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SPIRITUAL  ELEMENTS  ESSENTIAL
IN  LOCALITIES
1 Samuel 2: 18-19; 3: 1-4, 10-21; 7: 8-10, 15-17; 16: 1-3, 12-13
Address at Perth, W.A., August 2, 1947
Christianity as Characterised by Mystery: 281-294

A. J. Gardiner, 1884-1975+

I believe, dear brethren, the history of Samuel presents certain spiritual elements which are essential in any locality for the prosperity of the testimony there, and shows how they may develop from small beginnings.

The elements that I refer to are,

  1. firstly, what is priestly;

  2. then secondly, the prophetic word;

  3. thirdly, power with God in prayer and calling on His Name;

  4. fourthly, the element of spiritual judgment;

  5. and then finally the power to bring Christ in so that He acquires the place among God's people that He should have.

I think we can see that all these elements are of great value in any locality, and there is no reason why they should not be present, for the days in which Samuel is introduced were about as bad as they could be.

Priestliness

But then, before God brought in David, there was this previous history having its rise in the exercises of a godly woman named Hannah.

But it was in the presence of such conditions that Hannah had her exercises, her husband apparently satisfied to go on with what was formal; the yearly sacrifice was quite sufficient for him, so that he could hardly understand Hannah's exercise that she could be content with nothing less than a son.

Now this is a most important matter for us to bear in mind, beloved brethren, and it is always open to us to ask of God. Samuel represents what is brought in on the basis of asking of God, so that whatever needs may disclose themselves in a locality, whatever falling short there may be in the actual answer to the truth, there is always open to us this avenue of asking of God.

That is the first thing to be considered in any locality: what is priestly, what will minister to the pleasure of God, not doing it in a merely formal way, but as having the moral conditions that the service of God requires, because it says that Samuel was girded with an ephod of linen.

That is always a principle with God, and I would urge upon the young brothers and sisters to start young in considering what is pleasing to God so as to develop in what is priestly.

So it says that Samuel's mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year. How important this maternal element is in any company, the element that, as having already considered for God, will watch the growth of that which is young in the company.

The Prophetic Word

In 1 Samuel 3 we find that it says, "the boy Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli".

In chapter 3 the Lord honours Samuel and calls him by name, saying,

So God is honouring Samuel. Jehovah came, and stood, and stood means took up His stand deliberately. He was standing in relation to Samuel.

So it is important for the young to face these things; it is a question of understanding what the privilege of our position is, that through grace we are found in separation from evil around, and in a place where the truth is known; and the question is, What are we going to do with it?

Jehovah was not sparing Samuel, so to speak; He was making him feel the seriousness of having to do with God, for there is to be no trifling with the holiness of God. With a sense of that, Samuel is to speak with spiritual power.

And it says, "Samuel grew", chapter 3: 19. How encouraging all these statements are in the early chapters, the Spirit of God taking account of the growth that was going on, starting with what was small.

What is needed is the prophetic word. It says in the prophet Hosea,

All our desires for ability to prophesy should be prompted by desire to see the saints prosper and to promote the pleasure of God in His people. If that is the basis of our desires, we may desire earnestly that we may prophesy.

Now Scripture shows that sisters also may prophesy, and that they may have their part in conveying the mind of God.

At the end of 1 Samuel 3 we find that the mind of God is now being manifested, and what is priestly having been secured and being maintained, this element of prophesy is greatly increased.

Power with God in Prayer and Calling on His Name

In chapter 7 we find that what comes to light is the power that Samuel had with God. In the beginning of the chapter he had told the people to apply their hearts to Jehovah to serve Him only, and He would deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines.

He heard Samuel; the Spirit of God is stressing Samuel. If we are prepared to start with what is priestly, and go on growing in that, and seeking the pleasure of God in His people, what may not result from it? It says,

In the Scriptures, Samuel is remarkably honoured hundreds of years afterwards; according to the prophet Jeremiah, it is recorded that Jehovah said to Jeremiah,

In Psalm 99 he is mentioned also,

Spiritual Judgment

Then in the end of the chapter Samuel comes before us as marked by spiritual judgment, a most important feature in the assembly.

So it says that "Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel",

So Samuel went from year to year and judged Israel.

