Separation: January 2008
Table of Contents
Separation
In May 2007, the U.S. Postal Service eliminated all classes of surface mail for shipments going outside of the U.S., including the Periodical Class used by BTP for mailing The Christian. Before the increase, it cost $9.97 a year to mail The Christian overseas; after the increase, the cost rose to $21.60. In seeking to best use the resources the Lord has given to us, we have redesigned the physical format of the magazine so that it can be produced in two sizes on a high volume digital device instead of on a printing press. The size for overseas mailing is about 80% of the size of the U.S. edition, which makes a single copy and its envelope weigh less than 1 oz. In this way we can keep the mailing cost to $10.80 per year. The new format increases the editorial content of each issue by about 10%.
Separation
Now is separation difficult, or is it a pleasure? You know, a thousand lectures on separation would be nothing at all to the heart that does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. But really, talks on separation are not needed to the heart that really loves the Lord. I know that word “separation” sometimes makes people cringe a little bit. But you and I have seen thorough, complete, delighted separation, have we not? At each and every wedding that we attend, we see it afresh. We see that bride come up the aisle to join her arm with her waiting bridegroom. And what do we hear? Something like this: “Do you promise that, forsaking all others, you will cleave to him only, so long as you both shall live?” Does this involve separation? Yes. And is that separation difficult? It would be very difficult if there were not bonds of love to make it precious.
Dear saints of God, when I see the One who loved us unto death, and His purpose to have a bride to satisfy the yearnings of His loving heart, the church which is His body, He had every right to call us to separation. Moreover, beloved, because we belong to the One whom this world cast out and rejected, we should be thankful for the privilege of separation to Himself. A. C. Hayhoe
Separation
Before God would judge Egypt and separate His people from it, it must have the testimony of His blessing through Joseph and have opportunity to accept or reject His goodness, for it is despised or neglected blessing that matures sin. As the Lord Jesus says of His testimony for God in the world, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father.” That is, they had despised the riches of love and goodness. In Egypt another king arose “which knew not Joseph.” The goodness of God, toward her by Joseph, Egypt had forgotten. Thus her sin was full, and she was ripe for judgment. Without the previous ministry of Joseph, therefore, the fullness of her sin could not have come, as now the world is convinced of sin because they did not believe in Jesus. This makes Egypt a sample of the world.
The Exodus of Separation
The exodus is the separation of the people of God from the world. Israel was to go out of Egypt in order to serve or hold a feast to the Lord (Ex. 5:1; 3:18; 8:1,20; 9:1,13; 10:3,9), for they could not serve Him or do sacrifice to Him in the land of their bondage and before that people (ch. 8:25-27). Their religious service was of such a character that Egypt would not tolerate it. It was something that so entirely went across all the thoughts of that people that they would persecute and destroy them if they were the witnesses of it. They must therefore go forth.
What a character does this simple fact give Egypt or the world! God had no sanctuary there. The thoughts and ways of that land were so opposed to Him that He could not set His name among them. His people must go forth before they could open His temple or raise His altar, because the very things which Israel would, as it were, sacrifice or crucify, Egypt would worship (ch. 8:26). Israel must therefore be separated from Egypt before they could hold their feast to the Lord.
And so it was afterward. There was a fence all around the Holy Land, a wall of partition that separated Israel in Canaan from the nations. No stranger could eat the Passover; no uncircumcised one could hold the feast of the Lord. And so it is still. We must worship “in spirit and in truth.” No man can call on God aright but by the Spirit which gives adoption, nor call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. It is still on the principle of separation that God is to be served or worshipped, as much as when Israel had to go into the wilderness, out of Egypt, to do so, or to distinguish themselves from all the nations by circumcision to do so.
The Separated Place:
the Sanctuary of God
The wall of partition now is different, it is true; the place outside the land is not a mere desert, it is true. But the place of service is as distinct as ever it was. “Ye must be born again.” “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” “To whom coming, as unto a living stone. . . . Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.” Here is the desert, the separated place, the sanctuary of God, within the partition wall. The Holy Spirit raises it now. Union with Christ forms it, and within that place the abominations of the world are sacrificed now, as the abominations of Egypt were sacrificed in the desert of old. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life are to be crucified there, though they are all of the world.
