Failure in Testimony: March 2022
Table of Contents
Failure in Testimony
God has done with the church as a testimony, the moment Laodicea is spued out. And when the church has come to this entire state of failure, then Christ supplants it as the “faithful and true witness” of God. What the church should have done, Christ presents Himself as doing. Christ is the Great Amen of all God's promises; the church should have shown how all the promises of God were Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, but the church has not been able to do this; it has failed to put its Amen to God's promises.
J. N. Darby
“We are a testimony to failure. The Lord makes us a testimony to His faithfulness. How humbling! It makes me weep, yet go on, not discouraged.”
The Ruin of the Church as a Testimony
God does not reestablish what man has ruined. The ruin of the church as a testimony and looked at on the side of human responsibility will continue to the end of its history. It has become unfaithful, till at last it has become established in the midst of the world, mixed up with iniquity of every kind which goes on to the close. God compares it to a great house with vessels to honor and dishonor (2 Tim. 2). And yet the moment will come when, the history of man’s responsibility being over, the Lord will present to Himself His church, glorious, having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing (Eph. 5). At that time it shall be said of her, as of Jacob, not “what hath man wrought,” but “what hath God wrought!” (Num. 23:23).
It is no longer a question of retracing the pathway; the edifice is in ruins. To re-plaster it would be but to adorn its decay, which would be worse than the ruin itself.
The Lord abhors pretension to power in a day such as the present. Forfeited strength cannot be recovered. The display of human, fleshly power (which we see on all sides) is utterly different from the power of the Spirit. Those who talk loudly about the power of God being with them savor somewhat of the crowd who followed Simon Magus, saying, “This man is the great power of God” (Acts 8:10), and of Laodicea, which says, “I am rich,” not knowing that she is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).
God Preserves a Testimony
However, we must never forget that, although the church as a corporate witness has failed, God has preserved a testimony to Christ in the midst of the ruin. Those who seek to maintain it acknowledge and weep over their common failure in the presence of God. We find something similar in Ezekiel 9:4. The men of Jerusalem who sigh and cry are marked on their foreheads by the angel of the Lord; they are a humbled people, as in Malachi 3:13-18.
There are two classes in this chapter (Mal. 3); first, those who say, “What profit is it that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” (vs. 14), and second, the faithful ones, a feeble and afflicted remnant who speak one to another, acknowledging the ruin, but waiting for the Messiah who alone can give them deliverance. These latter do not say, “What profit is it?” This humbling is for their profit, turning their eyes to Him who “raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes” (1 Sam. 2:8).
God grant that this may also be our attitude and that we may not be indifferent to the state of the church of God in this world, but rather weep at having contributed towards it. Let us, like Philadelphia, be content to have a little strength, and we shall hear the Lord say for our consolation, “I have the key of David, power is Mine, fear not, I place it entirely at your disposal.”
How touching is the grace which provides for worship in the midst of the ruin!
The Young Christian, Vol. 26, 1936
The Last Days of the Church
“The Church of the Living God” (1 Tim. 3:15)
The testimony in which the faithful are called to walk in the last days has a twofold character. First, it is a witness to the unity of the body of Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit sent down at Pentecost. Second, the whole church having failed, the faithful have the character of a remnant in maintaining this testimony, and this too in the midst of a great baptized house, the responsible body here on earth, commonly called “Christendom.” This testimony can never aim to be more than one to the failure of the church of God as set up by Him. The more true to Christ the remnant of His people are, the more will they be a witness to the present state of the church of God and not to its state as first displayed.
Now there is found in the Word of God, for example and comfort, a faith which counts upon Him and His divine intervention in the face of man’s failure: a faith that finds itself sustained by God according to the power and blessings of the dispensation, and according to the first thoughts of His heart when He set up all in primary power. He connects that power and the Lord’s own presence with the faith of the few who act on the truth provided for the present moment, even though the administration of the whole is not in operation according to the order which God set up at the beginning.
Anna of Asher
For example, the blessing of Asher in Deuteronomy 33:24-25 ends with these lovely words: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be,” and all went to ruin, as the history of Israel unfolds. Yet, at the first coming of Christ, when the godly, pious remnant of the people were “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” we find one of that same tribe, “Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser [Asher] ... a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:36-37). She was in the enjoyment and power of that blessing of Moses — “So shall thy strength be.” And the Lord Christ Himself became identified with that obscure remnant, of which she was one, a remnant that was ready to receive Him when first He came.
The Captivity of Judah
In the days after the captivity of Judah, we find the returned remnant, in all the weakness of those who could pretend to nothing but the occupation of the divine platform of God’s earthly people. To them we find these comforting words addressed: “I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Hag. 2:5). Their faith is recalled to that mighty day of power, when Jehovah “bare them on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself” and removed their shoulders from the burdens of Egyptian bondage. Undimmed in power, He was with them, just the same, for faith to claim and use. No outward displays were theirs, but His Word and Spirit, which proved His presence to faith, wrought in that feeble few: To them is revealed the shaking of all things (Heb. 12:27) and the coming of Him who would make the “latter glory” of His house greater than the former. They are thus the link between the temple of the balmy days of Solomon and that of the day of coming glory, when He shall sit “a Priest upon His throne,” and the counsel of peace shall be between Jehovah and Him, and He shall bear the glory (Zech. 6:12-13; Hag. 2:7-9).
He will shake the heavens and the earth and overthrow the throne of kingdoms (Hag. 2:21-23), thus identifying all His power with the small remnant of His people who walk in company with His mind. He will make all to come and worship before their feet and know that He has loved them.
