"And it came to pass, as her soul was
departing (for she died), that she called his name
Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin" (Genesis
35:18).
"And he lifted
up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's
son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye
spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee. my
son. And Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned over
his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered
into his chamber, and wept there" (Genesis 43:29-30,
Am. R.V.).
"And Hannah
answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a
sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong
drink, but I poured out my soul before the Lord... And it
came to pass, when the time was come about, that
Hannah conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name
Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the
Lord" (1 Samuel 1:15,20).
"And the child
Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word
of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no
frequent vision. And it came to pass at that time, when
Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to
wax dim, so that he could not see), and the lamp of God
was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down to sleep,
in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was; that
the Lord called Samuel: and he said, Here am I"
(1 Samuel 3:1-4).
There are three things
about which it is very necessary for us to be quite clear
and certain. I will state them briefly and concisely
without comment or enlargement.
The first is that God
never gives up His original decision to bring His people
to spiritual fulness.
The second is that, if
His people, in general, move away from His intention, He
raises up vessels and ministries both to bring that
intention into view, and, as far as possible, to recover
His people to it.
And the third thing is
that those vessels and ministries have a peculiar and
particular history under His hand. They are in a peculiar
way governed by the purpose for which they are raised up.
There are two
subsidiary factors in that connection. One is that such
vessels and ministries must not compare or judge
themselves by other standards, by other ministries, by
other things that the Lord may be doing. Neither should
they be judged by others. God is dealing with them in a
particular way, for a particular purpose, not necessarily
saying that they are more important than others, but the
fact is that they are called to a particular work.
The second thing is
that if the purpose of God is corporate, the corporate
factor will govern the instrument that He raises up. That
is a very important thing to remember. Now this means
that each individual within the compass of that ministry
and its purpose will himself or herself be governed by
the corporate law. Each individual will be a part of
something much more than himself or herself, a part of a
corporate whole, and will therefore have his or her
experience under God's hand in a related way. It will not
be just something personal and private. I would that you
could remember that and follow it out. For the present we
shall not do more than seek some help which we may find
in these two of whom we have read - Benjamin and Samuel.
Features
Common To Benjamin And Samuel
You probably recognize
that there are a number of features common to Benjamin
and Samuel. Firstly, they were both sons in a peculiar
way. Benjamin was distinguished from his brethren, and,
as we read, Joseph took special account of Benjamin, just
as Benjamin's father had done. He stood in a particular
and peculiar relationship both to the father and to his
brethren. Samuel was the same. The sonship of Samuel was
quite distinctive, of a different kind from others. We
will not stay with it - we note the fact.
The second thing about
them was that they were both born of peculiar travail.
Rachel died at the birth of Benjamin, and named him
Ben-oni, 'Son of my sorrow', born out of sorrow. And we
know well of Hannah's distress and sorrow and trial and
travail unto Samuel.
Then they both came out
of a state of death. That is perfectly clear with
Benjamin. Rachel died; Benjamin lived out of her death.
Samuel had a background of death, for that was the state
of Hannah, and the state of Hannah was only a reflection
of the spiritual state of the Lord's people, and out of
that grave, that death, Samuel was born.
Again, they both came
in at a time of spiritual declension. The days of
Benjamin were the days when those brothers, indeed the
whole family, Joseph excepted, were in a very poor state
spiritually. The selling of Joseph and all that bad
conduct and behaviour is the unveiling of a very poor
state in the sons of Israel. We know what a state the
Lord's people were in in Samuel's days. That needs no
further comment.
And then they both
represented a turning-point. Benjamin clearly was that -
the turning-point in this whole wonderful story. It was
upon Benjamin, "little Benjamin", that the
whole thing turned. The verse that we picked out from the
story, the coming of the brothers to Joseph in Egypt and
Joseph lighting upon his youngest brother, is the
turning-point. You look at it again. And how true that
was of Samuel. He was a turning-point in Israel; so much
turned upon him.
A
Peculiar History Under God's Hand
Well, these two clearly
set forth a vessel such as that of which we spoke at the
beginning - the vessel by which God moves into a state of
spiritual decline to bring His own full thought into
view, and, as far as possible, to recover His people unto
it, and such a vessel, as I have said, will have a
peculiar kind of history under God's hand, and it is just
that history that I want to touch upon here.
(1)
A Clear-Cut Beginning
It is very simple in
its presentation; not so simple when you come to go
through it. In the first place, such a vessel has to
begin at the beginning. When the Lord was going to move
in at those times, He did not move in through a
full-grown man with a lot of history. He moved in through
Benjamin, the youngest - you might call him the infant
amongst them. With Samuel He started right back there at
his birth. In this dispensation, the vessel that is going
to bring into view God's full thought, and recover to it
as far as can be, will have to be taken right back behind
tradition, right back behind a lot of history, right back
behind much that has been built up and become common and
accepted. It will have to be taken back to start at the
beginning. It may have had a Christian life, a Christian
upbringing; it may have had behind it much of
Christianity; but there will come a crisis when it will
seem as though there had been nothing before at all.
