IT is the last portion of this chapter that I just want to lay before you: " They sought again to take him; but he escaped out of their hands, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode." And I would refer you to verse 28 of Luke 7 " For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John;" and, in verse 35, " Wisdom is justified of all her children."
You see the thing that we have often noticed, and cannot notice too often, is, the thing that characterizes the sheep, and that is, that they hear the voice of the Shepherd (the true sheep of the Shepherd, at all events). Then the answer to that is, " I know them." They are, moreover, known of Him, and it is a higher thing for Him to know them, than for them to know Him; and their answer to this is, they follow Him. That is the real attitude of the sheep of the pasture, of the sheep upon earth; nothing can be more blessed, more distinct, more concise, or more separate. It is entirely outside of all organizations or confederations, or the results of the ideas or thoughts of men.
It is a company separated by faith, and faith is the link; faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word: therefore it is a following of the Shepherd, the result of hearing the voice of the Shepherd. It is very distinct, very marked, very blessed, and unmistakable. We would not, of course, make any limit to that in any company, in the form of a sect, or such like, but any sheep, no matter where he is; but there is nothing so blessed as the sensitiveness of the ear that hears the voice, and follows Him. The thing is not only to hear the voice, but to act on it, and follow.
Then, in verse 28, comes in, " I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." There is the security of the place, and we must take in every sheep, but the effect of hearing is following. Many may hear, yet they do not know, perhaps, the security, because they have not acted upon it: the sense of the gift is lost sight of, yet there is security, perfect security, nevertheless. When the voice is not continuously heard, they lose sight of the gift; therefore we find uncertainty in the soul so rife amongst Christians; they do not know the voice, because they have not acted on it in following.
"I give eternal life, and they shall never perish." You see the security, notwithstanding the adverse circumstances and opposing forces. The opposition of the enemy lies in the previously occupied ground, and all this is a displacing power, because it takes you out of human organizations. The Shepherd is not in the organizations and the order of the world, and the people that hear are entirely outside too. The old religion that occupies the ground, therefore, is displaced, and is nowhere, so to speak, and that raises opposition on its part, urged on by the enemy. Those to whom the word of God came, those who were administrators of the word, were called " gods;" how much more Him whom "the Father hath sanctified," and Him they called a blasphemer, and sought to stone!
Well, then comes what I wanted to call your attention to more especially. We come to another order of things: lie leaves that part, and goes " where John at first baptized, and there abode." Now we move into smother place altogether. We find a gathering-place entirely outside of what we had before. The Gatherer is removed, the Gatherer is not where He was, and we have got to seize hold of that, and what is so marked, is, He went beyond Jordan; that is, the other side of the river, and that is of all importance. We shall not find ourselves truly gathered, except on the other side of the river. If our souls have not gone through the river, we shall find the outward gathering-place is rather a source of stumbling to our souls, and nowhere will you find such discomfort. We are not gathered here rightly on earth, if our souls have not gone through the river.
In Rev. 5 all have crossed the river then. The Lord Himself has crossed the river; He has passed through death; He is alive there, and there is no living Christ, except across the river. He is alive for evermore and where? The other side of the river. A powerful truth. We shall not carry the clothes of this world on the other side of the river, we shall all be clothed with incorruytibility.
When the pressure came upon Him, He quietly retired to the only place on earth He could retire to-across the river. There He abode, and many resorted unto Him there. That brings in what comes home to our souls -'—the justifying of God. The justifying in that day was the baptism of John; the baptism of John made an end of all distinctions, and all the pride of the Pharisee, and the Sadducee, and the lawyers, and the scribes. Baptism was the mark that justified God; that was the mark that gave them a standpoint; the thing that gave the ground was not being scribe or Pharisee, lawyer or Sadducee, or being this, that, or the other, or being men of mark (it does not do to be men of mark); the thing that marked any here, was, that they came to be baptized of John, confessing their sins, which justified God, and that is the real thing; to justify God, that is what God puts His seal to. There are different ways of justifying God. I do not justify God now by baptism, but I do by confessing myself a sinner, and lost, but in their case it was -coming to John, and the result was, God was justified, and calls that wisdom, and them, " wisdom's children."
The Shepherd leaves the existing circle, being pressed out of it, and goes over the river, and gathers there, and there abides. It is only for us to abide where He abides, And that is the secret for our souls, waiting the next step; in the meantime praising His name for His goodness in gathering us here-over the river, and that is, having the " sentence of death in ourselves." W. B.