"And David made him houses in the city of David; and he
prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the
Levites: for them has the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God,
and to minister unto him for ever." (1 Chron. 15:1-2).
"Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which thou hast heard
from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men, who shall be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with
me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. 2:1-3).
I do not know whether the
connection between those passages is apparent to you immediately,
but there certainly is one. None ought to carry the ark of
God but the Levites; for them has the Lord chosen to carry the
ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. The two
fragments in the 2nd chapter of the 2nd letter to Timothy, verses
1 and 3: Be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus... Take your part in suffering hardship, as a good soldier
of Christ Jesus, bring us into the spiritual meaning of
that word in Chronicles, that is, into the place of the work of
Levites.
The Levites, as you know, are a
very interesting people and their history is full of valuable
things for the Lords people in all times. But there is one
thing amongst those many things which is on my heart particularly
just now, which I feel the Lord would have us consider. It is
that responsibility represented by being in the position of
Levites. You will remember that this word of Davids was the
outcome of some history which was full of tragedy. One of the
very many snares set by the adversary against the Lords
testimony in the life of David had succeeded in the incident of
the cart which David had inadvertently, forgetfully, unwatchfully
constructed to bear the ark. It was a violation of the law of the
Lord as here set down, with the result that one man, at least,
had died a tragic death, and the whole testimony had been brought
to a standstill for many years, for quite a considerable time.
Then eventually, after the chastening, the discipline by which
David had come to recollection, to remember the Lords word
about the carrying of that ark of testimony, a new spiritual
movement was made, and things were adjusted. Now, according to
the word of the Lord which David had remembered, the ark was
brought out and committed to the Levites, and David says, not a
cart, but: None ought to bear the ark of God but the
Levites, for them has God chosen.... Theirs was a peculiar
responsibility among the Lords people, and they had got to
take their responsibility and it was not to be transferred to any
other means. The responsibility belonged to them, and if they did
not take their responsibility, then the testimony suffered loss,
tragedy came in amongst the Lords people and everything
went wrong. That is exactly what happened. When the Levites were
not taking their responsibility then there was weakness, failure,
breakdown, arrest, and the Lord was dishonoured. Now when the
Levites are eventually brought into their place and take their
responsibility things go on, and the ark of the testimony is
brought to a position of advancement.
It is just that word, that
thought about taking responsibility for the testimony that is
weighing upon my own heart; that which is meant by our place as
Levites. It is a place of spiritual strength, as over against a
place of spiritual immaturity and weakness. You will remember
that the Levites could not enter upon their ministry until they
were 30 years of age, and then they had to give it up when they
were 50. While the age of 20 was the age for going to war, the
entering upon this Levitical ministry in fulness was not allowed
until they were 30, and then they had to retire at 50. (Of
course, that does not create a precedent for retiring from the
work of the Lord when you are 50!). It is a spiritual thing that
is represented, and all that it says is this, that for this
carrying of the Lords testimony in spiritual
responsibility, full strength is required. It was a taking out of
life of the section of the best years, the years of full
strength. That full strength was related particularly to
Levitical ministry. Now literally it is not carried over, of
course, to the work of the Lord now. That is, it does not apply
in the sense that we may not come into a place of full
responsibility until we reach a certain age and then we must give
it up when we reach another age. But it does mean this, that
there is required a spiritual strength to take this
responsibility, and the Lord calls for the taking of this
responsibility for His testimony, for His glory, and therefore He
calls for us to be strong.
Now you see exactly that element
in this passage in Timothy: You therefore, my child, be
strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; there is
your spiritual strength. What is it for? Well, so far as Timothy
was concerned, it was that he might take his part in suffering
hardship. So far as others were concerned he was to commit to
faithful men these treasures which had been committed to him. You
see the whole background is Levitical. Timothy and the others,
faithful men, who have come to a place where they can take
responsibility; and the necessity for that is spiritual strength.
So, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Very simply this says to us that
there is a tremendous need for people to take responsibility for
the Lords testimony, and not always to regard certain
others as being the people who are solely responsible; not to
remain babes, to be carried and nursed, and to have all our own
personal feelings considered, being always so sensitive and open
to take childish offences, leaving the weight of things
spiritually to others. Such can never take responsibility, such
will never take their share in suffering hardship, such will
never be good soldiers of Jesus Christ; with such the testimony
will never be safe. Perhaps one of the greatest spiritual
tragedies of our time is the fact that so few are in a
sufficiently strong spiritual state to be able to shoulder the
responsibility for the Lords testimony themselves. They
belong to the great camp which follows. Yes, they are prepared to
follow where others take the testimony, but they are followers;
they are not taking responsibility.
I feel quite sure that it was
because Israel had not recognised spiritually the meaning of the
Levites in their midst that they failed so constantly through the
wilderness. The Levites had been chosen to take the place of the
priestly firstborn in every family. The firstborn in every family
was the natural priest of the household, and took responsibility
in the household in priestly matters. Now the Levites as a tribe
were chosen to substitute the firstborn and became the tribe of
the firstborn ones. If all Israel had recognised that, and abode
by the spiritual truth, that in those Levites was their
responsibility, that what the Levites were doing was only as them
representatively, and that the responsibility resting upon the
Levites was their responsibility, and that they were vitally
linked with that testimony being borne by the Levites, there
would not have been that detachment which meant so much weakness
and found the general company constantly drawing back, wavering
in uncertainty, unsettlement, in a place where they were as
people who had never seriously taken responsibility for the Lords
testimony. They were in a detached state of mind; the Levites
carrying the ark were one thing, and all they had to do was to
follow. And so they followed very often murmuring and
complaining, and they were not taking the responsibility that was
resting upon their representatives.
I feel that today we have
something very much like that. A large number of those who belong
to the Lord are just in the camp, in the throng of the Lords
people, and leaving the main responsibility with others. They are
not regarding it as their first concern. They are ready to
follow, but they are not ready to take responsibility. They like
to see things going on, but for themselves they do not care to be
responsible for things going on. Now the Lord would say to us,
Take your share, take your part in the sufferings as a good
soldier, be strengthened. Do not be as those Corinthians, always
babes, carried about with every wind; not as those Hebrews who,
when they ought to be teachers, still needed that someone should
teach them the first principles. Take responsibility spiritually,
let the testimony of the Lord Jesus be your personal business.
Take the attitude in a right way that if you fail
the whole thing might fail. I think we should be quite
justified in taking an attitude like that, that this thing, after
all, does very largely depend upon us individually, that this is
our business, our responsibility; that we are not just one of a
crowd, but a responsible member. Levites are not a separate class
of people from all others; they are those who have spiritually
taken responsibility. That is the only difference between Levites
and the rest of the people. The Lord has found them to be His
responsible people. Be strengthened unto taking your share in the
hardship, come up to that state of spiritual strength, reaching
out to the Lord, in order to take responsibility. I do believe
that if we recognised that we were called to the responsibility,
and, at the same time, were so deeply conscious of our own
weakness, for the Lords sake, for the sake of His
testimony, if we reached out to Him, He would give us more
strength. So often we are not reaching out for the glory of the
Lord and the maintenance of His full testimony. The way to get
strengthened is to take on more than you can carry.
Perhaps you are working the
other way. You say, When I am stronger I shall be able to take
responsibility; when the Lord gives me more strength then I shall
be more serviceable to Him. I will ask you if the Lord has ever
done that with you. What is your experience? Has the Lord come to
you and started by giving you, in the first place, a great deal
of strength and enablement in order that you may be able to take
the responsibility, or has He come to you and called you to take
the responsibility? Your experience differs from mine very much
if it is not the second way. I have found all along that the Lord
makes demands and calls for an exercise of faith, and then meets
the demand. We must not wait until we are such wonderful people
before we do anything for the Lord and begin to take
responsibility. We must recognise that the Lord says: Take your
share, and then, recognising your responsibility, you may take
your strength. Strength comes not along the line merely of
consciously needing strength, but along the line of recognising
that for which we need the strength. It is the object of the
strength that brings the strength. We must have a motive for it.
