Their Divine Beginnlng

by JAMES BROWN | Category: Fellowship And Unity: | Jan 1950

Fellowship and Unity are divine ideals rich in blessing when pursued in faith and subjection to the Lord. They have been largely divested of their divine significance by man who has prostituted them to perverse and earthly ends.

The political and social chaos with its attendant miseries which marks the present phase of "man's day" will give place in the future to world-wide concord and unity; not of God, however, but of men inspired and energized thereto by the Devil, the "god of this world,"" the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience."

In that coming dark epoch of human lawlessness, when, at the Devil's bidding, "the beast," the "man of sin," the Antichrist, appears, and his sinister authority spreads over thc earth,

"all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, everyone whose name hath not been written in the book of life of the Lamb" (Revelation 13. 8).

A specious fellowship and unity thus emerge, and it may well be that then, during a brief spell of permitted licence, peace, security and prosperity will appear to justify the confidence of men in the "new order." But this culminating defiance of divine rule, and determination to evolve a social order answering to the carnal desires of man's fallen nature, will be overwhelmed by divine judgment at the glorious revealing of the Son of Man, whose name is" the Word of God," and who alone, by divine decree, is "King of kings and Lord of lords."

Of much graver concern to the believer, however, is the religious trend in human affairs. The progress of evil in the secular world to the crisis and judgment just mentioned is reflected in the course of religious development in Christendom. The Scriptures reveal a religious apostasy running its lawless way throughout the dispensation, spreading confusion as it goes. It is symbolized by the harlotry of the woman of Revelation 17. who is designated "the great harlot," doubtless in contrast to the true Bride; the wife of the Lamb. Of the woman it is written,

"MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (verse 5).

Though disunited and discordant at present, ultimate confederation of the numerous sects of Christendom will present an ungodly unity, just as the political world will do under Antichrist, a unity discernible to, and capable of exciting, the hostility of Antichrist and his confederate kings, who, as the unwitting instruments of divine retribution, will destroy her (verses 16 and 17).

These two great movements, political and religious, and the revealed development and final judgment thereof, should awaken deep exercise of soul on the part of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ lest through inexcusable ignorance of the issues involved any should come to be identified with either of them-whether in political and social betterment schemes, or in one or another of the religious sects and systems of men. The latter (viewed as a system, and apart from godly individuals ensnared therein) is an evil of more insidious character then the former inasmuch as it flourishes under a semblance, or form, of godliness which lacks entirely the power thereof (see 2 Timothy 3.5). It is also a complete reversal of the will of God in relation to the unity and fellowship of His people.

Well might the devout but troubled heart cry out, as it recoils almost in despair before the confusion and discord of Christendom, "Shew me Thy ways, 0 LORD, teach me Thy paths" (Psalm 25.4). The answer to that prayer lies in the Scriptures, for therein God has set before His children unity and fellowship as practicable and attainable realities. What is so obviously sensible and happy to all right thinking Christians is veritably the will of the Lord. The doctrine of the Lord should unite His people, even as the death of Christ was to the end that "He might . . . gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad" (John 11.52). Schism is sin, and the great object lessons of Scripture teach us so, as well as such explicit statements as are found in, for example, 1 Corinthians 12.25, Galatians 5.20, 1 Corinthians 1.10-18.

The first great divine example of fellowship and unity on earth was the community of Israel, and the Old Testament record thereof provides a striking pattern, or type, of what has ever been in the mind of God for His people in the present. A 'Holy Nation' a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all peoples," Israel anticipated in earthly experience the spiritual "holy nation," "a people for His own possession," of the present dispensation. In Israel's deliverance they were as one before Him, and Jehovah could speak of that happy day in later and sadder times,

"I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, the firstfruits of His increase" (Jeremiah 2.2, 8).

The LORD sought and found a dwelling place in Israel; He gave them "holy oracles," His living Word, to maintain them in unity and prosper them in fellowship; He led them to the land of His promise; He gave them one rule, and one divine service to be rendered in one place - the "place of the Name." The designed harmony of their whole economy was intended to witness to the character and ways of their One God, the LORD. They were ofttimes perverse and self-willed, and forsook the LORD, but as often as they repented, He was found of them again because He is gracious and full of compassion. In one especially sad epoch of disunity and lawlessness the explanation is given,

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that 'which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21.25);

right motives (in measure) but lawless behaviour, and such it will ever be when individualism displaces fellowship in subjection to the Lord. In contrast to that experience, however, there came a better time, of national unitv and tranquility, when the Psalmist could rejoice and say,

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is

For brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133.1).

All this contains the very alphabet of truth respecting collective life and service to the glory of God. The experiences were Israel's, the record thereof is ours, since

"Whatsoever things were 'written aforetime were written for our learning" (Romans 15.4).

"These things happened unto them by way of eram pIe; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Corinthians 10.11).

