Attitude to Other Believers
– C. A. Coates

Sadly, since the enemy's work in the insidious introduction of the legal system, in 1959 and following, that has all changed.

• A a bitter and haughty spirit has increasingly marked the attitude of those who claim to succeed the early brethren.

The following remarks by Mr. Coates – and others which we hope to add later – show clearly the generous outlook which originally, and for decades, marked the brethren – and which we and others seek to maintain.

G. A. R.

How blessed to review the wilderness as a place where the blessing and bounty of God have never failed, where His presence has been the sure pledge of the supply of every needed thing! Such an experience of God is surely the greatest possible encouragement to move boldly forward to the land of His purpose.

• Our Moses would lead us to take account, not only of the naughtiness and unbelief of our flesh, but of an infinite number of encouragements and blessings which have come to us through the faithfulness of our God, and which have evidenced His presence with us, and His care over us.

• Christ would remind us that we have not taken a step, or passed through a day of our wilderness history, that has not been marked by the care, bounty, and blessing of our God.

Then there were certain "brethren" who were not to be attacked – the children of Esau.

• They were not in the line of God's testimony, they had not known deliverance from Egypt as Israel had, nor what it was to have the tabernacle in their midst, nor the exercises of a people and priesthood identified with the movements of the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness.

• But they were to be regarded as "brethren" who had a portion assigned to them by God, and which they had occupied as a result of former conflicts in which Jehovah had destroyed certain enemies before them.

• This is deeply interesting and instructive, for there are those today who occupy precisely such a position. They are truly in family relationship with the people of God, and have promises of blessing –
  • for "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come", Hebrews 11: 20

• – and they hold territory which has been given to them by God, and gained through former conflicts and victories.

• But they have never really known deliverance from the world system, nor what it was to be identified with that divine system which was set forth typically in "the tabernacle of the testimony".

• The reformation was a great battle, and it resulted in certain territory being possessed. No spiritual person can doubt that the victory in that conflict was given by God, and the ground won from the enemy was an assigned portion given by God.

• We have to recognise this, and not to "attack" our brethren who hold that ground.
  • "They will be afraid of you; and ye shall be very guarded: attack them not".

This is very instructive as shewing the kind of spirit God would have in His people whom He is preparing to enter into the full thought which is in the purpose of His love for them.

• He teaches us to regard as "brethren" many who have a portion which comes very far short of what is in His heart for His people.

• But they have something, and what they have is to be recognised as a God-given portion; they are not to be attacked or distressed.

• Some of the sects no doubt arose in the first place from a genuine desire to resist the enemy, and to hold something that was felt to be of God.

• There was conflict, and in result something was held, though it was far short of what was in God's mind concerning the inheritance of His people.

• Whatever can be recognised as God-given is to be respected; there is to be no attempt to dispossess those who hold it.

• We are to regard them as "brethren" though they may be afraid of us; our great desire, indeed, should be that they might possess and enjoy the full wealth of all that is in God's purpose for His people.

• It is very striking that such an instruction should come in at this point, just when the conflict for the possession of the land is to be entered on.

• It shews the kind of spirit God would have to be in His people towards "brethren" who are not walking with them, and who are not really in the line of the heavenly calling or of the divine testimony.

We may recall, however, that these very people who were to be regarded as "brethren", and not to be attacked, shewed a very naughty and hostile spirit towards Israel. Numbers 20: 14-21.

• And later in the history they became active adversaries. 2 Chronicles 20: 10-11.

• When God brings His testimony into view, or causes His land to be possessed in any measure by His Israel, it becomes a test for the brethren who hold a portion which may have been God-given, but which is not the true or full thought of God for His people.

• And what comes out in the subsequent history shews that neither the children of Esau nor the children of Lot were sympathetic with what Jehovah was doing in and for Israel.

• Further movements of God, and especially the bringing out of His "whole counsel", test the "brethren", and, alas! they often awaken positive hostility.

• But if the "brethren" become hostile to what is of God they no longer have His support in holding what He may have given them in time past.

• Hence we find that the reformed Churches and the sects who, through past conflicts, did secure and hold something that was God-given, having now become hostile to the further spiritual movements of God, have lost their power to hold what was assigned to them by God in time past.

• They are being dispossessed by the enemy of all that they did hold from God, and in many cases hardly "so much as a foot-breadth" remains to them of what their fathers gained through conflict.

• Superstition and tradition on the one hand, and infidelity on the other, are rapidly stealing away from them all that they once had from God. It is the sad result, in the government of God, of an attitude of hostility to His truth and testimony as more fully developed by His Holy Spirit.

But we have to be "very guarded" not to "attack" any who are in possession of what is God-given, even though it may not be the full truth of the divine calling.

• God would not have us in a spirit of enmity against anything that is of Himself, wherever it may be. We do not want to forbid, or to minimize, anything that is of God. It is a comfort to know that our affections and prayers can go out to everything that is of God, even though it be not His full thought for His people.
  • So that we regard as "brethren" the whole company of God's children; they are our spiritual kindred.

• But the consciousness that we can regard affectionately and sympathetically all that is of God, wherever it may be, only intensifies the purpose of spiritual persons to stand wholly apart from what is of man.

God would have a spirit in His people which would tend to disarm the hostility of their "brethren", and to make His Israel an attractive people.

• Our brethren may be afraid of us, but we are to manifest a brotherly spirit towards them.

• Christians generally are feeling that the brotherly spirit is greatly lacking; family affections and spiritual fellowship are fast dying out of the decadent Christian profession.

• In the midst of such conditions God would maintain the truth and the brotherly spirit as an attractive rallying point for all the "brethren".

"Ye shall buy of them food for money, that ye may eat; and water shall ye also buy of them for money, that ye may drink; for Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand", Deuteronomy 2: 6-7.

• God's people are so wealthy through His blessing that they stand in no need of favours from any. They can move at their own charges; they come under no obligation either to the world, or to "brethren" who do not walk with then.

• It is sometimes thought that the "box" has not a spiritual character, and that it is an inferior item in the privilege and service of the saints.

• But if it speaks, as it surely does, of the love of the Lord's people, and of their practical care for His interests, it is not an inferior item to Him. And even on the side of meeting necessary expenses for rent, light, etc., it speaks of the dignity, and independence of the world, which marks the assembly of God.

• That assembly moves through the present scene as a heavenly stranger, coming under no obligation to anyone, but providing for its own needs at its own cost, out of resources which are the fruit of the blessing of God.

• It is a sad thing when Christians give the impression, as they often do, that they need the contributions or charity of those around them. It is a poor testimony to the wealth of a people who profess to be blessed by God.