And what was the full feast which Israel held to the Lord when they got out into the desert? Why, it was actually furnished to them by Egypt herself. As soon as they stood on the banks of the Red Sea, they began to hold their feast. They did not wait to reach the mountain (Ex. 3:12). It is quite true, they did afterward serve, or do sacrifice to God, under that mountain (Ex. 19:40; Lev. 19). But Egypt herself gave them a song before they reached the appointed place. Egypt was bold enough to resist them so far as to follow them into the very jaws of the Red Sea. Her enmity was full, but all this ended in giving Israel a song of triumph over Egypt (Ex. 15). Before they reached the place to which they had been called, this joy was theirs. And so with us, beloved. Satan has exercised his will, but Jesus, by death and resurrection, has overthrown him. If Satan had not drawn out his chariots and his horses, all the strength and power of his kingdom, to the hill of Calvary, the song which the resurrection puts into our mouths would not have been ours. But it is ours now, and he can never silence it. It has been raised by himself, and he can never silence it, and we too carry the echo of it in our hearts all through the place, till we reach the mountain of the Lord. In this sense Egypt gave Israel that song; in this sense the god of this world gives our hearts this song, for the eater himself yields meat — the strong man himself, sweetness.
What livingly and practically separates us day by day from the world is communion with Jesus. Faith, or the Spirit, or the new nature, is the first great exodus — our first going into the wilderness, out of Egypt, to hold our feast to the Lord — our act of separation from the world, but the place of separation can be maintained daily only by communion with Jesus, through the same Spirit who first drew us out.
J. G. Bellett, Christian Truth, 6:159
Separation and Worship
The testimony of the Spirit of God at certain times has been to some particular truths to meet the special need of the day. In our day it is a testimony to practical devotedness, and entire separation from the evil that is in the world. It has been through God’s laying these two truths home on the conscience that anything like revival has been accomplished in these last days. Notice the lever the Apostle uses in Romans 12 to move the saints. Had he not a heart for the sheep? Assuredly he had. But there was another he had a heart for, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.” Observe the claim which this emphatic love is led to use. This is the motive by which he appeals to them. Mercies went up to the God of heaven, and down to the mind of the poor, feeble Christian. Without a sense of His mercies there cannot be devotedness to God and separation from evil. Holiness will not do it. If my heart is still in this world, it is because I have not learned what mercy is. What do you think God ought to do towards you? Have you any claim upon Him, but that He should hate you? Are you just clay in the hands of the Potter — clay that no other potter could make anything with? Are you in His hand, for Him to mould you as He wills — guilty and loathsome as you are in contrast with Christ? Christ is light, and you are darkness. God could do nothing with you but pick you up in mercy.
God’s Mercy
Observe what this mercy really is. It is not merely providential mercy as men talk, but mercies that are summed up in all the preceding chapters of the epistle. The summing up does not close at Romans 8, but after showing the dispensations in Romans 9-11, he breaks out, “I beseech you . . . by the mercies of God.” What there is for man must be all on the ground of mercy. God does not want a service from us in heaven, but He does upon the earth, and He will have one. We must get into God’s thoughts about things, and we see that God never brings anyone into such a position but he who needs mercy.
“That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). The thought is that we are to prove what the risen Christ is in one who still has the conscience of sin in his members. We are told to “cease to do evil.” Perhaps you say, I find evil within me, and I cannot get away from it. But you are told to cease to do evil, not cease from evil. Satan may put many thoughts into my mind, but I am not to give heed to them. No, I have done with them. John Bunyan vexed his soul for many a long year with what was afterwards his very joy. Afterwards he found it was because Christ was his that Satan had vexed him, and when he could take things boldly for Christ, things went more easily with him.
God’s Purpose for Us
Why is the Christian left here at all? If a man makes a clock, it is for a purpose. It has hands to show the time, and they are like the living members of Christ here. As the clock is made to show the time, so God’s people were intended to show forth His praises. A clock is never kept in order if it is not kept going, and you will never find a body in health if it is not in action. In spiritual things, you will never find a Christian in a healthy state who does not keep his body a living sacrifice for God. A Christian ought to be full of joy and of the Holy Spirit.
