Having covered the ground in general survey and main
outline we are now able to begin to work more closely on the spiritual aspect
of those things. We want to come into closer touch with our title in its
meaning, that is, "The testimony and its vessel unto the time of the end."
I want to just touch one or two fragments of this book
before we go on. Daniel 1:21: "And Daniel continued even unto the first year
of king Cyrus." Try and keep that in mind, for it is a very important
statement. Daniel 7:9-11: "I beheld till thrones were placed and one that was
ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his
head like pure wool: his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof
burning fire," etc., 7:13-14,22: "...and the time came that the saints
possessed the kingdom." 7:18: "But the saints of the Most High shall receive
the kingdom..." 7:27: "and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole
heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High..." 10:1,
12:13: "But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and shalt
stand in thy lot at the end of the days."
We have been saying that this book reveals that throughout
an extended period of this world's history, known as the "Times of the
Gentiles," the heavens are in operation in relation to a vessel of the
testimony of the Lord, and that inasmuch as the heavens are in operation in
that connection, hell is also stirred up and is tremendously active in the
same direction.
The Mighty Significance of the Insignificant
Now what we have to see is not only that vessel, but how it
fulfills its ministry in relation to the Lord's testimony in this time. And
that vessel, we have said, is represented in this book by Daniel and his three
companions. There are these two things; the world, under Divine planning,
governed by Gentile powers, for the most part hostile to the Lord,
antagonistic to the Lord's purposes, but in the midst thereof that which is
related to the Lord and His purpose, and joined to the heavens - through which
the heavens are ruling in the midst of the kingdoms of men; and what comes out
in this book of Daniel very clearly is, that while the Gentile power is
operating, and operating strongly, in opposition to God, God is imminent in
His instrument and that instrument is really ruling in the midst of the
world-powers and bringing in that which speaks of the superior and
transcendent government of the heavens. Now that is a very simple statement,
but it has bound up with it tremendous things for us and for the people of
God.
It is no small thing to see that right there in the heart
of the great dominating world system, the organised systems of this world
governing the earth, there is a small thing, out of proportion to that system
in its natural constitution, which so represents the supremacy of the heavens
over the earth that although that world system goes just as far as it can, and
the spiritual forces back of it, to bring to an end that apparently small and
insignificant thing at its centre, it is said of that, firstly, that it
continued unto the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, continued unto then; then
there is seen that testimony right at the end of everything, the last thing
when the pageant or the empires has passed, mighty empires rising, having
their day, dominating, waning, passing; and they have all come and they have
all gone and they have spent themselves to the full, the instrument of that
testimony stands at the end of the day: "Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the
end of the days." And then withal the kingdom handed to the saints of the Most
High and they take the government. That instrument, that vessel, is no
insignificant thing; it may appear to be to the natural eye, comparatively
from human standpoints it may be a mere nothing, but it is the instrument of
heaven's rule and government and it is something which is greater than all the
world-powers with all the satanic forces behind them.
Now that is saying immense things, beloved, immense things.
Do you catch something of the application of that yourself? Do you realise and
recognise that you in all the weakness, the feebleness, the poverty, the
insignificance of your own personal life, your own human constitution, your
position, if vitally, truly spiritually linked in with God's eternal purpose
in and concerning His Son Jesus Christ, chosen in Him before the foundation of
the world, called by grace and having responded to that call, a partaker of
the heavenly calling, you are moving with God in the Holy Ghost, if that is
true of you then you are a part of that vessel through which the government of
the heavens is being made manifest in the unseen, and vitally related to the
course of this world's history, giving significance to all the happenings of
the course of this world; that you are spiritually what Daniel and his three
companions were in Babylon. What was that? The vehicle, vessel, instrument,
for showing that God and the kingdom of the God of the heavens is a mightier
thing than all the force and power of men and devils combined. That is no
small calling for you or for me, we are in that, and mark you, that involves
this - if my interpretation of the Scripture is right (and there is a great
deal more than the book of Daniel with which to support it) - it involves
this, that when the Devil has done all that he can do, and men have done all
that they can do against us, that testimony which we represent is going to
abide to the end and we are going to stand upon the wreck and ruin of all the
world empires triumphant in that testimony in Christ, indestructible. Let them
kindle the fires seven times, let them starve their lions! Now this is not
romancing, this is the meaning of the issue of the testimony in the power of
Christ's resurrection. That is the thing you and I are called unto, the power
of His resurrection, which is to have its final manifestation in a company who
have conquered death, and the authority of death, or in whom the Son of God
has conquered death. That is the meaning of the fire and the Son of God in the
midst.
