The Testimony in the World
and other
Ministry by J. Collie-Smith
– Part One

When it came to the blessing of his sons, who were also shepherds, and who were an abomination to the Egyptians on that account, for they sought to promote and care for divine interests here,

• Jacob when blessing Joseph refers to "the Mighty One of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel", Genesis 49: 24.

• Looking down through the ages prophetically he locates the Shepherd of Jehovah's choice, the great antitype of all that had been seen in the ways of God under this heading.

Even David, standing out so distinctly in shepherd character, was but a finger-post pointing on to the incoming of Christ, the One who would fill out every divine idea under this designation,

• and who in the fulness of time would arrive here in this scene, officially representing God in entirety, every moral excellence fully seen in Him.

John 10: 11-18

Thus John, who predicates of Him that He is the Word become flesh tabernacling amongst us, introduces Him in the character of a shepherd; showing the greatness of the Person, and who He is, for John traces Him back.

• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".

• He does not allow any room for conjecture as to who He is, and although He is stated to be "the Word become flesh" dwelling amongst us, that in no wise brings about any deterioration as to He is in His Person.

• There is no change in His Person, though here in flesh and blood condition in manhood; "in the form of a servant", He is Son of God, a new relationship which He had never known before.

John would lay this firmly as a foundation in our hearts as he introduces Jesus in the character of a shepherd here, serving in relation to divine interests;

• he would give us at the very outset a sense of who He is and the greatness of the Person who is assuming this service in relation to divine interests

• in a world where those interests are exposed to the hostility of the enemy, where the sheep are held for the moment in bondage, without pasture and with no liberty;

• He comes into the fold by the divinely appointed way in order that He might establish contact with the sheep, the sheep of Jehovah's pasture.

As He speaks, as the shepherd addresses the sheep, the sheep are able to perceive that it is the shepherd's voice;

• "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me".

• They do not know any other voice; they do not know the voice of strangers; but they know the shepherd's voice.

• There is a richness of quality in the voice of the Good Shepherd that cannot be imitated by any other person.

• The voice of the shepherd carries its own distinctive accents, its own affectionate appeal, which the sheep are able to discern.

• That is a great thing, dear brethren; the youngest here values and cherishes the voice of Jesus as known in shepherd character.

It is a simple idea, but a very affecting one, for the shepherd who addresses Himself to the sheep is the owner of the sheep.

• He is not a casual worker; nor is He an hireling; the sheep are His own personal property, and on account of the link that exists between Him and the flock,
  • He is prepared at all times to throw Himself between the flock and the enemy.

• The wolves would scatter the flock, but the hirelings, those pretentious leaders who assume much, but do not really own the sheep and have no real shepherd care, are not prepared to sacrifice themselves for the sheep.

• They would flee at the appearance of the enemy; there was no real link between their hearts and the flock; but the Good Shepherd had a definite link between Himself and the flock.

• He knew every one, He could name every one, and each one individually had its own peculiar value in His eyes, and He was prepared to lay down His life for the flock without discrimination.

The flock in His eyes was such that He was prepared in His unselfish love to go to any length in serving it and to lay down his life for it.

• Does that not touch your heart, dear young believer, that the One who died for your sins and who disposed of all your liabilities lays down His life for you in another light?

• In a more intimate manner He lays down His life for the flock, and in so doing He furnishes an incentive for the Father to love Him,
  • "Therefore doth my Father love me".

• His Father loves Him because He lays down His life, and He laid down His life in view of the flock.

• Think of the unselfich love of the Lord Jesus who was prepared to go to that length, to die for the sake of the flock.

• John would impress us with this fact, that the Father has a great regard for the flock; that it represents His interest here on earth, as exposed to the hostility of the enemy,
  • and it gives us an inlet to the depth of affection which lies in the heart of the Lord Jesus for the flock

1 Peter 5: 1-4

With that in mind, I would pass on to the scripture which I read from first Peter. Peter, as you know, had companied with the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh.