Then he judged also in Mizpah. The meaning of Mizpah is 'Witness', and in Genesis 31 Laban says,

Then, finally, it says, "his return was to Ramah; for there was his house, and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar to Jehovah".

The power to bring Christ in so that
He acquires the place among God's people that He should have

In chapter 16, I think Samuel represents another element. I do not go into the detail of that chapter, but it is particularly occupied with a locality, that is, Bethlehem. It is in view of conditions pleasing to God being found in Bethlehem.

Samuel was to go to Bethel to anoint to Jehovah a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, to anoint the king He had provided.

The idea of sacrifice to Jehovah was to be set before the elders of Bethlehem. Every true believer would respond to the idea of considering for God, and providing conditions pleasing to God in his locality,

One has often referred in this connection to the way Paul moved in relation to the Corinthians, bringing in the commandment of the Lord to correct the conditions that were there, but also sending Timothy, who, he said,

I think the history of Samuel is of great interest to us as showing what spiritual elements may be brought in for the help of the saints in any company, arising out of what is priestly.

May the Lord encourage us to go in for these things, for His Name's sake!

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OUR  OUTLOOK  IN  CLOSING  DAYS
2 Timothy 4: 6-11; Ephesians 3: 8-21; Philippians 3: 12-14
Address at Auckland, November 27, 1947

I have read these three scriptures, dear brethren, because I wish to call attention to what was engaging the mind of the apostle Paul as he was approaching the end of his course here, for, as we know, he was the minister of the assembly, and I think it is right to say that

2 Timothy 4: 6-11

I have begun with the second epistle to Timothy, because that gives us the public position, that is to say the position of suffering.

So we read in Revelation 19: 7, "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready";

The apostle is triumphant in this fourth chapter of second Timothy. He says,

He reminds Timothy, that God "has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings", 2 Timothy 1: 9-10.

Then he goes on to mention various individuals. It is a serious matter to take account of, dear brethren, that when the testimony of our Lord is in question individuals come into view, and they are tested, and made manifest as to what they are, according to how they have stood in relation to the testimony of our Lord.

But then, on the other hand, Paul can point to one who was with him.

Then Mark was profitable for the ministry. How is it that he was serviceable? He had once been unserviceable, unprofitable, but now he is serviceable. How is it he has become serviceable?

So, dear brethren, before I leave this passage, what one has in mind is that in the rigours and testings of the outward position what is needed is true manhood.

Ephesians 3: 8-21

In reading this passage in Ephesians what I had in mind was to point out that, as nearing the end of his course, Paul tells us that he is concerned about the mystery and about enlightening all as to it, and then moreover, having said that, he tells us how he prays in relation to it.

But before that he speaks to us about the mystery, and the grace given to him to announce among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things.

I do not say that we are likely to have Paul's intelligence of it, but at the same time he wanted them to know the intelligence that he had, in order to show that it is not beyond the range of the saints.

There is here on earth – and I say again, we ourselves are part of it – that which is God's masterpiece in wisdom and love, a company drawn out from the nations, knit together, bound together in the power of the Holy Spirit in love amongst ourselves, and

God has used all the moral confusion in the world, brought in by the lawlessness of man, with Satan behind it, to further this great interest of His here on earth.

After the apostle has spoken about this, and note, he was in a prison, though the conditions may not have been quite so rigorous when he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians as they were when he wrote the second epistle to Timothy, but he tells us he was a prisoner;

Having said all that, Paul tells us that he bows his knees. Why does he say that? Is it not that we should bow our knees?

And so Othniel had to overcome the city of the book. He moved in energy because he wanted to have Achsah, and if we want to have the assembly, so to speak, and the assembly as the wife, what she is to Christ,

Some of us have been together these last three days, and I think we have had a taste of the southern land which God has given us, a good land indeed.

So Paul tells us that he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The Father's Spirit will give us something of the Father's thoughts, and the Father's feelings in regard to Christ, and the Father's intentions in relation to Christ in giving Him the assembly,

And so the apostle prays that "the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts".

But then the apostle gives us this wonderful example, he tells us that in the light of these great things, he bows his knees to the Father.