The Moral State of Philadelphia
Thus, too, those who answer to the calling which suits His mind, as seen in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13), are true to that which, though not a perfect state of things, is suited to the state of failure which faith contemplates. He makes them the link, the silver cord, between the church of the past as set up at Pentecost (Acts 2) and the church of the glory (Rev. 21:9). The overcomer will be made “a pillar in the temple of [His] God,” in the “new Jerusalem” on high.
Let me here remark that there never was, and never can be, a moment when that which answers to this calling will cease till the Lord comes. In the moral picture presented in these two chapters (Rev. 2-3), we find all the seven features together at any moment, as they were when He sent the messages, and remaining so. In the dark ages and those of more light in later days and now at the end before He comes, all everywhere who answer with a perfect heart to the measure of truth which He has given them are morally Philadelphia. Others may have more light, but the true heart that walks with Christ in what it knows is known of Him and is what is contemplated in Philadelphia. Historically there is an unfolding in the state of each of the seven churches, each larger feature coming into prominence and presenting the salient characteristics of the professing church, till the church becomes a remnant in the message to Thyatira and develops into those which follow. But morally Philadelphia represents those who answer to Christ’s heart at all times and in all circumstances since the Lord gave those messages, till His threat — “I will spue thee out of My mouth” — is finally executed. In the historical view, Philadelphia comes in after Sardis and is exhorted to “hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” But as long as His voice is heard by faithful souls, they, wherever they are, form the link between the church at Pentecost and the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, in the day of the glory. Every moral state in all the seven messages remains from the beginning to the very end. There are at this moment, as at the beginning, those who have left their first love, those who suffer for Christ, those who are faithful where Satan’s seat is, and so on to the conclusion of the whole.
John and Paul
Beside all this, we should never forget that John is watching over the decay of that which Paul unfolded and telling us what Christ will do with that which bears His name. For our own path, we get no directions but to listen and “hear what the Spirit saith to the churches,” for we do not find church ground unfolded here. John never gives us corporate things, but individual, and he never instructs us as to the church of God, although fully recognizing its existence. When we are therefore grounded and settled in that which never fails — the one body of Christ, formed and maintained by the Spirit of God on earth, as taught by Paul—we may turn with deep profit to John and these messages and learn what Christ will do with all that bears His name. But from Paul alone can I learn what I am to do in the midst of such a scene. I am to be an “overcomer” according to the mind of the Lord, and this can never be by abandoning that which His Spirit maintains on earth.
How important, therefore, to be thoroughly grounded in the truth of the church of God, which remains as long as God’s Spirit remains and His Word abides—“till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
F. G. Patterson (adapted)
The Ruin of the Church
It is clear that self-importance or disappointment may set up small assemblies today without God, but that which has brought in the ruin I believe to be moral. “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Phil. 2:21). “All men forsook me” (2 Tim. 4:16). “All those which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1: 15) — not from Christ absolutely, but they would not go the whole path of faith with the apostle. They feared the cross, the rough and unseemly road the Spirit of God led them. The world had entered among them in the shape of ease and respectability; it is the first form which the devil puts on, for it is order and comeliness for the flesh. But it is the world and Satan, and hence power is wanting to enable the resisting of other forms of error, heresy and clericalism. A vessel of power becomes obnoxious because his standard troubles the conscience, instead of his spiritual power acting on the heart as well. When the conscience is reached in a Christian, and not the heart, he kicks against it. Thus the church goes its own way into the hands of Satan in a worldly clerical road. God was wise indeed to choose not many mighty, not many noble, not many rich; they find it hard to submit their comforts and comeliness to God’s. A rich body of Christians will become practically poor and simple, or practically worldly. Such is my thought stated briefly.
The ruin I see now none can deny; our feelings in it are a further question because they depend on our sympathies with Christ, and that is spiritual power. Everyone would not have wept over Jerusalem, as our Lord did, even though not going with its guilt. I judge that dwelling on divisions marks a very feeble estimate of the state of ruin the church is in, but I am thankful for every apprehension of the truth. Whatever the door of approach, once souls get into the truth by divine teaching, it will be perceived on every side as men grow in the consciousness of what the church is. For where is the bride of Christ, His beautiful flock which He gave us? Thank God, it will be seen all together in glory!
J. N. Darby, 1847
Remnant Testimony
Luke 2:1-18, 25
In connection with the remnant of Israel described in Luke 2, I am reminded of what is referred to in Zechariah 13 where it speaks of the smiting of the Shepherd, and how the Lord says, “I will turn mine hand upon the little ones” (Zech. 13:7). I am impressed with the thought that the Lord preserved a remnant all down through the years. Notice how Daniel acted when he understood the prophecy of his time.
Daniel says, “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments” (Dan. 9:3-5). Daniel had the intelligence by the writings of Jeremiah that the time had now come for the deliverance of God’s people from Babylon. Daniel could say, Now the time is come. Is that not wonderful? Yes, but he felt that a certain state would have to go with that fact in order that the Lord would deliver them. Daniel realized that and identified himself with the people according to their state. The prayer of chapter 9 was in exercise about their state. There did not seem to be much exercise yet, on the part of the people, about going back.
The State of Soul
We find a remnant does go back. Later, when Ezra goes, he does not find any of the Levites among them; the very ones were not there whose office it was to teach the people. That was a sad condition. We have the purposes of God concerning certain things in the Scriptures, but there must be a state of soul among His people that those things would be carried out according to His mind. It is not intelligence that is going to keep us; there must be that state of soul that is acceptable to Him.
