2 March 1957, at Shanchunpoo, Taiwan.
Well, dear friends, it is very
nice of you to say kind things, our friends had said that on the
one side they were filled with joy, and on the other side they
were filled with trembling. I am afraid that I am put into that
position now. He has referred to Job; Job was full of hope and
expectation when he heard by the hearing of the ears, but when
his eyes saw the Lord, he was more filled with fear. My fear and
trembling is that the report made is probably better than what
you hear; perhaps it would be better for you to go on expecting!
However, we trust the Lord in that problem and we are very glad
to come and look in on you as we go on, and to greet you in the
name of the Lord, and we are very happy to see this very lovely
building you have.
Now I am just going to turn you to
the Word for a minute in the Gospel by Luke, chapter 24 and
verse 50, "And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He
lifted His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He
blessed them He was parted from them, and carried up into
heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with
great joy."
Now one thing has been on my mind
as I have gone from place to place, especially in this city in
Taiwan. I have noticed that you have called all your assemblies
by number. This is number 1, and that is number 2, and the next
is number 3; so you go round calling them all by number. I have
wondered why you haven't called them by names. Perhaps this is
not a new idea, although I rather think that the brothers have
never thought of it, so if it is a new idea, I pass it on to
you. I think it would be a good thing to call this assembly by a
name; and if you will accept it, I will call you by the name
"Bethany". I don't know if you will put that name outside, but
whether you take the name or not, I do hope you will take the
meaning and that you will be able to really call yourselves
"Bethany" and everyone who knows you will be able to call you by
the name "Bethany". The words that we have just read are the
last picture of four pictures of Bethany in the New Testament.
1. Giving Place to the Heavenly
You will probably remember the
first time that we meet Bethany. Jesus and His disciples came to
Bethany where Martha and her sister Mary lived. It says that
Martha was troubled with many dishes. Of course, it does not put
it like that in your translation, but that is in the original
text. She was troubled with many dishes, but Mary sat at the
feet of Jesus listening to Him. Now, some people think that the
Lord rebuked Martha because she was concerned about the love
feast that she was making for Jesus and His disciples. Of course
that was not true. The Lord said, "You, Martha, are troubled
with many dishes. Now Martha, we have only got a little time and
just one simple dish is enough. One thing is needed and Mary has
chosen the better part."
Well, here we have the first
picture. You see Martha rebuke her sister Mary, or rather she
asks the Lord Jesus to rebuke her. Well, our first lesson is
this: The Lord Jesus does not
want us to put a lot of earthly things in the way of heavenly
things. He wants us to have just what is necessary of
the earthly, but to give the large and important place to the
heavenly. Don't be too much concerned about the things of this
life, but be most concerned about the things of the Lord. That
is really the first lesson of Bethany. Of course
there is a lot more in it than that, so I say that if you are
going to be Bethany, you must be a people who
give a very large place to the heavens and whose main concern and
interest is in spiritual things.
2. Knowing Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life
Our next picture of Bethany is
rather a sad one. That is, it begins in a sad way and it ends in
a joyful way. You will remember the story of the sickness and
death of Lazarus and how difficult it was for them to understand
the Lord Jesus. He was some miles away and the sisters sent a
message to Him. The message was: "He whom Thou lovest is sick."
They thought that the Lord only had to know that Lazarus was
sick, and He would come. They did not even ask Him to come, they
were quite sure that He knew of their trouble and He would come.
But Jesus did not hurry to them. We are told that when He heard
the news, He tarried in the place where He was for four days,
and during that time, Lazarus died.
Well, you know the rest of the
story. Martha and Mary did not understand the Lord, but the Lord
knew what He was doing. He deliberately allowed Lazarus to die
in order that they might make a great discovery about Him. These
people had got to know the Lord Jesus in the greatest way in
which He can be known. In the sorrow that the Lord Jesus allowed
to come to them, He was hiding the greatest blessing that they
could know. He was leading them by a very dark way in order that
they might come to new light. They could not understand Him for
the time being, but I am quite sure that after it was all over,
Martha and Mary said, "Well now, we are glad that He didn't come
when we sent for Him! Now we are very glad that He did not
prevent our suffering. The blessing that we have come into has
justified it all. We did not understand what the Lord
understood. He had a wisdom far deeper than our wisdom." You
know that they came to know the Lord Jesus as the Resurrection
and the Life. There is no greater way of knowing the Lord Jesus
than to know Him in your own experience as the Resurrection and
the Life.