Oh, that something of that might just dawn upon you, for we
are here today in no small thing. Tremendous things have gathered us here at
this time and there is a very great deal of history back of our being here.
Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus. When
was that? Open your book of Ezra and how does Ezra begin? "Now in the first
year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of
Jeremiah might be accomplished Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of
Persia." What did he do? Gave command for the return of the Jews to their
land, opened the way and facilitated the return of the remnant, the recovery
of the testimony. Daniel continued unto then. He must have been an old man,
but that very fact is a declaration which spites hell, for Babylon sought to
engulf Daniel.
Hell's Hatred of the Vessel of Testimony
The powers of evil back of Babylon marked Daniel out for destruction. Oh,
you can see it. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream, sent for all his wise men to
interpret - no one could, impulsively he commanded that they all should be
destroyed, and it says: "And they sought Daniel and his companions to be
slain." That means Daniel was a marked man by those who had this power in
their hands. Why does it say: "And they sought Daniel and his companions to be
slain." Well, he was not one of the Chaldean or Babylonian wise men or
magicians, but they included him and his friends. They had not asked him if he
could interpret the dream, they had not given him a chance, but they sought to
kill him. You see the impulsiveness of hell back of that, to get four men who
had not been given a chance, to kill them, to sweep them in, to stampede this
whole thing in order to get those four men. That is what Herod did; he swept
in all the babes in order to get one. That is what Pharaoh did. This is hell's
method, just to get one, to engulf the vessel of the testimony.
We know the fiery furnace and the den of lions. We know from this book of
the animos in the hearts of men toward these. How they were scheming
and designing so that they could entrap them, catch them, get rid of them. How
they gloated over the signing of that command by the king which could not be
cancelled and had to go through when Daniel was caught. How they gloated over
it. "Now we have got him." Well, that is there coming from the spiritual
background, but: "Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."
Why is that added just there? Why is that put in? Is that only just a little
bit of historic information thrown in for narrative? No, the Holy Spirit is
saying something tremendous. Daniel continued. Then when all this is passed,
they have done their worst: "and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the
days." The vessel of the testimony will be there when all else is spent. It
continues unto the end; it is indestructible, it is of the nature of the
permanence of heaven. It does not mean we may not die, although we may not be
executed - but never was a vessel of the testimony more alive than the Apostle
Paul today. He was executed. He will stand in his lot at the end.
This is a spiritual principle, a spiritual truth, and the point that I am
seeking to get at is this, beloved: there has got to be something in our
relationship to heaven and God's specified purpose which makes possible the
manifestation of that mighty, devil-conquering life in us. We have got to know
the power of His resurrection. That is essential to the vessel of the
testimony at the end time, unto the end, to get through to the end: it means
that we must be that in which the power of His resurrection is manifested.
That is not merely an obligation, that is a privilege. It is a costly
privilege, but that is what the Lord needs.
I am always so glad of that correspondence between Paul and
his Lord, that when the Lord Jesus came to die He said: "I lay down my
life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again. This commandment received I from my Father." When the Apostle Paul came
to the end he did not say: "Now I am going to be taken hold of and they are
going to kill me, and I shall not be able to help myself." He quietly,
serenely announced: "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." There is no
surrendering to fate in that. There is no capitulating to the hands of men in
that. There is, as it were, a quiet, deliberate walking out in the recognition
that the Lord's time had come and not man's. Now there is a correspondence
between Paul and his Master, but note, Paul is in representation the vessel of
the testimony in this age. The testimony of Jesus was peculiarly placed within
that vessel in a representative way. We have often said Paul personally
embodied all the special revelation which was entrusted to him, he became a
personal sign of that revelation. The truth which was committed to him from
heaven had a specific outworking in his own life and experience because he had
got to represent the Church in this age in himself as the vessel
of its unveiling, and the issue of the Church in this age is the expression in fullness, of the power of Christ's resurrection as triumphant over death in
translation, not by the grave but by the air.
"Oh, joy! oh, delight! should we go without dying;
No sickness, no sadness, no dread, and no crying."