Our Conduct and the Heart
The second exhortation of the Apostle is to nonconformity to the world, and this is a point which tests us all very closely. It is a most difficult thing to get the true test as to what worldliness is. There is one thing certain — you will never get it if you keep to the outside features of conduct, for worldliness may nicely be fed in the heart while we have all the appearance of denying it. What does Cain do when God sets His mark upon him? He goes and settles himself down nicely without God. It was self and not God he thought of. He had not the single eye; his thoughts all clustered around self, and not around the God who had spared him. If a man is grasping after something for self, he is not satisfied with God. He wants something else — something by which he may exalt himself a little in the world. It is the “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). All these deny that God made us for Himself. The moment Adam and Eve catered to themselves, all the mischief was done. With Christ, Satan tried these three things, but could not get in, because Christ had no mind to cater to Himself. The world can creep in between the leaves of the thoughts of one’s mind and do more mischief than the bookworm in a library. Just as the worm does the harm in secret, so does the world in the heart. Self is most difficult to detect.
That form of worldliness which connects itself with feebleness of conscience is most deceitful. The body, soul and spirit must be for Christ. A man may say, “I am not at liberty to eat meat.” Well, he must not eat it against his conscience, and yet after a while he may find it was just the world in his conscience that hindered his doing it. It might be his own great religiousness, and more light will show him this. How can you decide between conscience and feeling? In answer to this question, I would ask another: Do you really mean to say to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Thou requirest this of me, and I give it thee”? Take care you do not mistake feeling for conscience. If you walk like the world, you are no witness for Christ, and you have to pick your way out of Sodom as quickly as you can. Does the world come in where God should be? If I am seeking something apart from God, it is the world, lust, and so on. The only power to sustain this pilgrim course is the recognition and dependence on His mercy. If you leave it behind you for a moment, you break down immediately. Nothing dissolves the ties to the world first or last but that which separated us at first.
G. V. Wigram, adapted
Devotedness and Separation
Heart Work
True separation is heart work. It is not a code of rules but a blessed Person before the soul. The Lord Jesus fills the heart and guides the feet to follow Him, for He once walked here as the rejected One. He was, and is, the truly separated One — now in glory — the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons home to that glory. If separation is only a formal thing, it leads to pride and self-satisfaction, which is distasteful to God. True separation is produced by the love of Christ constraining the heart, and this is acceptable and well-pleasing to Him. It is first to Christ, and then from anything that is not pleasing to Him. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
G. H. Hayhoe
Latitudinarian Unity
[Latitudinarian — broad and liberal in religious belief and conduct.]
It may be painful and trying to keep aloof from latitudinarian unity; it has an amiable form in general, is in a measure respectable in the religious world, tries nobody’s conscience, and allows of everybody’s will. It is the more difficult to be decided about, because it is often connected with a true desire of good and is associated with amiable nature. And it seems rigid and narrow and sectarianism to decline so to walk. But the saint, when he has the light of God, must walk clearly in that. God will vindicate His ways in due time. Love to every saint is a clear duty; walking in their ways is not.
J. N. Darby
God’s Way of Unity
God is working in the midst of evil to produce a unity of which He is the center and the spring, and which owns dependently His authority. He does not do it yet by the judicial clearing away of the wicked; He cannot unite with the wicked or have a union which serves them. How can it be then this union? He separates the called from the evil. “Come out from among them and be ye separate . . . and I will receive you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” As it is written, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Now here we have it distinctly set forth. This was God’s way of gathering. It was by saying, Come out from among them. He could not have gathered true unity around Him otherwise. Since evil exists —yea, is our natural condition — there cannot be union of which the holy God is the center and power but by separation from it. J. N. Darby
The great principle of the energy of the Spirit of God in us while passing through the wilderness is brought out in the Book of Numbers. In chapter 6 we have the positive separation to God in the energy of the Holy Spirit — “unto the LORD” (vs. 2). So the Lord Jesus, particularly after His ascension — “For their sakes I sanctify Myself,” that we, by the energy of the Spirit in us, should be separate now in the wilderness, walking in white, keeping our garments unspotted by the flesh. Again, the Lord did separate Himself that He might be about His Father’s business, and for this did He separate Himself from His “mother’s children” (Psa. 69:8) —the flesh, which by sin was under the power of death. He still holds the Nazarite character, because all His disciples are not yet gathered to Him, and now, in a certain sense, with us it is separation from joy — “the fruit of the vine”; we must not let the heart go. In glory it is the great spirit of rest; there will be no need to gird the heart then. Now the effect of the energy of the Spirit is to gird up the loins of our mind lest we get defiled, but in glory we shall let flow our garments, because we shall not fear defilement there. In the city of refuge the man was safe, but he could not go out or enjoy his possessions.