We say, Now Lord, here is this interest of Yours. I am
unequal to it, but because it is Your interest I must be
strengthened unto it, and I come for strength for Your interest,
not just because I want to be stronger. That is the ground
upon which the Lord works.
The Levites ought to bear the
ark. It is their responsibility, and none but the Levites ought
to bear it. It is the responsibility of those who have come to a
place of recognising how tremendously the Lords interests
are bound up with their life. That is priestly ministry. You see,
the tabernacle is the place of the crowned King. The King
Eternal, Invisible is in the tabernacle in the midst. All that
relates to His glory, His honour, His majesty, as invisibly
dwelling among His people is put into the hands of the Levities.
They are as it were the bodyguard here on earth of the King
invisible. They have to keep things for Him, watch His interests,
maintain His testimony in strength, guard against the
encroachment of those things which would pollute. And that is
just where we are. The Lord is in the midst of us, the Lord is
with His people, but things have got to be maintained in
accordance with the Lords presence, and some have to take
responsibility for that. It is not just to be a latent and
passive fact, things have got to be kept in accordance with the
presence of such a One as the Lord. He is holy, then the work of
holiness is committed to the Levites. He is in power and majesty,
then the power and the majesty of the Lord is the responsibility
of the Levites. It is responsibility for what is related to the
Lord as present, the testimony of the Lord, and that is our
business. We have to be faithful: ...the same commit to
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. It
all speaks of a position, a standard, a life that is not just the
Bible; not just the scholar. We shall always be that in a sense
to the end but, able to teach others also, taking
responsibility for the testimony.
The Levites were divided, as you
know, into three sections. They had three departments of
responsibility. One section, the firstborn, had the vessels of
the sanctuary, all the holy vessels; another section had all the
curtains and the tapestries; and the third had the bars, the
heavier work, or the heavier side of things. We may have our
different aspects of work. There are those Levites whose ministry
is, shall I say, more essentially spiritual; it may belong to the
vessels of the sanctuary. There are others whose work is in
another direction. Mine it may be to mainly minister in the Word
of the Lord, what a lot of people would call the spiritual
ministry, (I repudiate that suggestion that spiritual
ministry is bound up with people who preach that is not
spiritual ministry only.) There may be others who minister in
other spheres such as business life or household work. The
Levites were divided into sections of different kinds of work.
Some had the rougher work, the heavy bars and boards of the
tabernacle, more physically strenuous than the carrying of the
pots and the pans and the golden vessels and implements; but it
was all Levitical work, they were all one people, one tribe.
Responsibility rested upon all equally, for all these parts made
one ministry. And so your sphere, your work and mine may differ,
but it is one ministry, one calling, one responsibility, one
testimony. This emphasis is upon taking it, assuming it,
regarding ourselves as being responsible people in the testimony
of the Lord.
I am sure the Lords heart
must long for that. I am sure that often He has had, in looking
at me, to say, Oh, I wish I could trust him more! I wish he were
more reliable, more responsible! And I know that as I have looked
at many of the Lords people I have said, I wish that they
did not need so much looking after; if only they would begin to
stand on their own feet, and take responsibility, so that we need
not worry about them any more because we know that they can be
trusted! They need urging and encouraging; and all the time
following up and putting right, because they have taken offence,
and so on. If only they would take the responsibility and go
right on in these things and not need to be looked after. How
much more progress the testimony would make!
Now may the Lord give us the
grace to take our share in the sufferings as good soldiers of
Jesus Christ, to be strengthened with the grace that is in Christ
Jesus, to bear the testimony of the Lord.
Published in "The Golden Candlestick" magazine, Vol 132 from previously unpublished manuscripts.