Transcribed from a message given in 1958.
One or two fragments of the
Word, firstly in the book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 16 and
17: Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy
sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life.
The letter to the Romans chapter
8 at verse 22: We know that the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but
ourselves also...
The gospel by John, chapter 16
at verse 21: A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,
because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child,
she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is
born into the world.
The letter to the Galatians
chapter 4, verse 19: My little children, of whom I am again
in travail until Christ be fully formed in you...
Its not the first time
that we have spoken on this matter here, but I feel quite sure in
my heart that it is the Lords word for this time. This law
of travail is written deep in creation and perhaps mostly in
human history. It is one fact which no one can deny. It is there.
We cannot get away from it. It is forcing itself upon our
consciousness and recognition all through our lives.
The Bible, as we have seen,
begins with the establishment of this law, both in human life and
in the natural order. The Bible ends with the abolition of that
law; its complete removal from every realm of creation. It can be
traced through the whole Bible. In almost every book of the
Bible, this law of travail can be found. And in the last book,
the book of the Revelation which is the culmination of all
the things that are in the rest of the Bible, we find that the
outstanding feature of that book is this law of travail. In every
connection and direction, its a book of travail. The Church
is in travail. The overcomers are in travail. The nations are in
travail. All the heavenly bodies are in travail. It is the
culmination of this law which has been operating all the way
through history. It began with the birth of the first child; it
ends with the birth of a new heaven and a new earth.
It is therefore a very important
thing that we should understand the meaning attached to this law
- why God introduced it and established it and has never lifted
it and never does; but holds all history of individuals, of
families, of society, of nations, and peculiarly of the Church,
to this law. I say its very important that we should understand
the divine meaning attaching to travail. What did God mean man to
learn by it?
Of course this morning we are
not so concerned with man in general, or even with the world,
although it would be instructive were we to see what God is doing
in nations and in society and in industry and in science and in
every other realm by this law, for its there; but that is
not our present object. If the Church is what we are given to
understand that it is, the central object of Gods concern,
of Gods interest, the center of His concentrated
activities, then the Church has something to learn from this law
because there is no doubt about it that however true it is in
every other realm, the Church has at the very center of its
history the working out of this law of travail. There is a
concentration, it would seem, of this law in the Church.
Whenever God has done anything
that had the Church in view - that is, an elect, a people for His
Name - on every occasion of His fresh movements in that direction
it took place through travail. I have only to hint at some of the
experiences of the men of God in the early phases of history.
What travail they went through in relation to the purpose of God,
individually I mean: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Moses
and all the others. And the people of Israel, the Lord said
I have seen the affliction of My people, I have heard their
cry by reason of their taskmasters, I am come down...
It was out of travail that
Israel was born as a nation; deep, terrible, anguish. The same is
true in the recovery of the remnant from captivity. You know that
this is the word that the prophets used about Israel in that
connection, they were always speaking about Israels
travail, Zion travailing. The birth of the remnant from exile
came through the terrible travail of the seventy years.
In some degree I think it was
true when the Lord Jesus was born. There was Simeon and Anna and
others waiting for the consolation of Israel. The indications are
that they were in this state of the birth throws of a new age,
and it was not out of relation with their prayers and their
faithfulness and their sufferings that Christ was born into this
world. We know what happened when He was born, the prophecy
fulfilled: the voice of weeping... Rachel weeping for her
children that were not. It was a state of travail through which
He came.
But of all these instances,
perhaps the greatest was the travail of the Cross. What an
anguish was the Cross to the disciples, to those believers! They
were not a small company altogether. The Cross was a terrible
experience of pain, of anguish, of suffering. Out of it came the
Church. The Church was born out of that suffering. And
so we go on to the end and we find that the same thing obtains in
the final emergence of creation and Church and nations by the
coming of the Lord.
What does the Lord mean us to
learn? Why did He introduce that law at the beginning?
Well, briefly and simply and yet, dear friends, with such depth
of meaning for us here, as well as for all the Lords
people, the main lesson as I see it is this: The Lord introduced
and established that law of travail in order to bring about a
deep and an adequate appreciation of divine values.
Man was given everything that
the heart could desire at the beginning. He was blessed with
every blessing! He was surrounded with everything that he could
wish for and he seemed to take it so much as a matter of course,
so much for granted. And he held it so cheaply, so lightly, so
superficially as to forget the greatness of the love of God in
the giving and in His creation; to forget how wonderful it all
was that God had done that and what God had done. And to be ready
at the slightest offer of something for his own gratification, to
just let it all go... You can see quite clearly that that was the
trouble: no real heart appreciation of God and Gods
love and Gods greatness and of all this that God had
given... he took it so easily. Easy come - easy go. I think
the heart of that sin and wrong and tragedy was just that ease
with which man can turn from God, from what God had said. God
said this... well, what does it matter? God said it! The
ease with which he can turn away from it and let it go for some
bribe, some way that would be to his self pleasure. And the Lord
brought in this law of travail to recover the sense of values and
you can see exactly how that works out.