• Peter stood at the head of the list in His selection of the twelve, and was habitually in the selction when the Lord narrowed down things on special occasions.

• Peter, therefore, like John, would have a very intimate knowledge of Christ; a very close acquaintance with Him,
  • and would understand in a vrey full measure the feelings of His heart as a shepherd, as seeing the Lord serve in this shepherd character here in His sojourn amongst men.

• He could relate many instances when he had watched the shepherd's heart in activity; he would see His hand go out in succour and see Him search for the straying sheep, for the Lord was constantly in that attitude as here in His shepherd service.

• All this would enter into the heart and mind of Peter; it would affect him, it would form him, that Jesus had been a model as a shepherd, just as he introduces Him in this epistle as a model, so that we should follow in His steps.

As He walked through this scene in the beauty and grace and evenness of His ways, yet in all the suffering that marked Him here,

• Peter would pass this on to those who had assumed shepherd care in regard to the saints.

• He himself had been a witness of the sufferings of Christ, a first-hand witness of these sufferings, and he was to be a "partaker of the glory" which followed the sufferings.

• As having all this moving his heart with spiritual feeling and emotion, Peter would appeal to those shepherds, to
  • "shepherd the flock of God, which is among you"

• to devote themselves to this work of shepherd care, and not to do it unwillingly ot grudgingly; not with any thought of recompense in a material way; nor were they to do it in a lordly way as lording it over God's heritage.

• They were not to have selfish ends in view in this great service of shepherding and feeding the flock of God. In this shepherd service they were to be
  • "models for the flock".

I believe, dear brethren, there is a great call for shepherds, and I would remark that in the gifts given from Christ ascended, in view of the ministry and the edification of the body, the teacher is coupled with the shepherd; "some shepherds and teachers".

• A shepherd's heart and feelings must permeate teaching; otherwise, if we develop at teaching attitude without this shepherd feeling entering into it, we shall become ministerial and official, and we shall be unable to establish contact with the flock.

• We must have Christ before us as our model. He knew the flock, He was acquainted with everyone, and I believe there is a great need at the present moment for those who will come forward, having Christ as a model,
  • to shepherd and to feed the flock of God, without having any selfish ends in view, having in measure the same unselfish model that actuated the Good Shepherd in all His service.

• It means that you must be on duty at all hours, that you must be ready to serve, not only in the daytime but extending, as it were, far into the night.

• It means that you are ready to sacrifice yourself, for the enemy is constantly moving in the direction of the flock, seeking to disturb and scatter it.

• How alert is the shepherd, his eye constantly scanning the flock! He knows the flock; he does not regard it as his own personal property to lord over it, but he has some sense of what the flock is to God.

• A shepherd of this kind has a deeply embedded in his affections what the flock is to the Great Shepherd of the sheep, and he is prepared to serve the flock at great personal discomfort.

The shepherd carries the brethren in his heart in this light, and particularly those who call in a special way for care, for a shepherd is prepared to lay down his life for the sheep, and to face the lion and to rescue like a shepherd "two legs, or the piece of an ear"; that is how far the shepherd will go.

• If there is anything left of that straying sheep which has been exposed to the wiles of the enemy, he follows it, such is the shepherd's heart, and he is prepared to rescue two legs.

• He is prepared to risk his life, prepared to face the lion in order to recover those legs, which, no doubt, would speak of movements that had once been in the path where Jesus is the model to follow.

• But it may be only the piece of an ear; a person may be gradually drifting, and the shepherd sees he is getting away from the flock; he observes that he is in a dangerous position, but even if it is but the piece of an ear that is left, he will rescue that from the mouth of the lion.

• Even if there is there is but a little hearing left in regard to divine matters, that person is worth going after; he is worth saving, and the shepherd is prepared to devote himself to that service.