We know a remnant went back and built the temple and there was much rejoicing. We read of them in Ezra and Nehemiah, and more than once they bound themselves with an oath to keep the law of Moses. Under the great energy and faithfulness of Nehemiah they went on for a time, but after he was gone they slipped down into the world. That is the way the flesh ever does; the flesh in us would do the same.
Malachi’s day
In Malachi’s day things were at a low ebb. It was perhaps a hundred years after the days of the remnant just mentioned, when Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the people as to their state. In Malachi’s day they were offering sacrifices, using the maimed, the lame and the sick animals, and he had to say to them, “Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 1:8).
However, it would seem that there was a remnant separated, and of them we read: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name” (Mal. 3:16).
The Spirit of God had preserved and exercised them. Malachi tells us certain things characteristic of them, and we find that it was the same traits which characterized those described in Luke, when the Lord Jesus was born. They spake often one to another and the Lord heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him. There are books being kept upon high, and the books are going to be opened. This is a special book called “a book of remembrance” and it was before Him, just as though the Lord liked to look upon the record of those devoted ones — those that feared the Lord and thought upon His name. I believe there is great blessing for us in thinking upon what is due His name. God has other books, among them a book of works, in which are recorded the careless deeds and walk of those who profess His name.
What Is due to His Name
I was thinking of Matthew 18:20 —”For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” I believe “unto my name” (JND) involves more than its ordinary thought. It carries with it that respect due to His name, of which we have been speaking: the response of the remnant in Malachi’s time, that is, meditation upon what is due to that name. To have the Lord’s sanction, as mentioned in Matthew 18, there must be meditation upon what is due to His name. There must be a state of soul like that manifested in Daniel.
The remnant in Malachi’s time existed three or four hundred years before the Lord’s advent into this world. Daniel speaks of incidents happening during that interval — certain ones doing exploits, and as long as it was done in faith God honored it. During that interval a usurper, Antiochus Epiphanes, to whom Daniel alludes, entered the temple and polluted it by offering a sow upon the altar. God raised up a faithful band who drove out the intruders and they rededicated the temple. Then afterwards their faith waned, and they invited the Romans in to help them. When the Lord was here they were still keeping that feast of dedication, but their hearts were not in it. The Lord had to drive them out of the temple as also polluting it (John 2); they were unconscious of what their sins had brought upon them.
Intelligence and Faith
But still a remnant was preserved, and in Luke 2 we see there were those two companies: the shepherds in the field and those in Jerusalem. Apparently they did not have much intelligence as to what the Scriptures foretold, but they were “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). The Lord has a special message for them: announcing the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds, and directing the remnant in Jerusalem to the temple at the proper time to see their Messiah. He always honors faith.
May we be so in the current of His thoughts at this time as to be able to walk in the path marked out for faith as revealed in the Scriptures.
J. L. Erisman (adapted from an address)
Prayer and Confession
In common with the other prophecies of Daniel, the ninth chapter takes us on to the future, bringing before us the destiny of Jerusalem. As the prophet, Daniel has seen visions and received revelations of the future; now we are to see him as the intercessor on behalf of God’s people, and, in answer to his prayer and supplication, receiving instruction as to the mind of God.
The Occasion of the Prayer (vss. 1-2)
Sixty-eight years had passed since Daniel had been taken captive at the fall of Jerusalem. He had seen the rise and fall of Babylon, while Persia, the second world empire, had come to the front. In this kingdom Daniel held a high position of authority. But the engrossing affairs of state could not dim his ardent love for God’s people, or his faith in God’s Word concerning them.
Verse 2 — We have seen that Daniel was a man of prayer; now we learn that he was also a student of Scripture. Daniel learns that, not only would Babylon come under judgment, but that the Lord had said to Jeremiah, “that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jer. 29:10).
Daniel makes this important discovery in the first year of Darius. The actual return, we know, took place two years later in the first year of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1).
Daniel’s Confession of the Sin of God’s People (vss. 3-6)
The immediate effect of learning from the Word that God is about to visit His people is to turn Daniel to God. He has communion with God about that which he receives from God. The result is that he sees the true character of the moment, and acts in a way that is suited for the moment.
God is about to stay His chastening hand and grant a little reviving to His people. Daniel, seeing the true significance of the moment, turns to God “by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes,” and he makes confession to the Lord his God. He sees the past marked by failure, the future dark with the prediction of deeper sorrows and greater failure, and no hope of deliverance for the people of God as a whole until the rightful King comes. In the presence of these truths Daniel was deeply affected, his thoughts troubled him, his countenance was changed, and he fainted and was sick certain days (Dan. 7:28; 8:27).
But Daniel made another discovery. He learned from Scripture, that, in spite of all past failure, God had foretold that there would be a little reviving in the midst of the years. In all this we see a correspondence between our own day and that in which Daniel lived. In the midst of all the failure of the church, the Lord has definitely said there will be a Philadelphian revival of a few who, in the midst of the corruption of Christendom, will be found in great weakness, seeking to keep His Word and not deny His Name.
Daniel, in his prayer and confession, shows the spirit which should mark those who, in his day or in our own, desire to answer to the open door of deliverance that God sets before His people. Looking beyond the failure of individuals, he sees, and owns, the failure of God’s people as a whole. He says, “We have sinned ... our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and... all the people of the land.” So in our day, we have all had our part in the low condition that necessitated the break-up of the church.