Separation From Wine — Joy
“He shall separate himself from wine” (vs. 3), that is, joy. The Lord came in character expecting to find joy among men, expecting to find a response to His love in the hearts of men, but found none, and so was a Nazarite from the first. To be a Nazarite is to be separated from every natural affection which can be touched by death — to be separated unto the Lord. No honey could be offered to the Lord, and now the Spirit is a new power come in detaching us from everything natural. The Lord, filled with the Spirit for service, said, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” All nature by sin has come under the power of death, so the Nazarite “shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother . . . because the consecration of his God is upon his head” (vs. 7). See also Luke 14:26. The Lord’s tie in nature was with the Jews as Son of David, but all this He gave up as natural, for “when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.” Natural affections come from God and are therefore good in themselves, but they do not tend to God, being spent on the object. John was a Nazarite from the womb. Paul was a Nazarite, and Jeremiah also. So we are Nazarites. Our own proper joy is beyond death. Therefore all I give up here which savors of death is just giving up that which hinders a deepened apprehension of the joy and blessing of that life which is beyond the power of death. The Lord broke the link in the cross. “By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit” (Isa. 38:16).
Holy to God
“All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord” (vs. 8). This is the great principle in the Nazarite —holy to God, and in however short a degree he may attain to that character, yet in Christ it is perfect. All this is a distinct thing from innocence. Adam was innocent, but not separated unto God. Separation unto God supposes a knowledge of good and evil, and yet separation from evil. Adam got the knowledge of good and evil by the fall; the Holy Spirit is come to take us out of that evil. The Spirit is a new power altogether, separating us unto Christ in glory now that evil and self-will have come in. It is a most trying thing to us to know good and evil, for by nature we are in the evil — loving the evil and hating the good. The Holy Spirit is now taking us out of the evil, and here is the pain — His energy in us keeping us from the evil while passing through a world of sin and death. We cannot be innocent now that sin has come in, but we are holy in Christ.
If a Man Die Suddenly —
Defilement
“If any man die very suddenly by him” (vs. 9) — a careless thought, and communion is lost for the moment.
Death came in on everything in nature as the sign of God’s hatred of sin. The spirit of real devotedness to God always was perfect in Christ, but it is failing in us. Wherever the old man works, there is the principle of death. Therefore we get into death for the time when the old man is working. Therefore the word to us is, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” and again, “Ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man.” All this is solemn. Not only have we peace but, while we are passing through this scene of sin, we need to be kept holy and devoted to God by the energy of the Holy Spirit in us.
The Long Hair — Strength
“All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head” (vs. 5). If I go back from devotedness to God, it is true the hair may grow again, but the head must be shaved close, and the time lost. It is not a question of sin here, but of loss as to the energy of life. A tree that has been much mutilated and broken down will grow up again; it was not killed, but only injured, yet its stature will not be the same as an uninjured tree. It is letting Satan mar and hinder the work of the Spirit. Samson let his heart go into the weakness of nature, and when we let in nature, our strength is gone. Samson, as a Nazarite, was a type of the energy of the Spirit of God; he let out the secret of his strength, and it left him and he became weak as other men. True, in due course his strength returned, and with mighty energy he lifted the foundations of the temple. If we are not careful and watchful to keep the secret of our strength in communion with God, and worldliness and sin come in, we may not be conscious of it ourselves, but the truth will appear when we rise to shake ourselves — it may be in service — and we find ourselves weak as other men. And when in our weakness, like Samson, the devil will put out our eyes.