• The shepherd does not say: 'There never has been much in him'. No, that is not the language of the shepherd; he is prepared at great personal cost, to save even a bit of any year.

I commend that to you, dear brethren, for I have no doubt that in this city, as in other cities, we have those who give concern, those who cause exercise, those who may be straying sheep.

• I am sure the Lord would help us and encourage us on the line of devoting ourselves to this work, so that there is recovery, and restoration to the flock, for
  • "there is one flock and one Shepherd".

• But as Peter would indicate, there are under shepherds subject to the direction of Christ as the Chief Shepherd in their work, for
  • "the words of the wise are as goads given from one shepherd", Ecclesiastes 12: 11.

• The words of the wise, spreading out amongst the brethren, are issuing from the one shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, and in that way, mediately, His own words are recognized and known and understood;
  • they are very effective, for how often His word reaches with straying sheep and the there is recovery and returning to Him who is the Shepherd and Bishop [i.e;, overseer] of our souls.

Acts 20: 28

I would pass on to the last scripture in the Acts of the Apostles. It is with design that I have linked these three outstanding vessels in the testimony, all converging on this great thought of shepherd service.

• Paul, as you know, stands in a somewhat different position from John and Peter, for they were numbered with the twelve,
  • but Paul received his light from the Lord Jesus glorified in heaven, for He spoke from heaven to Saul of Tarsus, one of those who had been most antagonistic to Christ.

• He was hostile to Jesus and went about persecuting His own and seeking to destroy the people of God for no other reason than the fact that they were like Jesus,
  • and you know how the Lord arrested him in that mission of disruption and how He appealed to him.

• He virtually said to Saul of Tarsus: 'You are persecuting Me', and I believe the impression gained then was never forgotten;
  • it became the foundation of all that was built up in his soul in the relation to the mystery; it was the initial thought of a suffering vessel here.

• That never was erased from the mind of Paul, and it entered into all his exercises, giving colour to them, and entered also into his more matured thoughts in regard to the truth.

You will understand that when he speaks of the flock, he is speaking to the elders from Ephesus, who he called over to meet him at Miletus.

• They had come from a city where Paul had served then faithfully, and where "he had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God" to them – it was really the climax in connection with his ministry.

• Just as in Corinthians the foundation is laid in connection with Paul's ministry, so in Ephesians we see the climax, the completion of his work in that sense.

These elders would stand out in a special way as representing fully developed assembly feelings and affections, and as having intelligence and ability to understand what the apostle would now allude to, as he called them to his side,

• charging them in relation to the great service which had devolved upon them as to the interests of God here, referring to their place as overseers, having been set there by the Holy Spirit.

• He would now charge them in regard to the flock which they are to shepherd, for they are to shepherd
  • "the assembly of God which he has purchased with the blood of his own".

• The apostle would invest the flock with his own special light.

• John speaks of the flock in his setting; Peter would speak of it according to his apprehension; but Paul would speak of it according to the great light which had shone from heaven into his soul, which gave colour to all his ministry.

• As he charges these elders he would have them to the shepherd the flock, to care for it, to protect it, to spend themselves, to give themselves unselfishly to the interests of God here, the flock constituting the greatest vessel that has ever been known on earth, for he designates it
  • "the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own".

• This gives us some idea of the value which the blessed God attaches to the flock. He could not find anything in the universe which could adequately express His feeling as to, and His interest in, this great vessel, short of "the blood of his own".

• The assessment of the value was His. Think of the purchase price! I cannot think of a more endearing term as letting us into the very feelings of the heart of God in regard to the assembly: "which he has purchased with the blood of his own".

So the apostle would go further and warn these elders as to what was coming in, for they would see his face no more, he was leaving them finally, but he indicates what they would encounter after his departure;

• grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the the flock, and indeed from amongst themselves men would arise speaking perverse things, all this being on the line of destroying, scattering and damaging the flock.