Take the lesson from the second
picture now: The Lord may
lead you through difficult ways. That is a part of the
story of Bethany. Do not think that because the Lord loves you
He will never allow difficulty to come to you. It says quite
definitely that the Lord loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. The
difficulties that He allowed to come to them were not because He
did not love them, but because He did love them! And if difficulties come to
you, do try to remember that it is not because the Lord does not
love you; it may be because the Lord is wanting to bring you
into a fuller experience of Himself. That is the way in which
Bethany is made.
3. Being a Place Where All is Poured Out
Well, the third picture at
Bethany... they made Him a feast. Lazarus has been raised from the
dead and so they are having a love feast; a love feast for the
Master and the disciples. Martha and Mary are there, and Lazarus
is alive and sitting at the table with them. It is a love feast on
the ground of resurrection. It is a feast upon the ground of
Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. Now, Martha is still
serving. It definitely said that Martha served, but the Lord
does not rebuke her this time. She is still serving, and it is a
service now that has been cleansed and purified and brought off
of earthly ground and onto heavenly ground; off the ground of
death, and onto the ground of Life. It is not wrong to be in
service, but it is important that our service should be on the
ground of heaven and not on the ground of earth, on the ground
of Life and not on the ground of death.
Well, this is the third picture of
Bethany, but you remember something happened then. Someone
thought of something. They thought of a very precious vase of
ointment. They had this in the house and they thought, "We must
pour this on the Master's feet" and so they broke the vase and
poured the ointment on the feet of the Master. Of course, it was
Mary that was doing that. But something sprang out in their
midst that was very unhappy. Judas said, "Why was not this ointment sold and
given to the poor?" This seemed to be a cloud coming over their
happy faces. Well, we know who Judas was, don't we? The Lord Jesus
made it very clear who Judas was. Judas was one whose life was
governed by Satan. He was a child of Satan and Satan does not love
the worship of the Lord Jesus. You see, this was an act of
worship.
That third picture of Bethany is the
picture of becoming a place of
worship where everything is poured out at the feet of the
Master. This is the meaning of worship; we pour out
everything at the feet of the Master, the most precious thing that
we have, and we put it upon the feet of the Master. We said He is
worthy of the best that we have, but Satan does not like that and
he tried to spoil the love feast. He would take away from the Lord
Jesus rather than give to Him.
Now if you are going to be a
Bethany, it must be the place where everything is poured at the
feet of Jesus and be seated at the feet of the Lord Jesus; the
place of true worship. Do remember that you will always have an
enemy, one who tries to rob the Lord Jesus of what He would
have; one who would try to spoil your love feast by bringing in
a question.
4. Being Filled With Joy
Now we come to this last picture. I like to see how the
story finishes, here is a story in four parts. I like to think
that the last place on the earth that Jesus visited was Bethany.
"And He led them out until they were over against Bethany: and He
lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass,
while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up
into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem
with great joy..." They returned to Jerusalem rejoicing. The last word
about Bethany is "rejoicing". Rejoicing in a risen and ascended
Lord. If you think about it for a moment, this is rather
wonderful.
Just
think how much the Lord Jesus had meant to them at Bethany... They
had said, "Lord, if only You had been here, our brother would
not have died." And then when He raised Lazarus, how much He
meant to them! They made Him this love feast. What a grand time
they were having with the Lord there and now He was gone. They
ought to be weeping; they ought to be feeling very sad for
themselves. "Well, we have had a wonderful time and now He is
gone. Perhaps we will never see Him again. What are we going to
do without Him?" Well, there is nothing of that. As He went from
them they were filled with joy.
You see, Bethany is the place from which Jesus never
departs. They had learned during the forty days after
His resurrection that He was still continuing to appear to them;
He was away, and yet He was present. They knew He might be there
again at any moment. They had learnt that they had really not
lost the Lord, and so they were filled with joy. They were able
to say, "He may be back at any time!" and that is true. Dear
friends, the Lord may be back any day. He has not really gone
far away from us. He said, "I am with you all the days." He is with us! We cannot
see Him and yet He is coming again and then we shall see Him. So the
last word about Bethany is "filled with joy".
May these four things be
true of you. First of all, that you give the most important place
to heavenly things, then that you come through difficulty and
trial to know Jesus in the fullest way in which He can be known as
the Resurrection and the Life, and then you are at the place where
everything is poured on His feet and on His head. You are the
people who give everything of the best to the Lord Jesus, and then
you are the people who are filled with joy, because you know He is
near and He is coming again. Now I think that if I could write
your Chinese language, I would go outside and write on the door
"Bethany"!