Daniel’s Justification of God (vss. 7-15)
Having confessed the sin of “all the people of the land,” Daniel justifies God in having chastened them. He recognizes that these evils must be accepted as from God, acting in His holy discipline, and not simply as brought about by particular acts on the part of individual men. This is clearly seen in the great division that took place in Israel. Instrumentally, it was brought about by the folly of Rehoboam, but, says God, “This thing is done of me” (2 Chron. 11:4). Daniel does not refer to the ruthless violence of Nebuchadnezzar; but, looking beyond these men, he sees the hand of a righteous God in the scattering. On the other hand “mercies and forgivenesses” belong to the Lord our God. Not only is God righteous, but He is merciful and full of forgiveness.
Furthermore, when the evil came, they did not turn to God in prayer (vs. 13). Apparently there was no desire to turn from their iniquities and understand the truth. Surely there is a voice for us in our day. The people of God are scattered and divided because of their sins, and yet how calmly, even complacently, is this state of division often viewed by the people of God!
Daniel’s Supplication to God for Mercy (vss. 16-19)
Having confessed the sin and failure of God’s people and having, moreover, justified God in all His ways, Daniel now prays in the form of supplication. It is significant that in pleading for the city, the mountain, the sanctuary, and the people, he views them not in relation to himself or the nation, but as belonging to God. He does not say our city, or our sanctuary, or our people, but “Thy city.”
It is of the deepest importance to see that the basis of Daniel’s supplication is the fact, again and again emphasized in his confession, that it is God Himself who had broken up the people. Until this fact is faced and owned, without any reserve, there can be no recovery.
Seeing only men as causing divisions has led many sincere people to the false conclusion that, if men caused divisions, men have the power to remedy them. Hence the efforts that are made to bring the people of God together again are foredoomed to failure, and worse than failure, for they only add to the confusion among the people of God. To bring together is beyond the wit of man; it is God’s work. We can destroy, we can scatter, we can break hearts, but “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psa. 147:2-3).
Here, then, in Daniel’s prayer we have the course that should ever guide God’s people in a day of ruin: first, to get, in turning to God, a fresh and deepened sense of His greatness, holiness and mercy to those who are prepared to keep His word. Secondly, we must confess our failure and sin, and that the root of all scattering lies in a low moral condition. Thirdly, we need to own the righteous government of God in all His dealings in chastening His people. Fourthly, we must fall back on the righteousness of God that can act in mercy towards His failing people, for His name’s sake.
Understanding the Word and Vision (vss. 20-27)
Turning to God in prayer and confession, Daniel receives light and understanding in the mind of God. It is significant that he receives the answer to his prayer at the time of the evening oblation, indicating that his prayer is answered on the ground of the efficacy of the burnt offering which speaks to God of the value of the sacrifice of Christ.
At the beginning of Daniel’s supplication, God had given commandment to Gabriel concerning Daniel. God did not wait for a lengthy prayer to hear all that Daniel would say. God knew the desires of his heart, and at the very commencement God heard and began to act. Gabriel’s commission was to open Daniel’s understanding to receive the communications of God, as he says, “to make thee skillful of understanding” (JND). It was not enough for Daniel to receive revelations; he needed to have his understanding opened to profit by them. At a later date the Lord opened the Scriptures to the disciples and also opened their understanding that they might understand them. We too need the opened understanding, as well as the opened Scriptures, even as the apostle can say to Timothy, as he opens up the truth to him, “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding” (2 Tim. 2:7).
Moreover, having associated himself with the failure of God’s people, and confessed that “We have sinned,” Daniel is now assured that, in spite of all failure, he is “greatly beloved.” What an encouragement for our own souls in these last days!
H. Smith (adapted)
Paul's Farewell Address
Now the dear Apostle Paul comes near the end of his address to the elders, in Acts 20. No doubt the tears ran down his cheeks as he told them the sad news as to what would happen after he was no longer among them. Satan was busy himself in dividing and scattering them. This dispersion was going to take place in two ways. First, evil teachers, such as Judge Rutherford of Jehovah Witnesses, Joseph Smith of Mormonism, and their kind, would arise as grievous wolves and tear the flock to pieces if possible. But the second danger of which the Apostle warned them was more serious than the first. The second scattering would be those of their own number who would form parties and divide the flock. “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). Ah, that was what made Paul weep. That was the reason he said, “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (vs. 31). Oh, how sad it is when a brother assumes the responsibility for dividing the saints of God. They speak perverse things, headstrong things, self-willed things. What for? “To draw disciples after them.” The church of God has suffered under that scourge all down through its history. The spirit of the thing was already abroad in Paul’s day, so that some were saying, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:12). But it is just as heinous in God’s sight today as it was then. God’s estimate has not changed in the least.
Under-Shepherds
One of the saddest tragedies that can possibly come into the life of a servant of the Lord is that of being guilty of leading a portion of the church of God away from Christ the Center. How contrary to the heart of Christ for one to seek a following after himself! The Good Shepherd desires to see the flock kept together; He loves them every one. An old brother used to say, “Remember, our Lord Jesus has under-shepherds who tend the flock, but He does not have any sheepdogs.” In what spirit do I yearn after those whom I may see straying? Is my concern a self-righteous, pharisaical one, or do I have the heart of Christ, the Chief Shepherd? Do I long to see these scattered sheep gathered back to Christ the Center, that they may again be happy in His presence?
