The Path of the Faithful in the Perilous Times
Unknown Author
Table of Contents
The Firm Foundation
“Yet the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, [The] Lord knows those that are His; and, Let every one who names the name of [the] Lord withdraw from iniquity.
“But in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.
“If therefore one shall have purified himself from these [in separating himself from them], he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work.
“But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Tim. 2:1922 JND.
The Path of the Faithful in the Perilous Times
It is acknowledged among men to be a thing of great value that one should act on fixed principles. So true is this that he who is without a principle in the things of the world is a man in whom no one will put confidence.
And if of acknowledged importance in ordinary affairs, of how much more serious moment is it that we should be guided in the things of God by some definite and divine principle, instead of being left to the wanderings of our own minds or those of others? Those who are not guided by definite principles are, as described in Ephesians 4, liable to be tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine. They are only babes; they have not come to full maturity.
Now the Word of God is so written that it abounds with certain leading principles which the saint is to gather up, and by which his walk is to be guided in the world. It is surely of value to learn the Word of God in detail, but one may read it all his life long, and, if the leading principles that run throughout it are not laid hold of, the Word becomes of comparatively little value for positive guidance. I admit there is an immense benefit in it, even for those who do not lay hold of these principles, but such souls are never steady in their walk, nor true in their testimony for God on the earth. They are variable, and apt to be taken by that which seems best. The saint who has the mind of Christ, as revealed in God’s Word, is one not thus open to the seduction of Satan, or the craft of men.
I propose, the Lord helping me, to point out some of those principles which run through the entire Word of God in connection with the subject before us.
Leading Principles
There are two leading principles which we find constantly showing themselves in the record of God’s ways and actings toward man.
The first is, that when God sets up any thing on the earth, He commits it to the hands of man in responsibility to maintain for Him.
The second is, that man always fails in the maintenance of this responsibility.
We see these in creation. First of all, when God had finished the work of creation, He placed man, as the center and head of it, in the garden, where he was tested. The result of the trial was, that man listened to the voice of Satan, and forfeited his place with God. He failed, and that by disobedience.
We see the same thing in the history of Noah. After the world had emerged from the flood of judgment, Noah was placed in it to act for God in government. But the next thing we read of is that Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the wine thereof, and was drunk; thus showing his total incapacity to maintain the position in which God had set him.
We see the principle again in the conduct of the children of Israel at mount Sinai. They had heard the voice of Jehovah, and they had just said, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do”, but before the forty days had elapsed that Moses spent on the mountain with Jehovah, they had made a golden calf, and thus had broken the very first commandment of the law.
Again, when the priesthood was set up, the same thing appears. Before Aaron had time to enter the holiest of all in his garments of glory and beauty, his two sons had offered strange fire before Jehovah.
In short, the whole history of God’s ways and dealings with men presents throughout the same two principles that I have stated — man responsible and man failing in his responsibility.
But there is another general principle very closely connected with this.
When once man has thus failed in his responsibility to God, the thing in which he has failed is not reestablished, but removed by judgment to make room for the introduction of something else.
The examples already given present this principle, as well as the two first named. Adam’s fall in Eden was followed by the sentence of death and expulsion from the garden. In the priesthood, though judgment was not executed at the moment when the failure came in (save on those personally guilty), the system was really ended as a true testimony for God, and so it ever is. The first act of failure puts the stamp of failure upon the whole thing. In the Kings too, we have an example of the same principle. The ten tribes are rent from the hand of Rehoboam on account of the sins of Solomon (1 Kings 11). There is never the reestablishment of that in which man has failed; it is invariably set aside, and that by judgment.
I have mentioned these instances to show that these principles prevail generally throughout the Old Testament. Let us see if they apply with equal force to the present time and to the Church of God.
Application of These Principles to the Present Time
The Church, let me say, is presented in Scripture in two aspects. First, it is the body of Christ in which all is perfect, and no failure can come, because it depends upon the Lord Himself. It is also presented as the house of God; that is, the place where God dwells and His testimony is. In this there is failure, and complete failure, because to man has been committed the responsibility of maintaining that testimony on earth. But it will be well for us now, when we come to the New Testament, to turn to one or two scriptures to show that these principles do apply as well to the present time as to times gone by.