We have sung that: that is the prospect for the Church, that is the
glorious possibility, no! that is the certainty, as the final issue, but
that represents that death is robbed finally of its power, that the power of
His resurrection is manifested in eluding the grave and depriving death of its
object. That is Enoch. But Paul represented that, and his last utterances are: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection"; yes, true: "and the fellowship of his sufferings," that is Daniel and the others. "The
power of his resurrection" not as something just at the beginning of his
Christian life and walk, but something at the end. And not as something merely
to deliver him with all others in a general resurrection from the grave, but
in a specific out-resurrection from among the dead. That is the testimony of
the Church, a vessel for that. Paul represented that specific thing for the
Church in this age. Daniel continued and Daniel stands in his lot at the end.
Have you grasped the principle that is implied in that? A wonderful thing.
But
beloved, you and I are called even now - though we may die, we may go by the
grave - yet now, at this end time, you and I are called to be a part of that
vessel in which the power of His resurrection is manifested, that the
murderous plottings of hell are eluded, are overcome, and that the murderer
who comes out to destroy before the Lord's purposes are accomplished shall be baffled by the power of His resurrection in us. When we ought to have been
dead a dozen times we are still alive. Yes, the Lord wants an adequate
vessel for that, not one, two, or three scattered here and there, but an
adequate vessel for that; and He is seeking that. In relation to that we are
here. You and I must not accept death until the Lord tells us the time has
come. If we do, we open the door for the enemy to triumph. (Many of you do not
understand that. If you do not, do not worry about it, but ask the Lord to
give you the essential thing of what we are saying.)
Now that all comes out of that statement: "Daniel
continued." Daniel stands at the end. The vessel is there when all has been
done to see that the vessel should not be there. The testimony is there - goes
on unto the end. But we have to see something more about such a vessel.
The Nature of the Vessel's Present Ascendancy
We have to see the nature of the ascendancy of that vessel.
In this present age it is true that the vessel is called to be in a state of
ascendancy, in a place of government, now, a place of dominion if you like,
ruling. But its government, its ruling, its dominion in this age is not the
same as it will be in the age to come. It is going to rule. There is another
sense in which the kingdom will be given to the people of the saints of the
Most High, then it will be literal government, literal dominion, it will be
recognised and acknowledged, it will be universally manifested, the accepted
order. It is not that now, that hardly needs saying; and yet the principle is
to be just as true now as it will be then. But the nature of the government
now is not literal, but moral. Now I explain what I mean by that by
illustrating from this book of Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar is that head of gold. God had given him a
kingdom, the greatest of all those world's kingdoms; every other dominion
that followed was a step of deterioration. Silver, brass, iron, clay. A drop
in value all the way through; but Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire
was the most glorious of all empires, and God had given it to him. Daniel
and his three companions are in the centre of that, and I ask you, who rules,
Nebuchadnezzar or Daniel? When no one could help the king out of his
difficulty over his dream and eventually Daniel came in, it says: "Then
Daniel answered before the king." Why? Because he had already been before the
King of kings. If you follow him in before Nebuchadnezzar you are moving in an
atmosphere of dignity, quiet confidence and assurance. From the very first
step, as we pointed out before, when Daniel heard that all the wise men were
to be destroyed, he confidently announced that there was a God in heaven who
revealeth secrets and He would give an answer to the king. There was not any
hesitation and saying: "Well, I will ask the Lord and see if He will give an
answer." Absolute assurance, absolute confidence, serenity, kept him perfectly steady. He never lost his head. He called his three
companions and they prayed, and the Lord revealed the thing to Daniel in the
night season. "Daniel answered before the king." It is moral authority,
ascendancy, he is governing morally and again and again things were, so to
speak, put into his hands. He became the moral ruler of the situation again
and again. He ruled even from the den of lions, he was on top, he was on top
of the king. The king morally groveled to this man more than once. And those
three, where were they morally? Well, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us and he will deliver us out of thine hand,
O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O
king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou
hast set up." What is the result of that? Not that they are delivered from
the fiery furnace - keep that in mind - not that God comes in and opens a way of
escape for them, but the Son of God associates Himself with them in the fire,
and the result is that everything goes down before them morally and they come
out as kings, they reign morally.