The True Nazarite
The Lord was the true Nazarite, and He never departed in the whole course of His walk from His Nazariteship. It was not a light thing for Him to tread the path of suffering, but He prayed. In the garden, “being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly” before the temptation came, and then we see He halted not; He could not. So we should first pass through the trial with God, and then God will be with us in the trial. Peter slept and did not pray, and when the trial came, he met it in the flesh and drew his sword. Jesus had prayed that the cup might pass from Him, but when the chief priests and soldiers came, though Satan was in it all, yet He saw the hand of God and could say, “The cup which My Father hath given Me.” Then it was no temptation at all, but an act of obedience.
Verses 13-21 show the offerings to be offered. All that was in Christ is presented to God (vs. 20); so we really come in the power of these sacrifices to God, but until the church is gathered, the Lord keeps His Nazarite character.
J. N. Darby,
notes of a Bible reading
The Nazarite
Numbers 6
The First Adam Condition
When death to sin is not seen, there can be no real separation from the world, especially what is called the religious world. Hence we may often be surprised to see godly men mixing with the world and helping on its plans and improvements. But the whole system of self-occupation, of seeking to improve the first Adam condition of man, of seeking to attain complete sanctification in the flesh, is judged by the simple truth that the Christian died to sin in Christ’s death and that in his baptism he owns this and is bound to walk as one already and always dead to sin.
A. Miller
In looking through Scripture, we find many passages setting forth the intense spirit of separation which ought ever to characterize the people of God. Whether we direct our attention to the Old Testament, in which we have God’s relationship and dealings with His earthly people, Israel, or to the New Testament, in which we have His relationship and dealings with His heavenly people, the church, we find the same truth prominently set forth, namely, the entire separation of those who belong to God. Israel’s position is thus stated in Balaam’s parable: “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned amongst the nations.” Their place was outside the range of all the nations of the earth, and they were responsible to maintain that separation. The same is true, only upon a much higher ground, in reference to God’s heavenly people, the church — the body of Christ—composed of all true believers. They, too, are a separated people.
Pharisees or Saints
We shall now proceed to examine the ground of this separation. There is a great difference between being separate on the ground of what we are, and of what God is. The former makes a man a Pharisee; the latter makes him a saint. If I say to a poor fellow-sinner, “Stand by yourself; I am holier than you,” I am a detestable Pharisee and a hypocrite, but if God, in His infinite condescension and perfect grace, says to me, “I have brought you into relationship with Myself in the person of My Son Jesus Christ; therefore be holy and separate from all evil; come out from among them and be separate,” I am bound to obey, and my obedience is the practical manifestation of my character as a saint — a character which I have, not because of anything in myself, but simply because God has brought me near unto Himself through the precious blood of Christ.
It is well to be clear as to this. Pharisaism and divine sanctification are two very different things, and yet they are often confounded. Those who contend for the maintenance of that place of separation which belongs to the people of God are constantly accused of setting themselves up above their fellow-men and of laying claim to a higher degree of personal sanctity than is ordinarily possessed. This accusation arises from not attending to the distinction just referred to. When God calls upon men to be separate, it is on the ground of what He has done for them upon the cross, and where He has set them, in eternal association with Himself, in the person of Christ. But if I separate myself on the ground of what I am in myself, it is the most senseless and vapid assumption, which will sooner or later be made manifest. God commands His people to be holy on the ground of what He is: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” This is evidently a very different thing from “Stand by yourself; I am holier than you.” If God brings people into association with Himself, He has a right to prescribe what their moral character ought to be, and they are responsible to answer thereto.
Humility or Pride
Thus we see that the most profound humility lies at the bottom of a saint’s separation. There is nothing so calculated to put one in the dust as the understanding of the real nature of divine holiness. It is an utterly false humility which springs from looking at ourselves — yea, it is in reality based upon pride, which has never yet seen to the bottom of its own utter worthlessness. Some imagine that they can reach the truest and deepest humility by looking at self, whereas it can only be reached by looking at Christ. “The more Thy glories strike mine eye, the humbler I shall be.” This is a just sentiment founded upon divine principle. The soul that loses itself in the blaze of Christ’s moral glory is truly humble, and none other.