Take 1 Corinthians 3:10-13, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation. . . . But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. . . . The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” Here we have clearly enough the principle of responsibility, and the possibility of failure. The Church is here regarded as a building of God. I may say that it is presented as a building in two way. First, as that which Christ builds, as we have in Matthew 16. In that, of course, failure does not and cannot occur. This is the building to which Peter refers when he says, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone . . . ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:4,5). That is the true divine building which Christ builds and secures. This in Corinthians is also a building, but man’s, not Christ’s. It is the confounding of these two things which has brought in all the evil of Popery. The error is, attributing to man’s building all the security and perfection which belong to that which Christ builds. Here we have the building. Paul lays the foundation, but on this foundation much may be built which is not precious; that is, divine. A man may build upon it “gold, silver, and precious stones”; or he may build “wood, hay, stubble.” What is meant by this is, that it is possible to build on this ground with improper materials. The responsibility of the builder is the point in view here. The possibility of failure, if not the probability, is suggested. A man may build bad work, and the result of that will be judgment. Every man’s work shall be tried by fire.
A similar principle is very directly stated in Romans 11:17-22. Nothing can be more apparent than that the question here also is responsibility, though often viewed in another light. Here the whole Gentile profession is regarded as being brought in to have share in the olive tree of promise and testimony upon earth, of which Abraham is the root. The natural branches — the Jews — were broken off in order that the Gentiles might be brought in. But the question in hand clearly is, how they will maintain the position they have been brought into. “Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” Here we have the possibility of failure supposed, and in the next verse the result of failure is definitely stated. “Thou also shalt be cut off.” Now I suppose there are few sober men who would maintain that the Gentile profession has continued in the goodness of God. Nothing can be more plain than that it has utterly failed to continue in God’s goodness, or in the place of testimony in which it was set for God upon the earth when Israel was set aside, for it is not a question of believing in Christ and being saved. This, to be sure, is of the essence of Christianity, but here it is the question of a witness for God upon earth. No doubt those who really belong to God have grace given by which they may maintain their individual testimony for Him. Still the responsibility is there, and upon all to maintain a corporate testimony for God upon earth.
But the judgment and rejection of the Church, or Christian profession, is not merely hinted at or even threatened. In the early chapters of the book of Revelation we find the fact itself stated with all plainness. The Lord Jesus, as Son of man (His judgmental title), is seen passing in the midst of the golden candlesticks, taking note of the condition of the Church, and pronouncing judgment upon that condition, for I accept that which I believe to be the true intention of the early chapters of Revelation, that they present the character of the whole Church of God upon earth throughout its entire history, seven representative, existing churches being taken up. In the epistle to Ephesus (ch. 2:4), the Lord says, “I have . . . against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” That is the first point of declension; failure has already come in, and judgment is pronounced. The candlestick is to be removed unless there is repentance.
The epistles which follow (to the other churches) show very clearly that that repentance was lacking — there is even further progress in failure. For when we come to Thyatira we find some of the grossest forms of evil, the corruption of Popery, and in the last epistle (that to Laodicea) we find that, not merely will the candlestick be removed if there is not repentance, but “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.” Ch. 3:16. The statement is perfectly absolute in this case; the condition is judged, and sentence pronounced upon it. The state brings its own judgment.
So the apostle Peter tells us that the time had come when judgment must begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), and Jude also, that the Lord is coming with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment (vv. 14,15). In fact, all the later epistles continually refer to judgment about to be executed, speaking of Him “who is ready to judge the quick and the dead,” and as the Judge at the door.
“The mystery of iniquity” was already at work in the Apostle Paul’s day, and we can thank God that He allowed it to be so manifested in that time, that we might have divine guidance how to act when the evil should actually be present, and the sentence pronounced upon it.