You know, if you dont
suffer for a thing, you dont value it. If it costs you
nothing then it means little to you. If you have really suffered
agonies and anguish for anything, for anyone, over any matter,
that thing is of infinite preciousness to you. Youre going
to fight for that, youre going to watch over that with keen
jealousy. That is something very precious. And is not that just
how the law of travail works? Yes! Its like that. If it
comes without travail, without any cost, well its taken too
lightly isnt it? Far too lightly. It doesnt mean all
that that means which has cost you almost your very
life.
The Lord introduced this factor
that in every birth its a question of life or death. Life
and death are in the balances every time. The governing question:
how is it going? Youre held in tension... and when its
alright how the heart goes out: thank God! Thank God... Worship.
God comes into His place. God comes into His place, very often
with those who have never given Him any place before, at any rate
there is a spontaneous: Thank God! You see the
principle, you see how true it is. And so God established this,
ah yes, this painful way, this suffering way,
as the only way in which He could recover and establish the law
of values, of preciousness, and save man from his superficiality
with regard to the most costly things.
He did it in order to secure a heart
relationship with Himself and with everything that comes from
Him. A heart relatedness, that is love! Love! A love
that is far removed from despising the Lord or anything of the
Lord. A love that involves the very life itself; that if its
object is lost then life itself goes with it. See? Its like
that.
Every divine deposit, every
divine deposit is on that basis, dear friends. Sooner or later,
every divine deposit will take on this value. Anything that comes
from God will sooner or later pass into the realm of suffering,
into the realm of travail, to find out how much value we put upon
it, how much it really means to us, how much we have seen of God
in it. It will become a matter of life or death. Under this law all
divine things have been put upon this basis.
Take the matter of fellowship
with God, our very union with the Lord, this relatedness that He
has brought about between us. I venture to say, dear friends,
that there is nothing, nothing in all the range of our lives as
Gods people which causes us so much exercise and
sometimes so much travail, as this matter of our communion and
fellowship with God. Lose the consciousness of the nearness of
the Lord, the consciousness of fellowship with the Lord just for
a moment, just for a day, and what anguish it brings; that lost
consciousness of the Lord. The Lord does not depart and does not
forsake, Hes promised never to do it, but that does not
mean that the Lord does not allow us to go through times when we
have not the consciousness of His presence, when the clouds
gather around and He seems to have gone, to be far away and left
us alone. Then what happens? Does it matter? Does it matter? Can
we go on just the same? Oh no, everyone who is really in
union with the Lord goes into travail over that and can never,
never come to rest until thats recovered and the Lord is
saying: "This thing has got to be kept upon the basis of
preciousness". And thats the only way of doing it,
through suffering, is it not? Our very fellowship with God has to
become at times a matter of life and death.
If only we could take the time
to illustrate... You know Moses and the Lord, having that
controversy with the Lord over Israel. It seems to me at times
the Lord does play a part, play act. And the Lord said to Moses,
Stand aside! Let Me destroy these people, let Me wipe them
out and make another people. What does Moses do? Oh no! Hes
not having that. He reasons and argues with the Lord: Blot
me out of Thy book if You dont forgive them. What was
the Lord doing? I believe that the Lord was only doing this in
the place where He got that man Moses in union with His own heart
and I think in His own heart the Lord said, when Moses uttered
those words, Thats where I wanted to get you! Thats
what Ive been after, to find out how precious My
people are to you, how precious My interests are to you,
how precious My investment in this people is to you. I
must have somebody with Me in My travail that gives a due value
and that will not, not let go easily. With whom it is a
matter of life and death. Blot me out - life or death. You
see? Thats the heart of God, the heart relationship.
Its a matter of the values
of the Cross of the Lord Jesus. Oh, are you tired of the Cross
and hearing about the Cross? Shortly before he went to America
brother Harrison told me of the time he had spent with a group of
students in a retreat. He had spoken on the Cross and they had
said, Oh were so tired of hearing about the Cross,
havent you something else to talk about? Talk about
something else; not the Cross. Are those values of the
Cross a matter of life and death to us? Do we hold them lightly?
Is it just a teaching, a truth? Or of infinite value and
preciousness?
What about the matter of divine
Life? Divine Life! Is not the Lord trying all the time to bring
us to the point where we recognize the infinite value of
divine Life? Physically? Yes! It may be that behind much of
our physical suffering is this secret: the Lord seeking to bring
us to the place where divine Life is everything to us and we lay
hold on it. We have a tremendous appreciation of divine Life for
spirit, for soul, for body. So the Lord throws us into situations
where if it isnt His Life then theres no surviving.
If we do not now prove the tremendous value of divine Life, we
are finished! Were finished, this is the end if we do not
know Him again in the power of His resurrection.
Its not a theory, a
teaching, its something that has come right into our very
history, as a part of our being: divine Life! Yes, without
it well not survive. It is that or it is death. But you
see, the Lord works in relation to that to make it real. Oh, that
you realized that dear friends, and rose up on this matter and
saw the infinite value of the Life that He has given because so
many, so many Christians just say, Yes, I have received
eternal Life in Jesus Christ. But what does it mean
as a practical, everyday reality for the whole man: spirit, soul
and body? Divine Life! God meant it to be so for us all.