• The apostle with his feelings welling up, full of affection for Christ, for God and for the saints, would charge these elders to give themselves to this great work of shepherding, of feeding and caring for the flock; to be prepared, in the light of the assembly, to serve as knowing that great service of Christ:
  • "Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep".

• All Paul's own personal service in relation to the flock of God, in relation to divine interests here, was carried out with this thought constantly in his heart:
  • "the assembly which he has purchased with the blood of his own".

• This is not Christ's blood has connected with the judicial side, but the blood of His own as the great expression of God's love for the assembly.

God has great affection for the assembly, and our Lord Jesus has great affection for the flock, He has great affection for you.

• Everyone that goes to the composing all that flock is known to Him. God would stand by and help any who give themselves to the care of His flock, even if only in every small way.

• As a young brother or sister exhibits some care for a soul that needs help, how the Lord would value and develop it.

• Then the saints would take on an entirely difference appearance in our eyes; they would look different as we view them in the light of the purchase price that has been paid for them, and what the flock is to the heart of Christ, for He is serving it still.

• All His service in relation to the flock has been in view of the assembly, He "served for wife".

See Doctrine: The Gifts in Ephesians 4 for Mr. E. L. Bevir's interesting comments on the gift of "Pastor", i.e. shepherd.

Our Lord Jesus in building His assembly which would represent Him here took full account of the enemy's designs,

• for He was well aware that the enemy would dispute the ground, and that he would constantly rally his forces against the assembly, but He intimated at the very outset that the gates of hades could not prevail against it.

• All the scheming of the enemy cannot overthrow that which Christ builds, but on the side of the responsibilty of man
  • the enemy raided the territory and subjected the people of God to constant warfare, invading and carrying off that which belonged to them as their inheritance.

The history of the assembly will bear witness, particularly the letters to the seven assemblies in Revelation,

• which show how the assembly in its responsibilty as under the pressure of the enemy, has given way from time to time, surrendering valuable territory,
  • until we find that Thyatira represents how completely the whole outward position was corrupted, and from man's point of view there would be nothing left; everything gone but,

  • even there Christ had those with whom He could make contact and to whom He could appeal.

• Then after those many conflicts, in which so many valuable treasures hsd been lost, the Lord has been faithful, and the element of recovery appeared,
  • and the saints through warfare, no doubt, recovered some of those precious things which had been forfeited.

• For example, the Reformation in which the truth of justification, and other truths which had been lost, were recovered.

• Then in Philadelphia we have assembly revival, the most wonderful recovery of the great truth of the assembly as loved by Christ.

Just as these conflicts were spread over a protracted period, and the losses sustained were sustained not in one engagement but many,

• so the recovery of the truth and the recovery of the valuable property lost was not accomplished in one conflict.

Soon after the recovery of the truth bearing upon the assembly, we find it contested by the enemy,

• and those who valued the truth of the assembly were quickly to be tested as to whether they could hold the ground in the face of the opposition of the enemy.

• The conflict was severe, and it centred around the Person of Christ. It was an attack on the Person of Christ and the order of His manhood.

• That attack was repulsed, but not only repulsed, and it resulted in great spoil to the testimont and enrichment of the truth.

Then came a most subtle and severe conflict, not this time in relation to the manhood of our Lord Jesus, but in relation to "the body" which is the sequence to His manhood.

The cup is that of the New Covenant in His blood and also "the cup of blessing which we bless".

• The covenant is ratified by the blood of Christ, every article in it being sealed with His blood.

• In this cup we are also "given to drink of one Spirit", 1 Cor. 12: 13 – which conveys the idea of satisfaction and leads to a state of felicity.

The marital thought comes into the service in a general way from the outset, Zipporah having been brought to Moses – Exodus 18: 6 – just before the covenant was inaugurated – Exodus 19.

• She is said to be the wife of Moses and is a wilderness type of the assembly in responsibility, corresponding with 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, where fidelity is the test.