No doubt we have a right to be humble, when we think of what poor creatures we are, but it only needs a moment’s just reflection to see the fallacy of seeking to produce any practical result by looking at self. It is only when we find ourselves in the presence of infinite excellence that we are really humble.
A child of God should refuse to be yoked with an unbeliever, whether for a domestic, a commercial or a religious object, simply because God tells him to be separate, and not because of his own personal holiness. The carrying out of this principle in matters of religion will necessarily involve much trial and sorrow; it will be termed intolerance, bigotry, narrow-mindedness, exclusiveness and such like, but we cannot help all this. Provided we keep ourselves separate upon a right principle and in a right spirit, we may safely leave all results with God.
Truth and Grace
In Nehemiah we read, “The seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers” (ch. 9:2). This was not Pharisaism, but positive obedience. Their separation was essential to their existence as a people. They could not have enjoyed the divine presence on any other ground. Thus it must ever be with God’s people on the earth. They must be separate, or else they are not only useless, but mischievous. God cannot own or accompany them if they yoke themselves with unbelievers, upon any ground, or for any object whatsoever. The grand difficulty is to combine a spirit of intense separation with a spirit of grace, gentleness and forbearance, or as another has said, “to maintain a narrow circle with a wide heart.” This is really a difficulty. As the strict and uncompromising maintenance of truth tends to narrow the circle around us, we shall need the expansive power of grace to keep the heart wide and the affections warm. If we contend for truth otherwise than in grace, we shall only yield a one-sided and most unattractive testimony. And, on the other hand, if we try to exhibit grace at the expense of truth, it will prove in the end to be only the manifestation of a popular liberality at God’s expense — a most worthless thing.
The Means and the End
Then, as to the object for which real Christians usually yoke themselves with those who, even on their own confession and in the judgment of charity itself, are not Christians at all, it will be found in the end that no really divine and heavenly object can be gained by an infringement of God’s truth. “That the end justifies the means” can never be a divine motto. The means are not sanctified by the end, but both means and end must be according to the principles of God’s holy Word, or else all will lead to confusion and dishonor. It might have appeared to Jehoshaphat a very worthy object to recover Ramoth-Gilead out of the hand of the enemy, and, moreover, he might have appeared a very liberal, gracious, popular, largehearted man, when, in reply to Ahab’s proposal, he said, “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.” It is easy to be liberal and largehearted at the expense of divine principle, but how did it end? Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped with his life, having made total shipwreck of his testimony.
Thus we see that Jehoshaphat did not even gain the object for which he unequally yoked himself with an unbeliever, and even if he had gained it, it would have been no justification of his course. Nothing can ever warrant a believer’s yoking himself with an unbeliever, and therefore, however fair, attractive and plausible the Ramoth expedition might seem in the eye of man, it was, in the judgment of God, “[helping] the ungodly, and [loving] them that hate the Lord” (2 Chron. 19:2).
The truth of God strips men and things of the false colors with which the spirit of expediency would deck them and presents them in their proper light, and it is an unspeakable mercy to have the clear judgment of God about all that is going on around us. It imparts calmness to the spirit and stability to the course and character, and it saves one from that unhappy fluctuation of thought, feeling and principle which so entirely unfits him for the place of a steady and consistent witness for Christ. We shall surely err, if we attempt to form our judgment by the thoughts and opinions of men, for they will always judge according to the outward appearances, and not according to the intrinsic character and principle of things. Provided men can gain what they conceive to be a right object, they may not care about the mode of gaining it. But the true servant of Christ knows that he must do his Master’s work upon his Master’s principles and in his Master’s spirit. It will not satisfy such a one to reach the most praiseworthy end, unless he can reach it by a divinely-appointed road. The means and the end must both be divine. I admit it, for example, to be a most desirable end to circulate the Scriptures — God’s own pure, eternal word — but if I could not circulate them save by yoking myself with an unbeliever, I should refrain, inasmuch as I am not to do evil that good may come.
