The character of the agreement between Abraham and his servant, clearly reveal to us the position of Isaac at that time. He was with his father in the land of Canaan, and there he was to remain until a bride was found for him. Come what may, one thing was settled, Isaac must not go down to Mesopotamia. This is most significant; it speaks home to the heart—it speaks of the true Isaac. He abides with his Father in heaven while the church is being called out from among Jews and Gentiles to form the heavenly bride, the Lamb’s wife. Christ ascended up to heaven before the day of Pentecost, and leaves it not again until the rapture of the saints. The typical Isaac is concealed from our view from the time he leaves Moriah, as dead and risen, until he comes out to meet Rebekah. As in the matter of the altar and sacrifice of mount Moriah, so here, he acts in full accordance with the father’s counsels, his own typical character, and appears not on the scene until his first and private interview with the bride of faith.
But what voice, let me ask, has this truth to thee, O my soul? Pass it not lightly over, I pray thee. The voice is plain enough; but the separation from the world which it teaches is too absolute to be easily or willingly understood. Most Christians are so habitually mixed up with the world that they have no practical acquaintance with this great truth. But let me explain. All admit that Christ is the one, true, and only proper object for the Christian’s heart. This is clearly taught by such expressions as “Look unto me”.... “One thing I do”..... “For me to live is Christ”.... “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Seeing then that Christ has gone to heaven, and that all His associations are heavenly, we must set our hearts on Him who is there, and pursue a path down here in accordance with His mind, if we would live and walk in fellowship with our Head in heaven. It is perfectly clear, that if Christ has no association with the world just now, and we have, contrary to His mind, communion is interrupted, in our not walking in company with Him. This is a grand practical point, and well deserves thy deepest meditations. It affects the whole course of the Christian. All questions, all occupations, all associations, must be examined and estimated in the light of His glory, and of our oneness with Him. There is but one standard for the Christian—Christ in the glory. We must work from Him as our Head, and for Him in all our service. How this, how that, bears upon Him, is the question. He thus becomes, as we grow in the knowledge of Him, our motive, power, object, and portion, as our hymn says,
“‘Tis the treasure I have found in His love,
That has made me a pilgrim below.”
Truer lines never were written by a human pen. Communion with Christ in heaven is alone powerful to make thee heavenly, and to make thee feel as a pilgrim and a stranger in this world. Nothing but the treasures of His love could wean thy heart from present things and fix it on things above. Try as thou mayest, and as many have done, to become heavenly in thy thoughts and feelings by much prayer, constant occupation with religious duties, and great watchfulness over thy spirit, thou wilt find all to be of little avail without the knowledge and enjoyment of thy relationship to Him who is at the right hand of God in heaven.
Right as all these duties are—and they ought never to be neglected—their best performance will never make thee a stranger here and at home in heaven. Abstraction from the world, or apparently outside of it, through the diligent discharge of religious duties, and separation from it by faith, are widely different things, though often confounded. The ascetic may take the world with him into the narrowest cell.
The grand secret, then, and practical power of Christianity; of heavenly-mindedness; of true strangership as to this world; is happy fellowship with a heavenly Christ. He remains apart from the world while the out-calling of the church is in progress; and so should Christians as to their spirit and ways. They are called to be one with Him in heaven, and to be witnesses for Him in the world. But, alas! there are many who do not enter into the truth of our association with Christ; and who attach no definite meaning to such language as “ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:1-3.) And being willingly ignorant of those all-influential, truths, they slip into a false position, become worldly, and are false witnesses for Christ both in the church and in the world. Nothing preserves the believer from worldliness, social, political, or religious, but the power of a risen Christ, enjoyed by faith. If, then, the measure of our enjoyment of a heavenly Christ be the measure of our separation from the world, the appalling amount of worldliness which prevails among Christians, can be easily accounted for.
But some will be ready to object and say, “How can we so undividedly set our minds on heavenly things while engaged in business and the affairs of this life all day long?” Impossible, we answer, without an undivided heart for Christ. “No servant,” as He says Himself, “can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This is indeed a searching word, but its meaning is plain—no heart can be true with divided affections. Christ claims an undivided heart. “My son, give me thine heart.” Who then, what then, is my object? This is the real question. Not what am I engaged in; not what am I doing; but what is the governing object before me? The Christian has to learn, and constantly to study the divine art of going through all his duties as service to the Lord. Whatever cannot be taken up and heartily performed as service to Him must be laid aside. There is divine wisdom in all this, and great blessing to the Christian’s soul; though the path is narrow and can only be traced with the single eye.
The Christian’s path through this world is so beset with dangers on every side, that a right sense of his own weakness and great responsibility will make him fear and tremble. And justly so. But this will lead him, not to despair, but to trust in the living God. Where there is no proper sense of weakness and responsibility, there can be no security for christian consistency. Covetousness, pride, vain glory, carnal ease, self-indulgence, are some of the snares that surround the path of worldly prosperity. And the enemy watching our tendencies, knows how to foster and increase them. Hence we may find some who would strongly object to vain display and self-indulgence, caught in the snare of covetousness, and that under the plea of frugality, or even humility. Adversity, too, has its snares. There may be complaining, envy, and discontent, along with our difficulties. But we dwell not on these; rather would we turn to the remedy, by which we may be preserved from every wile of the enemy. Nothing short of personal communion with the Son, who is with the Father, is adequate to raise the soul above the dangers of prosperity and adversity, above self and the world, above the association of nature, and above all the attractions of earth.
The Lord in His great mercy teach us all these lessons of faith, and enable us to manifest the efficacy of His presence as enjoyed amidst the toils and trials of this world.