Not Truth, the satisfying Portion of the Heart, and the true incentive for giving up.
IT will be found, in the long run, that knowing all about the truth and being well versed in it (being quite orthodox in our views, as people say), does not satisfy or fill the heart, so that joy and worship flow out. Blessed as truth is, the knowledge of it (perfect as that knowledge may be), apart from the Lord’s person, will not satisfy the heart or call forth gladness.
In 1 Samuel 18 we have a striking illustration of this. David has stood before Saul with the head of Israel’s enemy, Goliath, in his hand. He has answered the king’s question respecting his birth, and Jonathan, the king’s son, has stood by, a quiet but not uninterested observer of the whole scene. He has seen David the conqueror; seen also the proof of his conquest in the bleeding head of his and Israel’s bitterest foe. He who had defied the armies of the living God is now dead. What is the result that comes home with so much force to the mind of Jonathan? Why, that there is no enemy left. And Jonathan loved David as his own soul. His heart was knit with David. The effect is, they made a covenant tether; there was a private moment when alone Jonathan told David his thoughts of him. But more than this. He, the king’s son, “stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” What is this for? Jonathan is a king’s son, and clad in royal robes becoming his station, while David is but a shepherd boy. What then does this mean? Why, Jonathan is saying, “I am to go down; you are to go up. I am nothing; you are everything now to me. Everything that I valued or that made anything of me I gladly give up, that you may be exalted.”
Now what is the secret here? I believe that Jonathan knew all about the death of Goliath before this. But it was being in the very presence of him who had won the victory, to look upon him who had done it, which wrought this wonderful change in him. Beloved brethren, can we not apply this to ourselves, and in view of the work of the Lord Jesus, say that it is not knowing about Him or His work that will call forth worship and joy, and make you take off everything that exalts you; but it is being in His presence that will produce this. Is not Paul taking off and putting on in Philippians 3.? It is for the same reason. He has seen Christ Jesus the Lord, the antitype of David―seen Him, too, in glory in the position of a conqueror. There had shone round about his path a light beyond the brightness of the sun. What was its effect? Paul was eclipsed. He had seen Him; and having seen Him, what does he say? He reckons up all the things that made much of himself as a man, and he says of them, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” Would he take them up again? No; he says, “I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him.” What had produced this wonderful change in a man whose character was unimpeachable? He had been in the Lord’s presence―he had seen Him―and he would fain dwell there forever.
It was the same in John 20 They had heard all about the resurrection―Mary Magdalene had given them the Lord’s own message about it. One of them―Peter, the failing Peter―had been the first to go into the sepulcher, and to see that He whom they all loved was not there. And now they are all together, with this truth fresh before them, what effect has it on them? Does it gladden their hearts? Does it satisfy them? No; and we are marvelously like them today. We know much truth, more than they knew, for the Holy Ghost has come to take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto us, and He is here. Yet how often are we found not joyful―not satisfied. Why is this? It is because we have not seen Him. But notice what comes next in John 20. He Himself came into their midst; He is there, and there are the marks in His hands and His side: He speaks unto them works of wondrous and solemn import, yet few. “Peace be unto you,” He says; and as they gaze upon Him, as they hear His voice, their own love, their joy, their thanksgiving, burst forth, and “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” It cannot be otherwise with us always if we are consciously in the presence of Him who is always there when we come, as Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) says. I believe Peter, too, was there at that time―Peter, to whom the Lord in wondrous grace was about to coin in it again, after his restoration, the care of His beloved sheep and lambs. There was a necessity to speak to Peter alone, and it came after; but joy must fill the soul in His presence, and it is a moment that excludes all else. Now, compare this with what we have seen in Jonathan. You come, for example, to the Lord’s Table to look at Him who has conquered every foe that opposed you, so that you have not now an enemy left. You go forth, in the energy and power of that moment, to take off everything that exalts YOU, because you are determined to exalt HIM.
(1) You will not be filled with joy yourself, though you may be a Christian, who goes regularly to the Lord’s Table, unless you see Him-unless you get into His company there. (2) You will not go through this world, putting down yourself in order that He may be exalted, save as you are consciously in His presence and His company. But if you are there you can do nothing else; and remember, the greatest saint can do nothing more; and do we remember that verse in Matthew 18, and think what a small meeting we may have as to number, and yet count on His presence there? Do we want aught but this?
Ah! in these days of religious excitement, and a desire after great things and large numbers, may the Lord keep distinctly before the hearts of us, His own saints―Himself―ONLY HIMSELF.