The Resource of Faith in a Day of Failure
There is another principle to which I slightly alluded when referring to the matter of failure under responsibility, and that is, though judgment be pronounced in consequence of failure, God is never in haste to execute that judgment, and before it falls, He prepares a pathway for those who desire to be faithful to Himself. The question for us then is, What is that pathway at this day?
It is plain to every godly soul that no one is ever compelled to be associated with evil. Hence therefore the first and most evident duty of the saint at all times, and under all circumstances, is to “depart from evil.” This is what we have in the passage at the beginning of this paper. The seal of God’s foundation has two sides. On the one side there is God’s faithfulness, notwithstanding all the ruin that has come in. “The Lord knoweth them that are His,” no matter how much confusion there may be in the eyes of men. On the other side is the Christian’s responsibility: “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ [or rather of the Lord] depart from iniquity.” It is not a matter of choice; it is a matter of the plainest necessity, and that because of the character of God.
In 2 Corinthians 6:17, we learn how this departing from iniquity is to be carried out: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” The previous verses show us the character of what we are to be separate from, and this is the practical way of doing so.
We have further details in this second chapter of 2 Timothy as to how this is to be practically carried out. The apostle had just referred to the “house of God” in the first epistle. Here the figure is slightly changed. “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor.” Not only valuable materials, “gold and silver,” but also base materials, “wood and earth,” and to different uses too, “some to honor, some to dishonor.” What, then, is a person to do who finds himself in this state of mixture and confusion? “If a man therefore purge himself from these [the vessels to dishonor], he shall be a vessel unto honor,” v. 21. I see no way in Scripture for a man to be a vessel unto honor when confusion has come in, but by separation from it. It is impossible to be a vessel unto honor while you continue in the place where the confusion and the evil are. Therefore, beloved friends, it ceases to be a question of choice on the part of the saints; it becomes a matter of simple obedience to God, and of the maintenance of the character that belongs to Him as holy and righteous. It is important to see this and accept it, that we are bound to separate from evil whatever the character of it may be, and to do so also without question.
Cease to Do Evil
To ask, “Suppose I leave what I am in, where am I to go?” is wholly out of place, and entirely wrong. It is not obedience, but seeking to please one’s self. My plain duty is, in the first place, to obey God, to separate from evil. To continue where I am, because I do not see where to go, is iniquity; it is the maintenance of the evil that I acknowledge to be there. I do not at all depreciate the importance of knowing what to do, and of seeking to find out the path of God, but I do maintain that a saint is bound to separate from evil, once he has discovered it, without seeing any further. The two principles of Scripture are, “Cease to do evil”; then, “Learn to do well.” Now I am bound to do the one, and also the other, but I must first separate myself from that which I see to be contrary to God, whether I see my way farther or not. It is not faith to do otherwise. Faith acts upon what God has revealed, and counts upon Him for more, and He never disappoints it. Take the step that you see to be God’s will, and He will show you light for the next. As the word assures us, “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness” (Psa. 112:4), and, “If any man will do His will [has the desire to do it], he shall know,” John 7:17. The one who has that desire will be taught of God. “The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way.” Psa. 25:9.
Learn to Do Well
But suppose a person has obeyed, and come out from among these vessels to dishonor, separating himself from that which is contrary to the nature and character of God, what is he next to do? This comes still more closely to our subject, the path of the faithful. The first thing he is to do then is to seek out those who have acted likewise before him, and to walk in company with them. So we read in verse 22 of this chapter. Not only is he to be personally pure, but also he is to “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Isolation for a saint is never desirable, though it may be sometimes physically unavoidable because of circumstances, as, for instance, when there are no others acting truly for God in this respect in the place where one is. But the spirit of independence is wholly opposed to God. There are two things that, above all others, I believe Scripture condemns, indifference on the one hand, and independence on the other. Now, if a person separates himself from the confusion around, and the evil with which all are mixed up who have not separated themselves, and yet refuses to identify himself with those who have equally separated to the name of the Lord in truth and honesty, he is worse than if he had remained where he was. Why? Because he is only perpetuating, and increasing moreover, the very evil that he has professed to judge by his separation. Independence, I repeat, in the things of God is most obnoxious to Him, and to every one who has His thoughts. A saint is not only bound to separate from evil, but he is equally bound, in subjection to the Word of God, to walk in fellowship with those who also have so separated.