Turning now from an earthly to a heavenly example of fellowship and unity it will be comely to trace, with reverent mind, these precious features to their very source in the Godhead. The prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17. reveals, perhaps not much, but certainly enough for us to glimpse the perfect unity and fellowship which have ever subsisted within the sacred circle of the Triune God, that circle of holy and serene felicity wherein, with perfect and unbroken harmony, the eternal reciprocities of love are enjoyed with profound and utter satisfaction by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In yonder unsullied light, unapproachable by man, from all eternity the counsels of the Godhead, counsels of unutterable and ever expanding grace towards us, are pursued in perfect oneness and in the fellowship of purest love. The Father wills, the Son and the Spirit declare and fulfil, with an internal . unity, mutuality, and gladness which become the ground of all external manifestation and fulfilment. The Father speaks of the Son as "My fellow" (Zechariah 13.7), and the Son says to the Father,

"And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17.5).

Herein we contemplate, not independence of existence, but mutual relationship, dependence, and enjoyment of a glory shared.

"And all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine"

(John 17.10).

These thoughts are not on the human level; they flow. from the very heart of God, expressing the common joy and desires, in perfect unison, of the Father and the Son. In fallest harmony therewith is the equally divine and sovereign work of the Lord the Spirit, the gracious Holy Spirit, who in perfectly co-operative purpose and love conveys lovingly to our hearts these hallowed thoughts and desires, and effectuates, in those who subject themselves to the will of God, their practical outworking :"That thee, may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me" (John 17.21).

How clearly such intimate disclosures shew that there are not three independent personal Gods in the blessed Trinity individualism is utterly foreign to that ineffable fellowship. Each indeed ever had and ever will have perfect and sovereign Deity, but never has that high and glorious reality contained the remotest possibility of independent activity. Therein prevails absolute unity, alongside distinction of Persons, while permitting also for holy ends due subordination of the Son to the Father, and of the Holy Spirit to both the Father and the Son, in the working out of the one sovereign and gracious will of the one and only God. Thus, from reverent contemplation of the Being of God we learn of that unity of will and purpose, of that serene fellowship of love, of that personal subordination, and of that absence of individualism which, as we see and grasp their significance, should move us with spiritual alacrity to manifest the same in collective Christian life.

Without turning away from eternal verities, there is another heavenly, though created, object which yields an impressive lesson of unity and harmony, and that is "the Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Ephesians 1.22, 28). Salvation is indeed a personal matter, and one by one the redeemed find their place in Christ by faith. But that is the beginning, not the end, of the divine work in the soul. Each guilty sinner who puts his trust in Christ, and rests in His sin-atoning sacrifice, has his sins forgiven, is justified, receives the gift of eternal life, is at peace with God, and may rejoice with joy unspeakable in the assurance of glory with Christ by and by. But, in addition, he is baptized by the Lord Christ "in one Spirit into one body"; in sovereign grace he is built by Christ into that wondrous, unassailable, and indivisible divine unity, "My Church," that many-membered but perfect unity which, for all eternity, will be to" the praise of the glory of His grace" who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians, chapter 1. in full).

But the Scriptures shew that that heavenly and glorious Church, so peculiarly the subject of the Lord's work and care, and so beyond the power of earth or hell to injure that He will be able to present it to Himself a "glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing," has its expression characteristically here on earth, in time. Of the church of God in Corinth it is written "Now ye are body of Christ" (the Greek text has no definite article). This does not mean of course that that church of God, and others, were each "the body," but that each was to exhibit the characteristics of the one Church which is His body.

This leads us to a recognition of the only Scriptural sphere of fellowship and unity. Whatever use our God may make of individual testimony, the principles and precedents of His word relating to the present dispensation manifestly demonstrate that collective spiritual life and service are His intention. Thus the record in Acts shews us that sinners saved by grace were baptized and added, that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, in the Fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers (see Acts 2.41, 42). This precedent is the basic guide to collective Christian life, service and testimony, and in conformity thereto, as the work of the Lord progressed, those who were being saved were, in this place and in that, gathered out of the world and gathered together. In each place such became the church of God therein - one thing for God in each place. And here again the idea of individualism is entirely absent, for just as each soul did not stand alone, but was found by divine leading in the local church of God, so neither did each church of God stand alone, but was found united with others in the organic unity designated "the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1. 9); the Lord's own possession. It was no merely mystical unity, but the direct result of the obedience to the faith; each church became an imitator of preceding churches, right back to the initial precedent of the church in Jerusalem (see 1 Thessalonians 2.14). So was wrought out by the Holy Spirit's power the true external pattern of that fellowship and unity which is still the example to be followed by the faithful and obedient of God's children-not forgetting of course that the outward profession of the Community should be matched by a corresponding godliness of condition within.

Individualism is unscriptural; though personality is of God and is indestructible. Redeemed persons never lose their identity, even in Christ, but they are forever unified with others "in Christ." Correspondingly, here in time, saints in collective subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ are seen as "in the Lord" joined together in organic assembly life, as well as in the community life of the conjoined assemblies. To such as see and grasp the privileges of this high calling to earthly collective life, worship and witness, comes the solemn charge

"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4.1-8).

May the gracious Lord grant us His aid to this end, "till He come!"

JAMES BROWN | Jan 1950
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