Philippians 3: 12-14

Just a word now in closing, on the third of Philippians, because there we find Paul also at the close of his course, for he is ready to be offered, or rather as he says in chapter 2,

It is a wonderful thing, beloved brethren. If we have it before us, I think it will help us to renounce everything that would attach any kind of importance to us as in the flesh, or minister to self-gratification in any form.

Paul understood that God was using everything in his circumstances to further the work in him of moral conformation to Christ. He would accept everything with that in view.

Paul says, "I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing – forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus".

Well, that was what I had in mind, dear brethren, that what was governing the mind of Paul as he neared the end of his course, might be found governing us also.

May the Lord grant it for His Name's sake.

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SITTING
Luke 8: 35; 10: 38-42; 1 Chronicles 17: 16-27
Address, Place and Date Unknown

I wish to call your attention to three persons who are recorded as sitting. In the first two cases sitting at the feet of Jesus, and in the third case sitting before Jehovah.

  1. First of all, the feature of moral excellence as taking character from Christ, seen in subjection and being clothed;

  2. then secondly, the feature of intelligence, which, I think, is what is in view in Mary;

  3. and then thirdly, the feature of the spirit of worship. I think God would look for all this in the assembly.

In each case, as I say, the person is spoken of as sitting – a spiritual habit which we need to cultivate – the ability to sit; not listlessly, nor self-indulgently, nor self-complacently, but sitting in subjection, and at the same time, in alertness. That is a thing to be cultivated.

While the Lord Jesus Himself is presented to us as sitting, it is not quite in the same way as it applies to us. In the case of the Lord Jesus, His sitting position speaks of exaltation, and of the completion of what He has done.

Now to come to these three. As I said, we do not want to get the idea of sitting, as applying to ourselves, in any listless or self-indulgent way.

Luke 8: 35

Now the first of the three who are sitting according to God is the demoniac, or rather the man out of whom the legion had departed; he sets forth the first results of the teaching of grace. He had been brought into touch with the Lord Jesus.

Now it may be an elementary thing to say, but it is well to understand that none of us is a free agent, nor is it intended that we should be.

Now this man was there; he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. It says in Romans 6 that we were the bondmen of sin, but

God has brought in, in Christ, a Man great enough in His own moral excellence to transform everyone brought into touch with Him.

I know this is fundamental, but I would urge it upon you, and young believers especially.

Christ "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works", Titus 2: 14.

The Lord reminds us of these things, counteracting what comes to light in our hearts by what is resident in Himself.

God wants His assembly to be composed of persons who have taken on the features of Christ and of no other – this is essential.

This man in Luke 8 is found sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and sensible. I do not think that supposes a large measure of intelligence, but that his mind is in the right direction.

A bondman is completely yielded to the person to whom he is bondman. As yielding ourselves,

Luke 10: 38-42

Well now, when we come to Luke 10 we have an advance on chapter 8, and I believe intelligence is more particularly in view in this chapter.

Well, one cannot dwell on the chapter now, but an important point is that we are to rejoice that our names are written in heaven, verse 20.

In the beginning of the next chapter we have the Lord praying in a certain place, showing the great place that prayer has in this matter, but in between we get this little incident as to the house of Martha, and Mary in it, and what the Lord commends. It says,

The word of Jesus is what comes to us, maybe through the local brethren, through gifts the Lord raises up, or through what is published, but the thing is, to be characterised by listening to the word of Jesus.

Now the apostle, in writing to the Thessalonians, draws attention to that feature that was lacking in them, and says,

If in any degree we have become marked by the features of the man in chapter 8, let us see to it also that we seek to take on this feature of characteristically listening to the word of Christ, that we may become intelligent in the mind of God,

1 Chronicles 17: 16-27

Now when we come to Chronicles we have depicted what is greatest. I can only touch on it for a moment, but it says,

Well now, David as having in his heart to build the house, but being told he must not do it, goes and sits before God.

When we apply this idea to ourselves, I have no doubt we find the answer in Ephesians. If the answer to Luke 10 is in Colossians, the answer to this is in Ephesians where we find the apostle in a spirit of worship; and what is causing the worship?