I would press upon my fellow-believer that he should exercise judgment as to those with whom he yokes himself in all matters, including matters of religion. If he is at this moment working in yoke or in harness with an unbeliever, he is positively violating the command of the Holy Spirit. He may be ignorantly doing so up to this, and if so, the Lord’s grace is ready to pardon and restore, but if he persist in disobedience after having been warned, he cannot possibly expect God’s blessing and presence with him, no matter how valuable or important the object which he may seek to attain. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22).
C. H. Mackintosh, selected
from The Christian Friend, 3:57-64
Come Out From Among Them
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Other articles in this issue have clearly shown that separation from evil in this world is a most necessary thing for the believer. This was true right from the beginning of man’s history, where the family of Seth was separate from the family of Cain in their walk and associations, and it goes right on down to include the call of Abraham and ultimately the separation of Israel from other nations. It is a principle that is even more necessary today. Since the cross, this world has been under judgment, and God has called the church out of it, to wait for His Son from heaven. Believers today are a distinctly heavenly company, called to be separate from this world. The Lord Jesus could say to His disciples, “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19). Again He could say, in His prayer to the Father in John 17, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:14-15).
Within the Great House
However, another separation has become necessary in the history of the church, namely, that of separation from evil within the great house of Christendom. In 1 Timothy 3:15 it is called “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” However, by the time 2 Timothy was written, declension had come in, and Paul had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). As a result, the house of God is termed “a great house” with different vessels in it, “some to honor, and some to dishonor” (2 Tim. 2:20). No longer can the house be equated with the church of the living God, for the house now contains many who are mere professors and are not truly part of the church. Those professing to be the church, too, have failed and are no longer the pillar and ground of the truth. Thus the one who wishes to be faithful to the Lord is called to “purge himself from these [vessels to dishonor],” in order that he may be a “vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21).
In both cases the separation is from evil, whether in the world or in the house of God, for the believer is not called either to go out of the world or to leave the house of God. Rather, he is still in the world (John 17:11), and likewise cannot leave the house of God; to do so he would have to become an apostate and embrace a false religion. In view of this, the question sometimes arises as to how far this separation extends, and how the believer can live both in the world and in the great house of Christendom, yet remain separate from the evil in both.
Extremes in the World
In speaking of the believer’s relation to the world, the Lord Jesus could say clearly that “these are in the world” (John 17:11), yet also that “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). This involves a walk that can be undertaken only in communion with the Lord, for He exemplified it perfectly. The tendency, right from the beginning, has been to go to extremes in either direction. Shortly after the apostles had gone to be with the Lord, some began to bring the church, in its walk and associations, down to the level of the world. The emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and made it the religion of the Roman Empire, and as a result, believers soon occupied places of prominence and authority in government. They became mixed up in the world’s politics and ambitions, and, of course, they soon became involved in its evil too. For all practical purposes, they were not only in the world, but also of the world. Others, alarmed at the lack of godliness and separation from evil, began to found monastic orders, secluding themselves from the world behind walls; others became hermits, living in small cabins or caves, far from civilization. Still others even lived on platforms on poles, so as to remain separate from the world and its evil. While some of this was doubtless well-intentioned, it resulted in men not only being not of the world, but also, for practical purposes, not in the world. The flesh took over, and the legality that resulted ministered only to man’s pride, and not to Christ. Instead of being a testimony to the saving power of Christ and His finished work on the cross, they were rather a testimony to the works of man, and thus the true gospel was corrupted.
Extremes in Christendom
In the great house of Christendom, a similar going to extremes has occurred. Some, in seeking to purge themselves from vessels to dishonor, have taken this so seriously that they have virtually isolated themselves from the rest of the body of Christ. In doing so, they have become legal, narrow-minded, harsh and sectarian, in that they have little or nothing to do with other believers who are not associated with them. Others, wishing to “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart,” have almost ignored any evil connected with those in the great house, excusing themselves by saying that such evil is a matter between the individual and the Lord, but not the responsibility of others to judge.