In Israel the testimony was either national on the one hand, or individual on the other. The testimony now is neither national nor individual. It is that of a collective body, separated from among all the nations, where there is no distinction of race or nationality, but all are one in Christ Jesus. How can this testimony be maintained? Not individually, nor independently, in any way. For what I have said with regard to a person, is equally true with regard to a company. So that independent companies are no more in harmony with the present mind of God than independent persons. I say this without hesitation, because the Word of God will bear me out in it fully, as I hope to show. We have it plainly in this Scripture. The first duty urged upon the person who has separated himself, is to walk in company with those who are themselves personally clean. The simple duty of the Christian who has separated from the confusion of the great house is, when he finds such company where the Word of God is obeyed, to walk in fellowship with them. There are always those who are to walk in company with each other: our duty is to find them out.
Character of God’s Testimony in the Present Day
But now the question might be asked, How are we to know those with whom we are to walk in company? This leads us to enquire, What is to be the character of this company that is separated from the corrupt mass around? What is to direct their path? This I consider to be of immense importance for saints at the present day, especially for those who really feel before God the state of confusion and evil around us. I will state the principle therefore plainly, that it may guide all who really desire to follow the Lord. A company thus separated are to maintain in its integrity the purpose of God in setting up that to which they belong. I hope this is sufficiently clear to be understood by all. It will make it still more plain, however, to go briefly into what the form of God’s testimony is at the present day, as at the beginning. It is neither national nor individual. It is a collective company gathered from out of all nations, where nationality ceases to be acknowledged, and Christ is all. It is, in fact, the Church. This is what is to be maintained, the truth of God’s Church. The unity of its nature, and the separateness from evil which is its character, are to be practically maintained. Hence those saints who have separated themselves in the manner I have spoken of, are to be found “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” according to the exhortation in Ephesians 4, for “there is one body, and one Spirit.” Therefore any company, no matter what its pretensions or professions, not gathered on that ground and principle, has no claim upon the faithful saint.
But here I may be met with the objection, that in order to do this you would need the whole Church, because all believers are “baptized into one body,” and all are formed into this unity. I fully admit that the Holy Ghost, coming down at Pentecost, did baptize all believers into one body, and that now as then there is but “one body and one Spirit.” This is exactly my reason for saying that independency is so thoroughly opposed to the mind of God, for a person who is not walking in fellowship with others is not maintaining this unity, but practically denying it; the same is true of a company walking independently, whatever they may profess. It is by their practice, not by their profession, that I am to judge. The Lord did not say, “By their words ye shall know them,” but “by their fruits.”
In answer to the objection that the whole Church is necessary in order to keep the unity of the Spirit, I say, “If we had the whole Church gathered on the principles named, we would have restoration.” But it is not restoration that we can truly look for, because it is cutting off, and not restoration, that Scripture declares to be the consequence of failure. Besides, it is not at all a question of numbers, but of principles, and it is as competent for the smallest plurality (“two or three”) to act on the same principle as if all the saints of God in the world were gathered in one locality. This is not a mere opinion of mine, for we have the Lord’s own statement of it in Matthew 18:20, with which, no doubt, most here are familiar: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Now observe in the preceding verses that the Lord connects with this, matters of the most serious importance, and that to the action of the two or three thus gathered to His name He attaches all the validity of the action of the Church. In reality it never was a question of the number of persons thus together, but the fact of the Lord’s presence in their midst. It is to Him that importance attaches. Hence, if you have the Lord in the midst of two or three, the same authority attaches to their actions as if you had all the saints on earth together. The saints may be just like so many ciphers; it is the unit before them that makes them of value, if I may so speak. This is the Lord Himself.
Gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus
But let us enquire for a moment what is meant by being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, for people seem to have extremely loose thoughts about this. If we had no later or fuller revelation than this in Matthew, it might seem quite open for any two or three Christians to gather in any place they chose, and there might be as many such gatherings as men wished. This is what many appear to accept. They seem to think that this is all that is required. But let me remind you that our business is always to carry out the mind of God. Separation from evil is in obedience to God’s will and word, but our further path, after having thus separated, must be equally in obedience, and in order to obey, we must search and see what the will of God is. For the further step we require further truth.
Now the precise character of failure in Christendom is, that it has departed from the later revelation of God, and gone back to the previous one. But you must always have the latest revelation of God. For our walk in these times we require the truth that applies to the present period. We are bound to act upon, not merely the latest in general, but the special revelation for the time in which we live. The special revelation for the present time has for its center Christ, and the Church of God circling round Him. Hence, therefore, two or three gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, can only be rightly gathered on the principle of the Church of God. What is it to be gathered on the principle of the Church of God? The great object of Christians coming together (though not the only one) is to worship God, and the grand mode (if I may use the term), the central act of worship, is taking the Lord’s Supper together, in remembrance of the One who died for us and saved us; the one loaf being the symbol of the one body, as in 1 Corinthians 10. Now every assembly so gathered has a claim upon each member of the body of Christ.
Suppose I find, in any place where I may happen to be, a meeting gathered on the principles of the Church of God, that meeting has a claim on me that I cannot and dare not disregard, if I am subject to God’s Word. Every meeting not so gathered has no claim on me, let its pretensions be what they may. The meeting which has a claim on me, as a member of the body of Christ, is gathered on such a basis, and has such a character that no member of the body of Christ, walking orderly with God, is excluded, or can conscientiously or intelligently absent himself from it. Suppose a Christian finds a meeting professedly on the ground of the Church of God, and yet there he could not be with a good conscience toward God, that meeting is not on divine principles. I do not of course by this mean any factious notion of one’s own, but a true conscience toward God, formed by His own Word, which, on account of something in that gathering — it might be evil doctrine, or deliberate refusal of Scriptural discipline — hinders one from meeting there. That is, the assembly should be so gathered that no member of the body ought to be absent, unless justly excluded by discipline. Such a meeting is not only the one I ought to be at, but it is the one I must be at if I wish to obey God. There is but one Lord and there is but one Lord’s table. It is no question of numbers or locality; it is entirely a question of the grounds on which saints are gathered. It is, of course, not possible to have all saints together, but it is perfectly possible, and what ought to be, to have all in communion.
Characteristics of a Divinely Sanctioned Testimony
But there are one or two characteristics about a meeting, by which I may judge whether it is of God, that it may be well to state. First, the saints who compose it are gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus, hence there is subjection to Him. They are not “met together in the name of Jesus” merely, as the common phrase goes, but gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus, and therefore in dependence on Him, and subjection to His authority. But also there must be in those gathered a suitability to the Person to whom they are gathered. Now, what is the character that will be seen in those who are truly gathered? In a scripture already referred to — the address to Philadelphia — we have the character of the Lord Jesus, not only in general, but specially for the present hour (Rev. 3:7): “These things saith He that is holy, He that is true.” The character of the assembly must conform to His. Hence, if we find a company ever so loudly professing to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, but plainly admitting among them things contrary to holiness or truth, that meeting has no claim upon us. I could not be there without denying my Lord; by going as a Christian there, I should virtually make Christ the minister of sin. This would be the case not only where gross moral evil was present and allowed. It is not enough to exclude drunkenness or any flagrant misdemeanor; Scripture takes note of other forms of evil, not so glaring in the eyes of men, but in reality of a still deeper character.
Christian holiness and divine truth are to be maintained; not only the walk is to be observed, but also the doctrine. Do you suppose that one who, while maintaining a moral walk in the eyes of men, blasphemes or undermines Christ, is to be treated with less rigor than one who behaves ever so ill? Can I be rightly in association with a person whose outward ways men can admire, while he himself says that Christ was but a man? He who thinks so betrays a state of heart and life at enmity with God. Indeed, the maintenance of the truth in the present day demands more strongly our attention, because it is a subtle evil, less easily discovered, and more deadly than outward failure. Any one can see if a man gets drunk he acts wickedly, but not everyone can judge of him who does not bring the doctrine of Christ, for he may do it covertly. Only a person who has faith and affection for Christ is capable of judging whether a man has the truth or not. This is not the only thing required, but it is most necessary.
