him”, do you think that would be persons who would seek to do things as He would do them? If you transfer it to what has been said about Matthew 18, the two or three there are persons who would desire to do things as He would do them. It is that kind of person where nothing more needs to be said, immediately “there am I in the midst of them”. There is no preliminary here or anything. Gather together unto His Name, that is the fulness of it, “there am I in the midst of them”.
RHB How sweet that is. It is there to be proved and enjoyed, and I think that verse in Colossians helps us as to the meaning of it: as has been said, everything is to be governed by His Name. I have often thought, speaking practically, sitting at the Supper, I am putting my hands to that loaf which is a symbol of the body of Christ: “This is my body which is given for you”, Luke 22: 19. It was a body that was devoted in its entirety to the will of God. I am putting my hands to that loaf. Where have my hands been? What have they been doing in the week running up to the Supper? Have they been employed in the will of God, could His Name be associated with all that those hands have done, what they have touched? These things are practical; and where that is the case, there is a blessed and satisfying experience of Him in the midst of them: in their midst. Assembly truth is worked out in localities and in that locality where those conditions exist, His presence will be known.
AJET However simple those persons may be, however hidden the place where they are meeting, the world may just be passing them by, but “there am I in the midst of them”.
RHB What does He do in the midst of them, what does He do? He takes command as the great Head of the assembly; as the Chief Musician He strikes the note that is for the pleasure of the heart of God, and He has at His disposal these persons marked by these features that are useable to Him in the praise of God. “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Heb 2: 12.
AJET It was mentioned on Lord’s day that we saw some of the movements of the Lord in resurrection. We spoke of them in the reading; we had Matthew 18 before us. We also had Hebrews 2, “he that sanctifies and those sanctified”, Heb 2: 11.
RHB You have referred to resurrection and that bring us on to this final reference in Matthew. The Lord in resurrection speaks here; He was going away. His ascension is not mentioned here because what is being drawn attention to is the support of His presence in the time of His absence. These persons were going to be sent out into all the world with the consciousness that all power had been given to Him. We have to ask ourselves, brethren, whether we really believe that. Is that faith in our hearts that “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”? How easily our hearts tremble at the instability of conditions in the world, wars and threats of one kind and another; governments collapsing and so forth. How easily we tremble, but we can have the sense in the soul that all power in heaven and upon earth has been given to Him and He is the One who has promised to be with us all the days until the completion of the age. These persons were going out in service; they were going out mostly, I suppose, to martyrdom ultimately. They went out with that assurance that the One who had all power was with them.
RMB Would it be right to say that the Lord’s presence as we have referred to it in Matthew 18 relates to particular occasions, but His support as He refers to it here is constant?
RHB Yes, I am thankful you make that distinction because when the number of the apostles was made up the qualification was one who had been with us all the time, that the Lord Jesus came in and went out amongst us, Acts 1: 21-22. Was there not some conflict about that at one time, the Lord in the midst? Some said it was permanent. That scripture was brought forward to confirm what you say: where persons gather together unto His Name, the Lord comes. Then He goes. His presence, this last verse in Matthew is for the support and protection of the individual.
NJH The question came up as to “in the midst”. In John 20 He is in the midst; here it is continual support as has been said. I think the reading when it came up was in Düsseldorf with Mr J Taylor, vol 77 p283. It was said He is with us all the time. Mr Taylor said He comes. That was something different from what Matthew 18 says.
RHB He comes; He is attracted to such a company. Here He is committed to the testimony and Paul could say when everyone else forsook him at one point, and there were no brethren supporting him, “the Lord stood with me, and gave me power”, 2 Tim 4: 17. There was the fulfilment of that promise. He was with the apostle when others were not.
We might touch these passages in Haggai. The context is a day like our own, a day of recovery, a Laodicean day where difficulties had arisen as to the building and then persons had given up. There will always be difficulties if we seek to do the will of God. There will always be reasons why we should not, or could not or will not, which is why the overcomer is stressed so much in our day. The prophets were used to arouse persons in a day of recovery to rise and overcome, and the great promise in such a day, was that God says, “I am with you”. It is stressed: “Then spoke Haggai, Jehovah’s messenger, in Jehovah’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah”, chap 1: 13. In chapter 2, you get the other thing that hinders, that persons were looking back to a day when things were perhaps more promising, more available, and God says, “Is it not as nothing in your eyes?”. People would tend to think it was not worth the effort. He reminds them that in such a day of apathy that His word and His Spirit remain among them, and He says again, “I am with you, saith Jehovah”. I think it is an extraordinary comfort and it comes out in the addresses to the overcomer in the addresses to the churches. The Lord’s interest is in those who in a dark day such as our own overcome. Perhaps the feature of the overcomer in our day is seen in that way, in the desire to maintain the truth of the assembly in such a broken and small day as we are in. That is what attracts the support and presence of God Himself.