Needless to say, such extremes are both wrong, whether in our association with the world or with other believers. How then should these extremes be avoided? We are brought back to the realization that practical Christianity often involves a proper balance in the truth, and that the principles given to us in the New Testament can be applied only in fellowship with the Lord and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Unlike the Old Testament, the New Testament does not give us neat little pigeonholes in which to fit every situation. Rather, we must make decisions in each case in the Lord’s presence and seeking His mind. Our separation must be unto Him.
Going to extremes is natural to our human hearts and can be done even by the believer in the energy of the flesh, without any dependence on the Lord or seeking His mind in the situation. I can undertake total isolation from the world, or live a careless, worldly life, without any real communion with the Lord. Likewise I can, in the great house, exercise total isolation from other believers, on the one hand, or embrace all believers, on the other hand, without any regard to their walk or associations. Both can be done in the energy of the flesh.
The Right Balance
However, to balance these principles, to be in the world but not of it, or to separate from evil in the great house, yet seek out those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, requires constant communion with the Lord and dependence on Him. I cannot take one step nor make one right decision without going back to Him. If I am walking with the Lord, I will find this relatively easy, for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him” (Psa. 25:14). On the other hand, if I am at a distance from Him in seeking to know His mind, my state of soul will be revealed in His presence. I may have to judge something before the Spirit can once again be free to show me the mind of the Lord. Sad to say, our natural hearts, rather than judging ourselves, often prefer to substitute some man-made arrangement for the mind of the Lord, and hence the going to extremes. This may make life easier, so to speak, on the surface, but results in the loss of our communion with the Lord and the privilege of living for His glory down here.
Let us remember that He values our fellowship above all and wants our company, our dependence and our constant walking with Him. Then we will find that we are able to balance the principles of His Word and walk in a way that pleases Him.
W. J. Prost
Separation Versus Isolation
“Separation” and “gathering” must go together. Separation without gathering only puffs up and leads to the spirit of the Pharisee and to further scattering. When the Lord separates His people from evil, He gathers them around Himself. Christ is God’s great gathering center. We may get Christians together, but if it is not gathering to Christ and with Christ, it will only add to the scattering. We may gather people around some great truth, or to deepen spirituality, or to increase holiness and thus make a holiness party, or we may get Christians together to express the truth of the one body and to maintain a scriptural discipline and thus make an ecclesiastical party. We may gather believers together to preach the gospel, and thus make an evangelical party. But, however good our intentions, if we fall short of gathering to Christ as the living center, we shall only add to the scattering. It has been well said by another, “It is not Christians but Christ who is become God’s center. We may gather Christians together, but if it is not Christ in one’s own spirit, it is scattering. God knows no center of union but the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Himself the object, and nothing but Christ can be the center. Whatever is not gathering around that center, for Him and from Him, is scattering. There may be gathering, but, if not ‘with Me,’ it is scattering. We are by nature so essentially sectarian that we have need to watch against this. I cannot make Christ the center of my efforts if He is not the center of my thoughts” (J.N.D.).
H. Smith
He Died for Me
When first my precious Saviour in His
love
Lifted these earthbound eyes to Him
above,
I saw those wounds and thought — His
love to prove
He died for me!
But can it be, when I His love had
spurned,
That He, to win my love had ceaseless
yearned?
’Tis true! And now my soul this truth has
learned,
He died for me!
It thrilled my soul; it filled my tongue
to know
That my once-stubborn heart, now
white as snow,
With rapture filled, can sing while
here below,
He died for me!
The years roll by; there come to claim
my heart
Earth’s varied pleasures. Shall I take
a part
And grieve my Lord, or from His side
depart,
Who died for me?
I must decide. What shall my answer be?
The world allures and beckons
harmlessly;
The Saviour stoops and whispers
lovingly,
I died for thee!
The choice is made. My heart must
not divide,
Part for the world, and part for Him
who died.
Henceforth may I be found close to
His side
Who died for me!
His heart of love I know will never fail;
Though friends may come and go,
though fears prevail,
These four sweet words can blessed
peace avail,
He died for me!
I hasten on, casting on Him each care.
His love delights my joys and pains to
share,
And soon at home, this note shall fill
the air,
He died for me!
A. C. Hayhoe