The Principle of Unity
It is clear then, that in order to be truly fathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, I personally must maintain, both in doctrine and in practice, the holiness and the purity that become God’s house forever, and I must also be in association with those who seek the same thing. Furthermore, besides this personal cleanliness and purity, there must also be the maintenance of that unity which the Spirit has formed, and which He maintains. The way in which public failure came in at first was by destroying united testimony to the name. For you will always find that the path of the faithful remnant connects itself with the character of the failure that has come upon the testimony.
The thought of the Lord Jesus was, that there should be on earth a united company, everywhere maintaining the reality of what God had set up. This is what we see in the history of the Church at the first. There was but one object moving all the Lord’s people, and this was to testify to the name of the Lord Jesus. Now this has been entirely broken up. That which was set up in unity is broken up into a thousand fragments, each having some peculiar testimony characterizing it, instead of only one as at the beginning. The outward testimony has failed, but those who seek to act for God are none the less bound to act in the spirit and integrity of that which the Holy Ghost thus at first set up. Not that we are to ignore the failure, or attempt any thing like restoration on a small scale. Such a proceeding would show an utter want of sense of the ruin which has come in, and of what is now due to God. It would also be to the great loss and detriment of our own souls, for we would lose all the value and comfort of those Scriptures specially given of God for times of failure.
Remnant Times of Ezra and Nehemiah
If you will just allow me for a moment to refer to what we are told concerning the conduct of a remnant of God’s people, placed in similar circumstances in former times, it will help to the understanding of what becomes saints now. There was a remnant of the Jewish nation that came up from Babylon, and their history will afford us a very simple, but very vivid exhibition of what should be the conduct of saints in a day like the present.
Turn for a moment to the book of Ezra. There were two things that specially characterized this returned remnant. The first we find in chapter 2. They were not suspicious, but extremely wary as to those who professed to belong to them (vv. 6163). They did not take any one’s bare word then. Those who could not prove their title were rejected. It was not pronounced that they were not what they professed to be, but “that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim”; that is, one who could determine whether they were real or not. Meantime nothing was to be done with a doubt. It was a time of confusion and weakness, and if they were to act for God at all, they must be thus vigilant.
But they were more than careful, as we see further on; to the great annoyance of their neighbors, they were exclusive. Those about them, when they heard that they were building the temple, came to them, saying, “Let us build with you.” Ezra 4:2,3. They had, one might say, a good claim, for it was of long standing, but the answer was, “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God.” They refused their cooperation. We see the result, for they immediately turn around and try to hinder, manifesting their real character as adversaries. They were the deadliest enemies of the returned remnant, yet they were the most like them of any people, and therefore the Jews required to be the more strict in rejecting their claim. For those who are most like the true, without being so, are really most to be shunned.
Two other things characterize this returned remnant. They were bent on carrying out the whole will of God fully, and not only this, but they were careful to do so exactly as it was written. No one can read their history without being struck with this fact, that they never followed a custom of their own or a former time, but went straight back to the original ground of everything. “And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses. . . . as it is written in the book of Moses.” Ezra 6:18. Again, in the next verse, “And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.” Now this is exactly according to the original institution. You may remember that in the reign of Hezekiah — and he was a king who had faith in God as no other king had — even in his day, the passover was kept on the fourteenth day of the second month. They took advantage of a provision of grace for a time of failure. (See Numbers 9:11.) But here the remnant take their stand upon the original institution.
In the book of Nehemiah we find another and a very interesting instance of this thorough devotedness to the whole will of God: “And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.” What then? At once, without hesitation, they act upon it. “So the people went forth . . . and made themselves booths,” etc. What do we find recorded here by the Spirit of God? That this feast had not been kept in the brightest days of Israel’s history, not even in the palmy days of David and Solomon. “For since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so.” Neh. 8:14-18. Thus the feeble remnant abandoned all that had come in meanwhile, judged all past neglect and failure, and went directly back to what was written in the book of God.