The Commendation
“Now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace” (Acts 20:32). Notice, Paul did not say, “I commend you to the elders” or “to the deacons.” He commended them to no earthly authority whatsoever. He commended them to two unchanging and unchangeable objects — God and the Word. Can God change? No. Can the Word change? No. “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). He commended them “to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Such is the wish of God for all of us today, that we might be built up in the faith—that we might be readied for the grand inheritance that awaits us. God’s people are a sanctified people, a separated people, a gathered-out people. Paul knew that the will of God as expressed in His Word would be realized among a separated and holy people. When we see saints of God seeking to commingle the holy things of God with the trash of the world, what an insult it is to the blessed Lord! This spirit of admixture of the holy and the profane is all about us today. Let us avoid it as we would a plague. Oh, beloved, let us wake up! Let us remember how near we are to the end. Are our associations those whom God can call sanctified? Are our relaxations from time to time sanctified relaxations? God has no objections to our coming apart to rest and relax, but are such periods in harmony with His will for us?
The Prayer
Now verse 36: “When he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.” Prayed with them, not at them, not over them. They all knelt together, and he prayed with them all. “They all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him.” How lovely are the affections of the people of God! Do not ever seek for anything like it in the world, for you will never find it. This wonderful fellowship into which you and I have been brought is the fruit of Calvary. It comes down from above, from the head of the church. “They fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him.” How they loved him! Was he an unfaithful shepherd? Had he always spoken smooth things to them? Was he always trying to conform them to his personal comfort? Absolutely not! But when it came to the farewell, their hearts and consciences told them that this dear man of God had told them the truth. And the Spirit of God caused their tears and his to be mingled, as they parted for the last time on earth.
“They should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.” They watched him board the boat, and I can see them waving their farewells as the ship sails away. How well I remember parting from a dear old servant of the Lord some 50 years ago. As our boat left the wharf, this old veteran servant stood on the shore, and as long as we could see him he was waving his handkerchief at us. That was our last sight of him in this world. Our next meeting will be the one “in the air” when the Lord comes for His church. Oh, beloved, how real are the affections of Christ! Let us not betray them. Let us not seek a substitute. Let us come closer together. We need one another. I need your encouragement, and I would love to be a little encouragement to you, while together we await His coming.
C. H. Brown (adapted)
Failure and God's Grace
In this issue of The Christian, we have been discussing the failure of the church and what it means to all of us. Sadly, failure has been the history of man right from the beginning of his creation; he has ruined everything that has been committed to him in responsibility. Adam and Eve failed in innocence in the Garden of Eden, and then man failed under conscience, so that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence. Noah became drunk soon after the flood, and then God was compelled to confound man’s language, when they built the tower of Babel. Then idolatry set in, and the Lord called Abraham out of it.
Israel failed under every test the Lord gave them: first of all under law, then under judges, under the priesthood, and finally under their kings. Their trial ended in their crucifying their Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and then man’s testing was over. God could not put man through any other test; He must pronounce judgment on this world. But then God brought out the mystery, “which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9) — the mystery of Christ and the church. This was a most wonderful revelation — something that God had not revealed in any way in the Old Testament. There is plenty of prophecy in the Old Testament, but the church did not have any place in prophecy, for as a heavenly company, it was not the subject of prophecy. Prophecy concerns the earth; it does not take up what happens to a heavenly people. There are types of the church in the Old Testament — plenty of them—but no direct prophecy concerning it.
The Truth of the Assembly
The truth of the assembly was specially revealed to the Apostle Paul, who was chosen of God, as he himself says, “that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). There are riches of Christ in the Old Testament, and these are searchable, now that we have the light of the New Testament. We can read scriptures like Psalm 22, Psalm 69, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 12, to mention a few references. Such scriptures do indeed testify of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:11). But none of this is the truth of the assembly, or the revelation of the mystery of Christ and the church. That had to wait until Paul came on the scene and revealed the precious truth of this mystery. Indeed, he recognized that he had been separated from his mother’s womb for this responsibility, and he took that responsibility very seriously. All the purposes of God have now been brought out, and Paul could say with confidence, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
Every possible blessing was given to the church, for we are blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), and every Christian blessing is a mountain peak beyond which even God Himself could not go. We were “chosen in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), and He has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). We are now the bride of Christ and will have the nearest place to Him in coming glory. We could go on and on, but surely the blessings and the revelations God has given to the church far exceed anything that was given to man in any preceding dispensation.
The Grace of God
In giving all this, the grace of God shone out far beyond anything that He had previously given to man. When man was utterly ruined and had failed every test that God had given him, there must be judgment. God’s holy nature demanded it, and God did pronounce judgment. The Lord Jesus could say, when He had been rejected, “Now is the judgment of this world” (John 12:31). Yet instead of inflicting that judgment immediately, God first brought in blessing through grace that far exceeded anything that He had done before. Surely, with all of this, there could not be failure. Surely man would react in a right way this time!
But as we well know, the very opposite happened. The greatest exhibition of God’s grace and the most abundant revelations only resulted in what was perhaps man’s greatest failure. This was predicted right from the beginning, for the Lord Jesus Himself foretold the failure of the church, even before it was formed on the day of Pentecost. Several of the parables in Matthew 13 clearly show the decadence that would come in — the parable of the tares, the parable of the grain of mustard seed, and the parable of the woman hiding leaven in three measures of meal. Then later, Paul could say to the Ephesian elders, “After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29). The assembly in Ephesus was an assembly where many had been saved and where Paul was able to minister the highest truth the Lord had given him. But failure would come in even there. Later, in epistles like 2 Timothy, 2 Peter and Jude, we see the failure coming in before the apostles had been taken home. We could multiply other scriptures to support this, but let us pass on to our present day. We are now seeing the full-blown result of all this, as given to us in 2 Timothy 3. We are in the last days, and we see Christendom doing far worse things than that part of the world that has not had the light of the gospel in the same way.