RJF What you say is very helpful. I wonder if we see four features coming out in the verses that you have read. They “hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God”. In other words, they were actively listening. There were “the words of Haggai the prophet, according as Jehovah their God had sent him”. He was one who was divinely directed and that was what was being sought. “The people feared before Jehovah”; that is the third feature. There is an appreciation that God is greater and that there needs to be a subject spirit; and then in the second chapter we have this injunction of God, “be strong”. Do you think those things are all helpful in seeing how we can seek the presence so that God can be with us?
RHB I think it is very helpful what you have said, to see those features. They are features that attract the presence of God and His support. It is that to which He lends His power. Paul uses an expression, “Having therefore met with the help which is from God”, Acts 26: 22. He was in the way of that help. Those features that you have helpfully drawn attention to indicate where the help from on high can be proved, and it is needed. Weakness is felt.
RJF Something that is really shining out through this whole enquiry together is that the matter of God being with us is not a matter of my will or your will. It is a question of whether we have meek and subject spirits, desiring it rather than trying to will it.
RHB There is no doubt that He desires it. He desires to be at liberty among His people. He draws attention in the Old Testament through the prophets to the things that hindered that. He is very quick, I speak reverently of God Himself, He is quick to bring in the assurance of His presence when there is any movement of heart towards Him.
PSB So in what is being said, they hearkened and immediately there is that which comes in that stirs up the spirits. That would be the result of hearkening to the voice of Jehovah.
RHB We want to listen for it when we come together - the brethren like to have fellowship meetings. When we come together like this, the spirit of judgment should mark us as to what we are hearing. The contributions that come in from one and another: is that just a brother’s thoughts, or was the Lord speaking in that? Was He drawing attention to something? The Lord sought to arouse that spirit of judgment. He said of the ministry of John the baptist, “whence was it? of heaven or of men?”, Matt 21: 25. When we come to these meetings, what do we want? We want to see one another, we understand that; we love one another. There is the social side of an occasion like this in a right sense; we like to come together. Do we want the divine presence and divine speaking amongst us; and then as the meeting proceeds is that what I have experienced? Let us exercise the spirit of judgment about it so that we learn to recognise divine communications because our spiritual life depends upon them. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”, Matt 4: 4. In the day we are in we especially need living communications from the Lord if we are to be kept alive in a scene of death; otherwise we just become another sect of Christendom. If we want to be maintained in life towards God, we must have an ear attuned to divine speaking.
PSB What you say is very important because there are many voices abroad. It speaks of “having an itching ear”, 2 Tim 4: 3. Do we when we come together? Does it have an effect upon us? Does it stir us up? It is not just a matter of, ‘Yes, we have had a good time’, but does it stir me up and does it challenge me?
RHB I think if it is the word of God it will challenge us. God being who He is and we being what we are it would necessarily involve a challenge to our hearts and consciences, but it is not all challenge. God loves His people and there is nothing more satisfying; nothing outside in the desolate world can compare with Christ being ministered to us in the power of the Spirit.
AJET This is a word for us all, not only for those who lead: “But now be strong, Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land”. If I am exercised to be one of the people of the land: the word is as much for me as the people who lead.
RHB Yes. In fact, if you look in the book of Ezra you find that the prophets - these two prophets Haggai and Zechariah - helped the people in the work, Ezra 5: 2. They did not just deliver a sermon, but they rolled up their sleeves and helped in the arduous work of building with them. They set an example as well as conveying the divine mind.
Sunbury
22nd June 2024
List of initials:-
D H Bailey, Maidstone; D A Barlow, Sunbury; P S Barlow, Sunbury; R H Brown, Maidstone; R M Brown, Strood; D A Burr, Sidcup; S E Eagle, Dorking; R J Flowerdew, Sunbury; N J Henry, Glasgow; P H Morris, Sunbury; A J E Temple, Sunbury; K J Walkinshaw, Sunbury; M I Webster, Buckhurst Hill