'This is the beginning: we are starting all over again
now!' There must be that clear-cut beginning which is not
just the carry-over of history, the carry-over of form
and formalism, but something tremendous, as though there
had never been any Christianity before until now. 'This
is a break in history!' It will have to be like that with
such a vessel: so, if you are not prepared for the Lord
to do something with you that will make all that is less
than His full thought as nothing, to bring you to a place
where you know that all else is as nothing compared with
what the Lord now reveals to you and makes known to you
and is seeking to bring you into: if you are not prepared
for such a work, you cannot be such a vessel in the
Lord's hand, or part of such a vessel. It must be like
that. And when I say that, I am speaking true to the
experience of many. There has come a point when they have
realized that all their past Christianity has been almost
as nothing, compared with that with which the Lord has
now broken in upon them. It is like beginning all over
again with a new conception - some have said a new Bible;
beginning at the beginning.
(2) A
Difference
The second thing about
all such instrumentalities is that they must not be a
part of the existing spiritual condition. How separate
were Hannah and Samuel from the existing condition.
Whatever had settled down on Israel, Hannah was not a
part of that; she was in revolt against it, she was in
travail over it, she was different. As to Samuel, it is
so perfectly clear that he was apart. The same was true
of Benjamin. There was something different. He was not
one of those brothers, those ten brothers. There was a
difference. I mention it, and you think about it - that,
if we are going to be useful to the Lord in any greater
purpose of His heart, we shall have to be no part of that
which is content and satisfied with something less, and
certainly no part of that which is contrary to His mind.
There is to be a difference about us.
(3)
The Voice Of The Lord Known Personally
The third thing here is
that such have to learn the voice of the Lord for
themselves. That comes out very clearly in Samuel. To
learn the voice of the Lord for himself was essential to
his future ministry. He could be put in the way of
learning it, but he had to learn it for himself. The Lord
never came to Eli and told Eli what He wanted Samuel to
know. He had to come to Samuel himself, and right there
from the beginning Samuel had to learn to recognize and
discern and understand the voice of the Lord for himself,
directly and personally - and how important that is! That
may explain a great deal of the Lord's work with us, with
some of you. Why is the Lord dealing with you as He is,
and why is it that you can get so little help in your
deepest problem at second hand? The Lord is seeking to
make you know Him personally at first hand; not to make
you independent, but to make you useful. That is very
important.
The
Need For Faithfulness
Further, such an
instrument has to be faithful, even though it seems
presumptuous. Naturally it would appear very presumptuous
for little Samuel, the child Samuel, to go to Eli and
point out where he was wrong. The Lord did not commission
Samuel to go and rebuke his elder; but when Eli pressed
the point - 'What is it that the Lord has said? hide it
not from me' - and, so to speak, put Samuel in the corner
and would not let him out, Samuel realized that he had to
be faithful. He had to put aside other considerations -
even this, that it seemed a presumptuous thing for him to
tell the old man Eli all that was wrong about him and his
house, and about the nation. Sometimes we are called upon
to be faithful when it just seems like presumption, like
putting other people right. It must be done in a spirit
of meekness, but, as the Apostle says, in all
faithfulness. Such a vessel must be faithful, that is the
point - faithful to what the Lord has said and has shown.
And as we advance, the
difficulties seem to increase and become more acute. In
Samuel's case, the next thing was that he had to do what
the strange ways of God required, even though his own
heart rebelled against it. I am thinking of Saul.
Samuel's heart rebelled against making Saul king. He knew
why the people had brought Saul forward. He knew that
they were giving up the government of the Lord in having
a king like unto the nations. His heart rebelled, but the
Lord said, 'Do it!' In effect, - 'Trust My wisdom - I
know what I am doing; you do it!' Faithfulness to the
Lord sometimes requires that we do many things in those
sovereign orderings of God with which we ourselves
naturally do not agree. That is pressing things very
closely, but it is like that sometimes. The Lord took
that strange way. The Lord said to Samuel, "They
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me"
(1 Samuel 8:7); 'Nevertheless, you have to go and anoint
that man'; and, with all his soul revolting, Samuel had
to do the thing that the strange ways of God required.
A
Prayer Ministry
Now, that would require
quite a lot of time to analyze and apply. But what are we
getting at? We are getting to the final thing and the
inclusive thing with Samuel. Samuel's whole life-ministry
was fulfilled through prayer. The Lord singled out Samuel
as one of two who, if any could possibly prevail with
God, then they would. "Though Moses and Samuel stood
before Me, yet My mind would not be toward this people"
(Jeremiah 15:1). If anybody can prevail with God it is
Samuel; and you know the life of Samuel - what a prayer
life it was, how the people took account of it.
"Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us"
(1 Sam. 7:8). "God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for you" (1 Sam. 12:23).
His ministry was mainly a ministry of prayer, which meant
that he had to have a place with God so complete and
utter that his own reasonings did not come in, his own
feelings did not come in, nothing about himself came in.
He was right there with God, and although God told him to
do things which seemed altogether contrary to God, and
certainly contrary to his own best judgment, he obeyed.
He knew it would work out. He could not understand why
the Lord was doing it: it was going to be disaster, it
seemed to be a contradiction; but he obeyed. We cannot
have power with God unless God has got us into a place
like that.