Discouragement
We might easily be discouraged as we see all this, and we should feel it, be burdened about it, and shed tears about it. But in Scripture we never find discouragement as part of a Christian’s proper reaction to the failure of the church collectively. No, rather the opposite. In 2 Timothy we can feel the burden that must have pressed on Paul’s heart, as he had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Yet in the whole epistle there is not one hint of discouragement. Why? It was because Paul knew the truth that he had ministered; he knew it was the truth of God and that it honored Christ. If others gave it up, it only made that precious truth all the more valuable.
A Remnant
There is more than this, however. In every dispensation, when man’s failure ruined what God had set up, God restored the true character of it, but only in a remnant character. What do we mean by this? I do not like to use the word “remnant,” as it has been almost overused in connection with the subject about which we are speaking, but the word conveys the thought. A remnant is a scrap, a relic, a piece of cloth that is taken from an original garment that we no longer have. Yet it is made of the same fabric and has the same color as the original cloth. We can look at it and envision what the original might have looked like. God has always acted this way when man has failed in what God committed to him. Man did not deserve this; it was only God’s grace that did it.
As we have noted, the failure of the church has been greater than the failure with any of God’s previous dealings with man. The wonderful thing is that God’s grace has been correspondingly greater than in any previous dispensation, in restoring the precious truth of the assembly to us, although again in a remnant character. When God began to work in this way almost 200 years ago, He raised up men who were mightily used of God to bring back the truth of the assembly and show us what Paul had given at the beginning. The dispensation of grace has already gone on longer than any previous one, for God is still waiting for more to come and be saved. Yet He has also provided a way whereby we can acknowledge and walk in the whole truth of God and exhibit it practically in a corporate way. What unbounded grace to those who had failed so deeply!
Words of Encouragement and Warning
The reward for faithfulness is correspondingly greater too. When we read the reward promised to Philadelphia in Revelation 3:12, it overwhelms our hearts: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name.” An old brother used to remind us that there is no greater encouragement in the whole Bible than what we get in this verse. We will not go through the details of the verse here, but only to remark that as the day grows darker, the grace of God shines brighter. Nowhere is this more true than in the remnant character of the church.
Let us close with a word of warning. The abundance of blessing may sometimes make us forget our failure and induce us to think that we are “just as good” as they were in the early days of the assembly. To fall into that trap is to be lifted up in pride and to forget that we are a testimony to the failure of the church, rather than to our own faithfulness. There is no limit, in one sense, to the blessing the Lord can give, but let us remember that we are in “remnant days,” not in apostolic days. Humility becomes us, but never discouragement, for the Lord is the same, His Spirit is still here, we have His Word in our hands, and we have His promise that “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. 3:8).
W. J. Prost
Discouragement and Encouragement: Causes and Cures
Each section under a new subtitle has been excerpted from a different article, all written by J. N. Darby.
Cares and Trials
With regard to our cares and trials, Christ does not take us out of them. “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world” (John 17:15). While He leaves us in the world, He leaves us liable to all that is incidental to man, but in the new nature He teaches us to lean on God. The thought with us often is that, because we are Christians, we are to get away from trials, or else, if in them, we are not to feel them. This is not God’s thought concerning us.
The nearer a man walks with God, through grace, the more tender he becomes as to the faults of others; the longer he lives as a saint, the more conscious of the faithfulness and tenderness of God and of how it has been applied to himself.
We are not to expect never to be exercised or troubled or cast down, as though we were without feeling. “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (Psa. 69:21). The Lord thoroughly felt it all. “Reproach,” He says, “hath broken My heart” (Psa. 69:20). But there is this difference between Christ in suffering and affliction and ourselves — with Him never an instant elapsed between the trial and communion with God. This is not the case with us. We have first to find out that we are weak and cannot help ourselves, and then we turn and look to God.
The Lord Keeps His Own
It is a comfort to know that through all the Lord will keep His own. I do not mean that laborers and all saints should not be exercised as to it, but that when they see failure they have this to fall back upon. We desire to see them as a watered garden, and what a joy it is when we see them so! It is the power of the Spirit of God which makes them united and happy together, but then He must work in the individual heart, that it may be so, that they may be as “willows by the water courses.” And there is grace enough in Christ to do it. The text has often been a comfort to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Cor. 12:9), but then we must learn, and experimentally, that we are nothing. We all know that it is true, but we must learn to walk in the sense of it. It makes the difference between one saint and another, only we must refer to Christ in grace, or we might get discouraged. But a man who is discouraged is not really there: He does not find strength, but where is he looking for it? When we are really nothing, we look to Christ and we know that He can do everything and, while contending in prayer for a blessing, we know that He does, and orders everything. But this does suppose a just sense of our own nothingness and blessed confidence in God, so that knowing His love we can leave all to Him, knowing that He does all at any rate and that He will make all issue in blessing.
The Heart of Jesus
I thought that she (a sister who was going through real difficulties in her life) might be discouraged and cast down by this affliction. If it is so, let her remember that His ways are not as our ways and that the heart of Jesus, of Him who smites us, has itself passed through all the trials through which He makes us pass—that He cannot make us taste anything for our good without having drunk Himself all its bitterness to the dregs. He knows what He is doing; He suffers all that He inflicts. It is His love, His knowledge of all that makes Him do all that He does. Let us have full confidence in Him who has been tempted in all things like unto us.