The glory of redemption has shone out –

There has been a display of holiness, righteousness, grace; there has been a display of mercy and of power, in bringing in everything on the platform of resurrection, and we, as taken up according to divine purpose

That surely, dear brethren, is our portion –

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THE  GOVERNMENTAL  WAYS  OF  GOD
Galatians 6: 7-9; 2 Chronicles 15: 1-9; 2 Chronicles 16: 7-10
Word at a Ministry Meeting, Australia, 1947
Christianity as Characterised by Mystery: 164-171

It was in my mind to say a word in regard of the government of God, not only as against those who do evil, but more especially to emphasise that it is in favour of those who do well. Perhaps we do not always bear this in mind in speaking and thinking of the government of God.

In Ezekiel 1 the prophet is given to see a vision, and a vision which conveys that in an indirect and unseen way God is exercising control over what is moving on the earth.

The thought of the government of God is a very salutary and sobering thought but an encouraging one if we are prepared to go on with what is good. The apostle says,

In 1 Timothy we have a similar thing where the apostle says,

I read the scripture in Galatians to draw attention to this great principle of God's government which is always operating in relation to each one of us individually, and it is well for us to face it,

Now I refer to the reign of Asa, as recorded for us in 2 Chronicles, as rather enforcing what I have in mind, and that too as relating to the people of God as going on together,

So the prophet Oded says, "Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him he will forsake you", 2 Chronicles 15: 2.

The second book of Chronicles is remarkable in this way that it does not only record history, but constantly gives us the moral bearing of it,

In 2 Chronicles 16 Asa is again threatened, and this time he does not turn to the Lord but turns to the king of Syria and at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa.

Alas, Asa was wroth and had the seer put in prison, and oppressed some of the people;

How different is the case of Jehoiada the priest. He was not a king but a priest, but it says,

I only wanted to say that for our encouragement. We have to face as long as we are here that the government of God goes on inexorably without partiality, affecting every one of us,

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THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  IN  JOHN'S  WRITINGS
Revelation 1: 4-6; 1 John 5: 6-8; John 14: 15-20; Revelation 22: 16-17
Address at Edinburgh, 1953 with S. McCallum.

I wish to present to you, dear brethren, certain particular lights in which the Holy Spirit is presented in John's writings.

We might enlarge upon the place that the Holy Spirit has in the various epistles, and yet it will be found that John's writings give the Holy Spirit a place and present Him in certain lights which are peculiar to John.

Now I start with John's letter to the seven assemblies. The fact that he is writing to seven local assemblies shows that he has in mind not merely the statement of the truth in a kind of doctrinal way, but that there should be an answer to the truth.

What a great thing that is, beloved brethren. We read in Isaiah 59: 19,

John puts the Spirit before the Lord here, and I believe for this reason, that he would establish us first of all in the sense that the Spirit, who is God Himself, is here to carry the testimony right through in power that cannot be overcome.

I need not enlarge on the doxology that immediately follows. It is a touching thing, beloved brethren, that when God is presented, or the Lord Jesus, in the scriptures we so often get these doxologies.

What I really had in mind is the way the Spirit is presented in John's writings, and so there is this remarkable expression, the seven Spirits before the throne.

Before I proceed, let me just allude to what is well-known, how at the end of each of the seven addresses to the assemblies we have the word,

Perhaps one could just add in relation to what we have been saying as to the Spirit presented as power to support the rights of God – as the brethren will remember – in the 12th chapter of Luke the Lord is contemplating the saints having to appear before rulers or authorities and to give an answer in respect of their faith.

Now coming to John's epistle, this has not in mind our public position in testimony, but our enjoyment consciously of eternal life. The apostle is speaking of Jesus the Son of God.

I come now to this well-known passage in the 14th of John's gospel, because it is a most affecting one, and is intended to establish us in personal appreciation of the Comforter.

He not only says that the Spirit should dwell with us and be in us, but then he comes down to what should be known, known objectively by virtue of the Spirit being with us. He says,

One more word and I close. We have this well-known passage in the last chapter, where the Lord presents Himself:

The Spirit and the bride say, Come. It seems to me that this scripture brings together the two aspects that we had before us in the previous scriptures.

Well, beloved brethren, I trust what one has said may stimulate our interest in all that the Spirit is prepared to be to us in these closing days,

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