• The disorder in chapter 11 confirms the thought that it is the assembly, not in her attractive qualities, but in her public responsible relations to Christ. She is His wife.

• Paul, during his stay at Corinth espoused the assembly as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Then the more spiritual side of the marital bond is seen in Abigail, whose name means "source of pleasure".

• She is marked by beauty and discernment, and she is this before the marriage bond is entered upon.

• She has already been in relation to another man, but is freed by way of death.

• It is now the assembly attractively, the woman being the glory of the man.

Rebekah would give added features, for she is of the same lineage as Isaac and is in every way suited to the heavenly man, being of the same family stock and, as to herself, very fair – Genesis 24.

The first type of Christ's marital relations with the assembly is seen in Genesis 2, and this is the foundation of all other types, but rising to the highest thought,

• there being no past history and the woman being said to be "out of the man"; the body is of Christ.

• The foundational thought of the marriage bond "of twain one flesh" is union, which has been said to come close to inscrutability.

• The apostle in quoting the passage in Genesis says:
  • "This is a great mystery, but I speak as to Christ and as to the assembly".

• The light of all this is shed upon the section of the service spoken of as the reciprocated affections of Christ and the assembly.

There are other types such as Asenath, Pharaoh's daughter, and Achsah and the bride in Canticles, this book particularly supplying the language of lovers.

• It is not the thought that all these types should be referred to in the service on every occasion, nor is it a matter of merely using the names of the persons referred to in the types, but of
  • apprehending spiritually the features which each one presents, so that we may enter livingly into the feelings of the assembly in her relations with Christ.

• It is the assembly for Christ, the types giving a wide variety of thought to fill the affections.
  • He claims her for Himself – "a fountain sealed, a spring shut up", Canticles 4: 12.

All this, though proceeding in the wilderness setting as Canticles would show, is not, it must be remembered, wilderness experience, but is "in assembly".

• This furnishes a secluded spot for the expression of assembly affection, the bride being full of matter relating to her beloved.

• When he is speaking of her, she interrupts him to turn the flow towards himself – Song of Songs 7: 9.

• The bride is seen in the wilderness
  • "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?", Song of Songs 3: 6.

    Again: "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?", Song of Songs 8: 5.

• She is not yet in the land, but her face is in that direction.

Through these holy feelings which lie in the bosom of the assembly for Christ, He becomes consciously the Leader in the affections of the saints.

• Like Joshua, He is magnified in view of the people as about to go over Jordan. He is known in an inward way.

• The ark of the covenant is seen ahead of the people with 2,000 paces between them and the ark, and the ark goes into the Jordan alone, the priests who carry it being required to complete the idea, the ark having no movement in itself.

• The priests in this case do not represent the people, but complete the type which conveys to us objectively the glory of Christ as going into death in order to roll back its power and to make a way through for the people.

• The ark of the covenant stands in the midst of the Jordan, till the people are "clean passed over".

This leads us to the position of the assembly as

• "risen with Christ through faith of the working of God who raised Him from the dead", Colossians 2: 12.

• The saints take this status in their minds, and not till this point in assembly service, can the saints be consciously "risen with Christ" and in association with Him.

• We are silent in the power that works in us as seen in the opening verses of John 12, a worshipful spirit entering into the position where the consciousness of being "risen with Christ" is enjoyed.

• It is faith stressed in relation to power, not power in relation to faith as in Ephesians.
  • In "the new man", Christ is "everything and in all"   Colossians 3.

The assembly is wholly for God. It is the transference from the side of authority represented in Moses – and for us summed up in "the commandments of the Lord" –

• to the wholly spiritual side of the service to which Christ leads us.

• The type furnishes the thought of Moses, the mediator, bringing the people outside the camp to meet God – Exodus 19: 17.
  • They are taken outside their local encampments by the mediator.

• God is now known as having come in for His people in the death of Jesus, that being the ground upon which they stand before God as freed from darkness and bondage.