Communion
In connection with your work, seek the Lord’s face and lean on Him. When the body is not robust, one is in danger of doing it as a task, as an obligation, and the spirit becomes a little legal, or one yields to weariness and is discouraged before God. Work is a favor which is granted us. Be quite peaceful and happy in the sense of grace; then go and pour out that peace to souls. This is true service, from which one returns very weary, it may be, in body, but sustained and happy; one rests beneath God’s wings and takes up the service again till the true rest comes. Our strength is renewed like the eagle’s. Ever remember, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Seek, above all, personal communion with the Lord.
God’s Mind in Communion
Before we enter upon any particular service, before anything can be done, if we have not the certainty of God’s guiding us by His eye, we should seek to get it, judging our own hearts as to what may be hindering. Suppose I set about doing a thing and meet with difficulties; I shall begin to be uncertain as to whether it is God’s mind or not, and hence, there will be feebleness and discouragement. But, on the other hand, if acting in the intelligence of God’s mind in communion, I shall be “more than a conqueror,” whatever may meet me by the way.
Chastisement
There is a class of trials that come from without: They are not to be cast off; they must be borne. Christ went through them. We have not, like Him, resisted even to the shedding of our blood rather than fail in faithfulness and obedience. Now God acts in these trials as a father; He chastises us. They come perhaps, as in the case of Job, from the enemy, but the hand and the wisdom of God are in them. He chastises those whom He loves. We must, therefore, neither despise the chastisement nor be discouraged by it. We must not despise it, for He does not chastise without a motive or a cause (moreover, it is God who does it), nor must we be discouraged, for He does it in love.
The Flesh in Us
It is a serious thing to maintain God’s cause when the flesh is in us, and Satan disposes of the world to hinder and deceive us. But do not be discouraged, for God works in you; greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. You cannot be in wilderness difficulties unless you have been redeemed out of Egypt. “My grace is sufficient for thee,” says Christ. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The secret is lowliness of heart and the sense of dependence and looking to Christ with confidence, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. You cannot mistrust yourself, nor trust God, too much. The true knowledge of redemption brings one into perfect peace, into true and constant dependence on the Redeemer.
Before God or Man?
Poor Elijah! He had a lesson to learn, which we ourselves, weak and poor as we are, need to learn also. When Elijah stood before the Lord, he could by the Lord’s power stop or send rain to the earth. But when he stood, not now before the Lord, but before Jezebel, he was then without strength, and this ungodly woman was able to cause him to fear. Downcast, Elijah therefore goes into the wilderness, sits down under a juniper tree and asks the Lord to take away his life (1 Kings 19:4). How little did he remember what the Lord had done for him; how little did he enter into the mind of God and expect that chariot of fire which would shortly take him up to heaven (2 Kings 2:11)!
So is it with us. We are downcast, discouraged and weak in ourselves as soon as we fail to live in faith and prayer, and at such a time we cannot say, as Elijah in 1 Kings 18, “The Lord ... before whom I stand.”
Faith
The faith which comprehends the goodness of God and sighs for the time when the people shall enjoy their privileges always confesses the sin which has obliged God to deprive His people for a time of these privileges. Faith never becomes discouraged, as if God were unfaithful; on the contrary, it insists upon the blame being with the people and that God has only acted faithfully in thus dealing with them. The interest which Daniel felt in his people led him to the consideration of the prophet Jeremiah, and then he entreats the Lord to confirm this blessing which He had promised by Jeremiah, that is, that He would accomplish the deliverance of His people from captivity.
A Truly Humble Man
Faith has constant, unfailing confidence in Christ. I know what sorrow is, but discouragement I do not know. If you are counting on your own strength, then I am not surprised at your discouragement, but “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psa. 121:4). We ought to be humbled — ah! humbled in the dust, if you please, but never discouraged. A truly humble man is not discouraged; the discouraged man is not a humble man, for he has trusted, as man, to something besides God; true nothingness cannot.
God’s View
It is very important for us to see sometimes the church from above, in the wilderness, but in the beauty of the thoughts of God, a pearl without price. In the midst of the camp below, in the desert, what murmurings and complainings; how much indifference, what carnal motives, would have been witnessed and heard! From above, from him who has the vision of God, who has his eyes open, everything is beautiful. “I stand in doubt of you” (Gal. 4:20), says the apostle, and immediately after, “I have confidence in you through the Lord” (Gal. 5:10). We must get up to Him, and we shall have His thoughts of grace, who sees the beauty of His people, of His assembly, through everything else [the murmurings and the complainings], for it is beautiful. But for this, one would be either entirely discouraged or satisfied with evil. This vision of God removes these two thoughts at once.
The Ruin of the Church
One finds so many wants (needs), so sorrowful a state of the church, that it astonishes, though I have believed and taught it nigh 40 years, but it encourages too. We never ought to be discouraged, because the Lord we trust in never fails, nor can. In 2 Timothy, when all was in ruin and declension, Paul looks for his dear son to be strong in the faith: There never is so good a time for it, because it is needed, and the Lord meets need. I have the strongest sense that all is breaking up, but that makes one feel more strongly and clearly that we possess a kingdom which cannot be moved.