Again, in chapter 12:45, we have another example of the habit of betaking themselves to divine authority. Here it was a matter that had been first arranged and ordered according to God’s will by David. Consequently, they go back to his day, just as in what had been originally given to Moses; they go back to the law. David expressed God’s mind in the one instance, Moses’s in the other.
They were no less stringent in their discipline than they were in the first recognition. In dealing with those who had already been received, in the matter of strange wives, they were equally strict. In short, nothing would do, and they were contented with nothing, but the complete maintenance of all that God had laid down.
Our Present Responsibility
This is exactly what we are called on to do at the present day. We at the present moment are not to imitate, as unbelief does, what the Jews did, but to maintain all that God has given for His Church. Therefore I say that the path for the saint now is: first, separation from everything that is contrary to or inconsistent with the name of the Lord Jesus; secondly, walking in fellowship with those who have already so separated, refusing among themselves everything that is contrary to the name or revealed character of the Lord Jesus, as they came out from that in which it could not be maintained, and gathered to His name on the principle of the one body.
It is not a question now of having all together. The profession as a whole is in a state of failure, and when we find that the mass cannot be set right, our business is to have our own souls right, and to maintain for God the testimony for which we are all responsible. It has failed, but is not the less obligatory, for it has not yet been set aside, and consequently the responsibility of each individual saint to maintain it remains. It has been always the principle, as we may see, laid down in the prophets, and by the Lord Himself, that, though judgment has been pronounced upon a dispensation, until the dispensation be removed, the responsibility of the faithful is still to maintain the testimony for which the dispensation was designed. The prophets show this most clearly. They never set before the children of Israel a new path, but their call continually is to repent, and return to the path from which the nation had departed. “Ask for the old paths,” Jer. 6:16. So in chapter 22:8,9, the nations ask, “Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?” The answer is, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.” That is, they had abandoned the testimony originally committed to them.
Now, just one verse in the last chapter of the last prophet: “Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” Mal. 4:4. This is addressed to the returned remnant, to the very people of whose zeal and faithfulness we have been reading, but who had now gone backward. What is to be observed is, that here, in the latest days of the nation, there is no new testimony given; they are enjoined to return to that which they had from the very first.
I refer also to the example of the Lord Himself. He, being born a Jew, not only submitted to all the ordinances of the Jewish institution, but enjoined others to do so too, as we see in the cleansing of the leper (Matt. 8:4), and of the ten lepers (Luke 17:14). He directly teaches the same thing in Matthew 23:2,3: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works.” That is, He acknowledges that the thing is to be maintained so long as it is continued by God. But when judgment has been executed, and this form of testimony set aside by God Himself, all is changed. The place for testimony then is “without the camp,” and all who are for God must “go forth.” So Peter says, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation”; that is, saints are exhorted to leave the very thing which at a former time the Lord Jesus had urged them to maintain. In the one case the Lord was still living on the earth; in the other, He had died, having been rejected by the Jews, where the fate of the nation was sealed. But until this old dispensation was displaced by a new one, no fresh testimony was given.
Application of These Principles
Applying this principle then to our own time and circumstances, we see that the truth for us to maintain is, Christ and the Church, according to God’s original design. What we have to do is to seek, it may be in feebleness, but let it be in truth, to learn and to carry out the Lord’s will for the present time. The Lord being in the midst, and the Spirit free to work by whom He will, there will be authority, and edification, and blessing. The question for us is, Are we obeying God, and acting according to His mind? The Lord help us to look to our ways that they are thus subject to His will.
Those who are exercised as to the intricacies of the present, may be assured that there is a scripturally marked path which God will show to them, if they but wait on Him. My desire has been to present, however feebly and imperfectly, the principles which will guide a soul in seeking to find it out, and to walk in it. Let no one be satisfied with anything short of this. It is not enough to have the best thing going; faith looks for the very thing God has given in order to please Him, or even to satisfy the cravings of a heart that really desires to do His will.
“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Job 28:28.