The Word of God. Well, I say
much about the value of the Word of God, but oh, do we not get
tremendous exercise about this? Have you never travailed for a
word from God? Never been on your knees, and on your face... oh,
that the Lord would speak out of His Word for me in this
situation? And has not His speaking out of His Word to you been birthed
out of travail? Has He not brought you into a situation where
only if He speaks can you get through? Only as He gives you a
word can you go on! It just doesnt come easily. You know
quite well it isnt just a matter of opening the book and
reading. No, you have to travail for something from the Word, its
got to become so precious as to be of the value of Life
without which you'll die. Man shall not live by bread only,
but he shall live by the Word of God. Live! Live!
Whats the alternative? Its to die, but for the Word
of God. Our life hangs on the Word of God! Thats what its
to be to us.
And what about the Church? Oh
here, dear friends, we touch something that we all need to be
very, very clear on and very strong about; this matter of the
Church. Oh, we have so much teaching in the Church, weve
got all the Church truth and doctrine. Perhaps youre tired
of hearing about the Church and the Body of Christ and
relatedness. You know, dear friends, there are believers, there
are children of God who would give all that they could, all
that they possess, and all that this world could give them
if they had it, in order to know something of the fellowship
which is so cheap with us. "Oh, for an hour with the Lords
people! Oh, for a day within the communion of the saints! Oh, to
be able to be there amongst them!" Yes, they know through
travail something of the value of the Church. And in our
experience, and we do speak out of experience, we have learned,
we have learned the truth of the Church not only from the Bible
but in this way: the absolute necessity to our very life
of the people of God. Had it not been for the people of
God we should not have got through. You know it's like that, and
so the Lord takes us into experiences where only the Church can
save us (if I may put it like that) only the Church can be our
salvation, only relatedness can be our life. Dont hold this
lightly. Dont throw it away easily.
Believe me, dear friends, Im
not a prophet, but believe me that if you have been brought in
any vital way into relation to the truth of the Church, sooner or
later in your life thats going to be a matter of life or
death to you. God grant that it may never be too late, to come to
the end and say, Oh! If only... if only I had more valued
and cherished the great gift of the Church and all the
values bound up with it of covering and help, I would not be
today where I am! I am here now because I have held too lightly
the precious things that God gave. I say again, sooner or
later (God grant it may not be later or too late) youre
going to come in a very practical way up against the truths that
God has given you and then it's going to be your life or your
death.
God has given you much. Oh, be
not like Adam and make it necessary for the Lord to take you into
deep anguish and suffering in order to teach you the value of
what Hes given you. Suffer that word, it has cost Him
everything to bring us where we are. Let us not put too little
value on it.
Well I wont stop there, I
referred to John 16:21 and the two sides there, a woman when shes
in travail and so on. The other side: but! The issue! When its
all over, the child is born, she forgets about the travail in her
joy that a man is born into the world. The Lord never meant
suffering to end with itself. He never meant travail to be the
last word. He never intended that the end should be death, though
death is always in the balances of this thing, He never intended
it to be like that. He took the little family in Bethany into
anguish, into deep anguish, but He said Not unto death but
for the glory of God!
There is written in the very law
of travail the law of hope, the law of a new prospect. And all Im
going to stay to say about that this morning is this: we,
individually or as a people, may go through times of deep
suffering, trial, and everything seems to be in the balances. How
is it going, hows it going... is it life or death? Were
in the grip of this crisis. Oh, let us believe with all our
hearts that although we come this way again and again in our
history, under the hand of God its unto something
new! Its unto something better! its unto a new
hope with a new expectation! Dont you believe that the end
is shame, is remorse, is disappointment. God never established
the law of travail that that should be the end, but that there
should be a birth of something infinitely precious. And
it happens again and again doesnt it?
Every new emergence of something
of the Lord is more precious than what was before, but its
costly. Its costly. If I may say so, dear friends,
it may be that we here have been going through travail, were
in the time of suffering and perhaps were inclined to feel
that its an end, theres going to be loss. No! Thats
not the Lords way. The Lord has so worked that, isnt
it strange, we come into experiences in life where its the
most terrible experience youve ever had and now, and now of
course, this is the end. This is going to put the finish to
everything. And it is the most terrible suffering! And
when its past, the strange thing about human nature about
some things is that we forget; we forget the anguish, that is, it
passes. But what it has brought is the thing that governs and
dominates everything isnt it? The values that have come.
Supposing we were always living in all the anguishes that we have
ever had, life would be unbearable. But that passes, but we are
living in the values.
Well I think thats all Ive
got to say, do remember that cheapness in relation to the things
of God will only end in disaster. Unbelief will end in despair.
The faith in God in a dark and difficult day will produce
something new and something better. If we are too easy-going
about our spiritual values, nothing substantial will be effected.
The Lord give us a due sense of
the value of everything that He has given us and brought us into,
that we will not be able just to discard it and throw it away as
though it didnt matter. May we be saved from that and have
this law of love, infinite love for Him and all things that are
in Him, written deep in our hearts.
A transcript of a spoken message given in November 1958. The spoken message can be found on the Audio Page of this website.