You see the ascendancy is a moral thing in
the midst of this world-system, and government from the heavens morally. What
is the secret of that ascendancy which, in the sovereignty of the God of the
heavens, brings the power into our hands? Go back to the first chapter of the
book and you have the secret, the foundation secret: "But Daniel purposed in
his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's dainties, nor with
the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs that he might not defile himself." It says: "But Daniel purposed in
his heart"; it only says that about Daniel, but before you get through the
chapter you find the other three are in the same position. It does not say
they purposed, but it says Daniel purposed, and it is clear that Daniel's
moral lead, moral stand, moral ascendancy, brought his brethren alongside of
him in fellowship in that testimony. Now there are two things there. I will
mention the second first.
Beloved, you never know what you are going to effect for God in securing
others to a position of definite, strong standing for the Lord, by taking a
strong, though costly stand yourself. Sometimes you personally have to take a
stand alone at great cost, which may involve you in a good deal of
suffering. You never know what that is going to mean for the Lord by others being morally brought into a strong place.
The Lord needs "Daniels" in this sense; the men and women who will take a
personal stand, at any cost, upon what they know to be according to the mind of
God. It is not a question, in the first place, of whether others do it
or not, or whether others will follow suit or not; it is what God requires,
what is according to God. The question is not, What will it cost me? What
will others think of it? Will others agree with me? It is, Will the
Lord require that? If so, that is the only ground for me to act upon. And
acting like that very often means that moral stamina comes into others and the
Lord gains by a personal, lonely stand for Him, a mighty increase of
reinforcement in His testimony.
Now that may be a word that touches someone who is being
faced with a course which is costly, and a price has to be paid, and as far as
they know there is not another one who will take that step; but if you do you
may discover there are several others whom the Lord will meet if you go on in
faithful devotion, if you go on in what you know to be the will of God for
you. Daniel purposed he would not defile himself. This brings in a whole new
world. Wherein lay the defilement? You read of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of
Jerusalem. You will find he took away the vessels of the House of the Lord and
put them into the house of his gods. Nebuchadnezzar had gods, and it was not
the Lord. There was another spiritual system back of Babylon. It was not just
Babylon, just some earthly system, not just men, it was that spiritual thing
back of men and the system of the world-ruler. Yes, something spiritual
behind; that comes out so much in this book. Back of Babylon was the prince of
this world, the god of this age. He was moving things in Babylon and moving
things against Daniel and his companions, because of the testimony and the
Lord, the testimony of the God of heaven. That was behind; and Daniel knew
that to voluntarily partake of those things from the king's table was to
involve himself in the moral and spiritual background of things, and that
would be defilement, and that kind of thing would rob him of power with God as
well as with men. So he calculatingly and deliberately purposed he would not
defile himself, he would not allow any kind of voluntary link between himself
and that spiritual system back of this world order.
If only people recognised
the things of which they say: "Well, there is no harm in it," the
things of this world, even the religious things of this world with which they
have voluntary connections, in which they dabble and indulge; if only they recognised that back of those
"harmless" things there is the working of a
sinister force, to entrap them, to spoil them, to rob them of spiritual power! And you know as well as I do, that any professing child of God who has some
compromising thing in their life, something that forms a link, be
it ever so small, between them and the spiritual system back of this
world, they are robbed of power with God and with men and it is not until that
thing is dealt with and thoroughly put away that they have any kind of
spiritual or moral ascendancy. Until that thing is repudiated from the heart
God cannot come in and communicate Himself to them. No compromise with the
Devil through any kind of means or form of his government. I said that
introduces a whole new world; now let it open up.
The World Dominion Gathered Up in One Man
Do you notice that in this second chapter the image of
Daniel brings all the world-empires from the beginning of the Babylonian
empire to the end of the Roman empire and its ten provinces, into the form of
one personality, one image, the image of a man? Has the significance of that
struck you? All the world-empires, all the "Times of the Gentiles" gathered
up in the figure of one man. I ask you if the final issue of this
dispensation, of this world-government on the human side, is not going to be
gathered up in one personality, the antichrist? There is no doubt about it
that the Word of God makes it clear that that principle will be carried out,
that the government of this world will be headed up into one personality, the
antichrist. There is in Daniel one man, and all is gathered up into the figure
of one personality, one corporate body. That is set right over against the
Son of Man. The Christ, and the antichrist; they both come out in Daniel.