A
Peculiar Corporate History
I would like to say
very much more about this, but I want to close with an
extra emphasis, an emphasis upon the point which I made a
little while ago: namely, the character of a corporate
collective vessel which God may raise up for the purpose
of recovering amongst His people His own full thought
concerning them and concerning His Son. Such a vessel,
based upon and governed by the corporate principle, will
have a peculiar corporate history. There is something
about such a work and such a ministry and such a purpose
which is different.
In the whole range of
His sovereign purpose to bring to a knowledge or to a
fuller knowledge of Christ, God raises up and uses many
particular instrumentalities and ministries. It may be
distinctive preachers and preaching places. He has done
this, and is still doing it. Or it may be a ministry for
the deepening of the spiritual life, and special gifts
may be given for this. There are various other particular
aspects of God's activity toward His one end, and each is
to be recognized, honoured, and respected. We are here
concerned with one of these, and our point is that each
is dealt with by God in a way which is peculiar and
essential to its particular function and purpose in the
whole. This ministry of which we are here speaking is
different from many others, and being so, it is dealt
with by God in a peculiar way. A preaching gift,
ministry, and place has its particular purpose, but it
does not mean that it necessarily brings into being a
corporate organic expression of Christ, and while the
material for the House of God may be gathered and
instructed by it, it does not always follow that a really
related organism such as that referred to above is
brought into being. The same may be said of Convention
ministry, or a ministry for the deepening of the
spiritual life of individual Christians.
When the Lord is
concerned with this corporate factor, as He most
certainly is, He deals with the vessel and ministry in a
particular way; their history is different. The matter of
relatedness is a very great factor in spiritual fulness.
The matter of dependence upon one another is a very great
factor in spiritual enlargement. We are going to learn a
very great deal more, and reach a very great deal more
fulness in Christ, in a related way, than we should do as
individuals under the best ministry. Do believe that; it
is very true. Therefore the Lord deals with those who
constitute such a vessel, not just as individuals. They
are required, every one of them, to take this attitude:
'God is dealing with me in relation to a number of
people, all of whom constitute for Him a vessel for a
particular purpose, and the only explanation of His ways
with me is that related principle. If I were an
individual by myself, I should not have to have many of
the experiences that I have, and if I had my way, I would
get away from all these people as soon as I could and get
on on my own and know the Lord for myself without all
this business of relatedness!' To take such a course
would be to lose the main thing that God is after - you
would just get right out of the way of that thing which
is nearest to His heart: because for a corporate purpose
He must have a corporate instrument, and so He must deal
with us on that basis of relationship - and everything is
related. Therefore in this realm the enemy will make the
breakdown of fellowship his chief object.
Do not take your trying
and difficult experiences, your sufferings, as merely
personal. Paul was so emphatic and clear about that
principle. "I... fill up... that which is lacking of
the afflictions of Christ... for His body's sake, which
is the church" (Col. 1:24). He could have put it in
another way and said - 'The sufferings that come upon me
are not my personal sufferings in relation to my own
separate spiritual life and growth. It is not just an
individual and separate thing that I am going through,
that God wants to bring me personally and alone into some
greater fulness of spiritual life. It is related to His
whole Body.' Believe that and it will be a help, because
we are part of some larger thing, to serve a larger
purpose than we as individuals, however much we might
know of the Lord, could serve. There is a far greater
value to the Lord in having an organic vessel in the
greater fulness of Christ than in having a number of
separate individuals going on with Him. So that He deals
with such in a particular and peculiar way. They have
experiences under His hand which are different.
Put yourself into
Benjamin's place, in that history that is gathered around
the bringing of the father and Joseph and all the
brethren together in one family in the good of the Lord's
purpose. It was a disrupted family, a family in spiritual
decline. It was in a bad way. God had called that family
through Abraham that it should be the family representing
His full thought in the nations, and now it was like
this. How is it going to be brought together in the land
of Goshen, how is it going to be formed into the
spiritual Israel? 'Little Benjamin' is the key. But look
at his experiences. When at last under Joseph's
insistence they brought him, tore him from his father's
heart and brought him - and then Joseph sent them away
and kept Benjamin! Put yourself in Benjamin's place. He
is going through a pretty hard time. And when Joseph's
cup was found in the sack of Benjamin! - Joseph, acting a
part, sent his messenger after them, saying he had missed
his cup - and he had deliberately had it put in that
sack! This is strange Providence, these are mysterious
ways, for Benjamin. Everything seems to be against him.
He could have said, 'I am not responsible for this, it is
all going against me, I am involved in a trick'. So he
was brought back as under a shadow. That lad is going
through a difficult time because he is the link.
Samuel,
likewise, had no easy time. It was something different.
We cannot here work it out in fulness. But this is the
peculiar nature of a vessel that is to meet a peculiar
need, and this is the particular kind of history that
every part of that instrument will have, which is
different from all else. So we cannot judge others, nor
can we judge our own position in the light of others; and
others should not judge us. The Lord Himself knows what
He is doing.
First published in "A Witness and A
Testimony" magazine, May-Jun 1962, Vol 40-3