J. N. Darby (excerpts from his writings)
Ambassadors for Christ
The Christian’s Position in This Present World
Twenty years ago, on September 11, 2001, the country which had long taken great pride in being the most powerful democracy in the world was attacked by terrorism from without. That tragic event brought the country together and unified it, for a short while at least, in a way that had not been seen for some time. Almost 20 years later, on January 6, 2021, the same country was attacked by terror from within, and that frightening event has resulted in solidifying the very divided state in which the country now finds itself, to a degree which has not been seen for at least a century and a half.
This shows us that no matter what form of government man chooses in order to rule any country and no matter how powerful any nation appears to be in this world, there is no system of rule, be it democracy or any other, that can be guaranteed lasting success. Furthermore, we are told in the Word of God, in Romans 13:1, “There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” This verse makes it very clear that whoever is ruling any country in the world and whichever candidate is ultimately determined to be the winner of an election in a democracy, that person is the one whom God has ordained to rule that country until He decides to ordain someone else to rule it.
God’s Word also tells us in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority.” However, nowhere in the Word of God do we find that we are to campaign for, or vote for, a certain candidate or party to be elected. If we were to do so, it is quite possible that we might be going against God’s choice. Even though the stated policy position of a party may support scriptural principles and some candidates may even be true Christians, that does not necessarily mean that they are the ones whom God has ordained to be in power. Daniel 4:17 tells us, “The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.”
Not very many years after this world had rejected and crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, in Galatians 1:4, already spoke of this present evil world. A little later, in 2 Timothy 3:13, he tells us, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” From that time until now, the world has never changed its mind and has never improved. In fact, for many decades now the very existence of God has been questioned and even denied. Many people today, even true Christians, seem to believe that the present chaotic state of things in this world can be improved. But the Word of God is very clear that there is no government or individual ruler, nor even true Christians involved in politics or government, in any country, who can ever hope to improve the present state of things or to set things right.
What then should be the position of true Christians in the midst of this current chaos? Again the Word of God is very clear. The Lord Jesus Himself said in John 15:19, “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:20 says, “Our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Second Corinthians 5:20 tells us, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.” If we are citizens of heaven and have the immense privilege of being left here for a short time to be ambassadors for Christ in this world, then we have no business being involved in the politics or government of this world, nor should we be looking for improvement in the world. Instead, we have the wonderful responsibility of true ambassadors, representing Christ, as lights in this dark world, so that individuals might be convicted of sin, attracted by His love and His offer of free salvation, and believe on Him as their Savior!
After the events of the last two years, the world is still desperately hoping for things to return to normal, so they can get on with their lives. However, Romans 12:2 tells us, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Is it possible that we, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed by His precious blood, are also looking for things to get back to normal, so that we can return to our relatively prosperous and easygoing way of life? A very solemn question!
Or are we, as we read in Titus 2:13, “looking for that blessed hope [‘I will come again and receive you unto Myself’ (John 14:3)], and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ [‘Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him’ (Revelation 1:7)]”? Are we expecting “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11)? Is there anything that we could ever be hoping for in this world that would be more important to us than to be caught up together ... to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17)? That moment could very well take place TODAY!
R. Muir
The Principle of Unity With His Presence
What I felt from the beginning and began with was this: the Holy Spirit remains, and therefore the essential principle of unity with His presence remains too, for “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). When this is really sought, there will certainly be blessing by His presence. However, whenever there is an attempt at displaying the position and the unity, there will always be a mess and a failure. God will not take such a place with us. We must get into the place of His mind to get His strength, and that is now the recognition of the failure of the church. But there He will be with us. We do not limit what the blessed Spirit can do for us in this low estate, but we must take the place where He can do it.
Where two or three are gathered in His name, Christ will be. The Spirit of God is necessarily the only source of power, and what He does will be blessing through the lordship of Christ. But there is a most important point that comes in — we cannot supply the lack by human arrangement or wisdom; we must be dependent. The Holy Spirit is always competent to act in the circumstances in which God’s people are. The secret is not to pretend to get beyond it. Life and divine power are always there, but we must confess that we are in an imperfect state. But then the unity of the body necessarily continues, whatever its scattered condition, because it depends on the existence of the Head and its union with it. In this the Holy Spirit is necessarily supreme.
J. N. Darby, adapted
A Testimony to Failure
We can only be, in truth, a testimony to the complete failure of the church of God. But to be such, we must be as true in principle as the thing that has failed. And, as long as we are a testimony to failure, we shall never fail.
The Remembrancer, 1910
Faithfulness Through Dependence - Not Strength
Paul wrote to Timothy, “That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Alas, how far is the church practically from this position! The church is not said to be the teacher of the truth, but responsible to maintain the truth — the pillar and ground (or stay) of it. The unfaithfulness of the church at large in no wise takes away the duty and responsibility of those who serve God and wait on Him, to maintain His truth in every respect. Man’s unfaithfulness in no wise changes the faithfulness of the Lord: “He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).
Faithfulness in the most thorough dependence, and not strength, is what the Lord looks for in His own, and what the Spirit produces in those who wait on God. We may therefore well take courage, dear brethren, and count on God.
A. H. Burton
His Compassions Fail Not
“His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).
Though dark be our way, since God is our Guide,
’Tis ours to obey; ’tis His to provide:
Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,
The word He has spoken will surely prevail.
His love in times past forbids us to think
He’ll leave us at last in trouble to sink:
The Lamb in His glory is ever in view,
The pledge and the proof He will help us quite through.
And since all we meet must work for our good,
The bitter is sweet; the medicine is food:
Though painful at present, ’twill cease before long,
And then how triumphant the conqueror’s song!
J. Newton