Now what is the dominion of the Son of man over the antichrist in the
Church, the vessel? It is the absolute distinctiveness of that
vessel, separation, holiness; its complete break with the whole system of the
Evil One at every point, and not allowing one touch of defilement with that
system. Have you not in your spiritual experience seen, recognised more than
once, that in order to destroy your spiritual power and strength and your moral
ascendancy or
effectiveness, the enemy in some way or another must make a contact between
you and his kingdom? He will put a temptation in your way, he will put a
suggestion into your mind, he will make suggestions to you, put thoughts into
you. In thousands of different ways he puts out a gangway, and he wants you to
cross that gangway, to accept that gangway, a link between you and his system.
There is no wrong in temptation, beloved, most believers know what it is to
have evil thoughts suggested to their minds. It does not mean they have sinned
because an evil thought has been suggested, but at the point where they
entertain that, respond to that, allow that, they have sinned and made a link
with the enemy, and before long that very link is the means of their undoing,
their weakness, breakdown, and not until they get back to the Lord and say: "I allowed that to linger, I added another to it."
or in some way the enemy
put out, and we took on, and that has been completely dealt with, wiped out by
the Blood, we do not get back our position. The rule of the heavens through
the instrument in overthrowing the power of evil demands no defilement, no
contact.
Oh, sometimes it will come along the line of discouragement,
sometimes through depression, doubt; sometimes through an overwhelming sense
of weakness, and the enemy strikes a blow and sends a fiery dart of
questioning the Lord, His love, His wisdom. We can never exhaust the ways in
which it comes, but it is not just the fact that it comes, but the fact that
we accept it, we take it on, we allow the enemy to lodge his gangway and we go
across; we are undone. Mark you, the principle, the basic principle of
spiritual and moral ascendancy, of dominion, of overthrowing the power of the
enemy, of having authority over all the power of the Devil is not in our
language, our phraseology, is not the volume of our voice, the forcefulness
of our effort, our manner, it is the moral purity of our lives; or, in other
words, the fact that we give the enemy no ground any where. Oh, how deeply and
wonderfully clear that principle is in Daniel, the first chapter. The whole
history lies ahead and it is a history of the combat between heaven and hell
as fought out here on the earth. The world-rulers of this darkness, the
principalities and powers on the one hand, heaven on the other, but the
instrument by which the issue is decided is that small thing right in the
heart of it, and whether it is the testimony's maintenance in victory and
administration of victory, or whether so far as that instrument is concerned
it is going to be defeat and the enemy getting the advantage, depends upon
whether there is a link between us and the enemy system at any point.
We have
a way of saying: "Do not take it on." You understand what I mean. So often a
very plausible thing can be offered by the enemy, so often the things seems so
true, really above argument, beyond contention. Well, prove all things. Beware! The enemy is out all
the time to form a link between you and his dominion.
If he gets it the testimony will go. The vessel of the testimony must purpose
in its heart that it will not defile itself. And the dainties from the king's
table and the wine may speak to us, young men and women especially, of those
advantages, advances, facilitations of progress and improvement which the
enemy offers under cover of: "Well, do not be too extreme, do not be
singular, do not be fanatical; just be perfectly level and balanced, do not be
a stickler." Yes, you may have some dainties from the king's table if only
you will lower your standard a little in business. But the testimony means
that up to the hilt there must be no compromise on moral principles; you
may stand to suffer, it may be a den of lions. Ah yes, but stand, and in the
end you will stand and the other things will have gone, but you will be there.
Heaven is on your side; you may lose for the time being, but heaven is on
your side and the kingdoms of this world will pass, but the kingdom of the God
of heavens is an everlasting kingdom, and it is a kingdom to be given to you
if you will stand. You see where this vessel begins? Just there, "Daniel
purposed in his heart."
I would like to say this, just to round that off. It does
not mean, beloved, that because you and I take a faithful, obedient,
wholehearted, consecrated stand for the Lord, that we are going to be
delivered from the lions' den or the fiery furnace, and that the Lord is
coming in to smooth our way and cause us to escape such. No, the
sovereignty of the heavens does not always work by delivering us out of the
trouble. It comes in through the trouble. It is through the trouble that the
heavens come in. God gets more by it than by delivering us from it.
May the Lord draw us into His purpose, constitute us a part of that vessel
for His testimony, show us how very much is bound up with this conflict in which we are; help us to see why
it is that He is dealing with us as He is. It is to bring us to a place where
there is nothing in ourselves. He may take up the weak things and by them through them, bring to nought the things that are,
and bring us morally to govern, which shall fit us to govern literally later
on.