• This is not the sanctuary nor is it sonship or the brethren of Christ, but a people brought to God by the mediator.

• It is God known as for us as in the epistle to the Romans. This is touched on as we enter upon the full thought of the service of God in the relationship which divine counsel has designed.

In the dominical side of the service, the Lord Jesus only is addressed, and to this phase of the supper belong the marital affections and the glory of Christ as the ark and His being magnified in the crossing of the Jordan.

• All these thoughts are connected with the Lord Jesus, who is known as amongst us, having come to us in the emblems.
  • "He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread".

• This is Luke's side of the matter and connected with their midst as distinct from what John says:
  • "Jesus came and stood in the midst", John 20: 19.

    It is to be noted that He came where the disciples were.

• It is now persons, a masculine idea, not the assembly, which is always feminine, but persons whom John looks at as the subjects of the work of God.

• They are viewed abstractly, there is no failure, and no adjustment is needed.

• We are led by Christ as the leader of the praises and we come to the realisation of Hebrews 2: 1-12. He is now in the midst as "first born amongst many brethren"; they too being the "many sons".

• This is distinct from though closely allied with the feminine thought "of twain one flesh".

• In Hebrews 2 it is our partaking of His order of humanity as risen – "all of one".

Sonship is a greater thought than the assembly, which is subjected to Christ, for Christ has part in Sonship, although He has the pre-eminence as first-born,

• and we have part with Him in affection Godward, the counsels of God having so designed it.

• It is the answer to the feelings and desires of our Lord Jesus expressed in John 17:
  • "Father, as to those whom Thou has given Me, I desire that where I am they also may be with Me, that they may behold My glory which Thou has given Me, for Thou lovest Me before the foundations of the world".

• The assembly has become the sanctuary and, as has been said by another, it is a son who serves; He serves as a priest and He serves in the sanctuary.

• Although the assembly becomes the area in which the minister of the sanctuary carries on the heavenly service, this does not mean that the assembly is dissolved.

• It means that it has become the sphere of the divine presence. Indeed it is invested with divine glory as Ephesians 3: 21 would show –
  • "to whom be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages".

• Christ is head of the body, functioning in a hidden way in the affections of the assembly concurrently with His priestly service Godward as minister of the sanctuary,
  • but Headship should be known early in assembly service.

As the Leader of the many sons, He is on our side Godward, which gives us the thought of "part with me", in John 13.

• The Father as revealed in the Son is known.
  • "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father",

• grace being connected with the Father's name, known only in His traits as seen in Jesus, the Father being a limited thought, the relationship upon which we enter being subsequent to the revelation.

He is now known as our Father. "For through Him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father", Ephesians 2: 18.

• His love fills the hearts of the brethren of Christ and the sons of God.

• We have His part and His place conferred upon us when He says, "My Father and your Father".

• The Father's realm is entered upon with Him who is perfectly loved by the Father, who is perfectly loved by Him, the Father's name being made known
  • "that the love with which Thou has loved Me may be in them and I in them", John 17: 26.

• We stand alongside of Him as He says "My God and your God". We bow our heads and worship in this scene of holy delight,
  • going on in our thoughts to "the day of God", when He as fully known in the revelation of Himself in Christ, fills the whole scene,

    "God all in all", 1 Corinthians 15: 28.

The tabernacle of God is with men – Revelation 21 3.

• The bride, the Lamb's wife, is identified as the city, which is the feminine thought, and also as the tabernacle, which is also feminine.

• This would show that the feminine idea runs concurrently with the masculine in the service of God, being
  • the full Ephesian thought, where the body is seen as the complement of Christ, who is said to be

  • "Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all things",

• this being a primary thought of God and the fruit of divine counsel and purpose, but

• the great end reached is God tabernacling with men, which is the climax to the resolve "let us make man".
  • "He shall tabernacle with them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them their God".