The Way to God's End # 2

The Way to God's End - 2

The Way of Spiritual Strength

(a) A Life of Faith In Separation Unto God

At that point in their history, when things were like that, David is introduced. Over against Saul, who is a type of the world principle in the Church, David is brought into view, and we have these three gatherings to David; and they are very significant in relation to what we have just been saying. David, then, represents separation unto God and a life of faith. Israel had said, "Make us  a king ... like all the nations." 'We want something visible to rest upon, something we can see and take account of with our senses, something tangible, something altogether contrary to the life of faith.' The Lord said, "They have rejected Me, that I should not be king over them" (1 Samuel 8:7). They turned from a life of faith. David comes in as God's principle of faith calling for separation from the world principle, the world spirit, the world mentality. Then it is not long before David, having been quite clearly indicated  and signalized by God as the one with whom God was and to whom He had committed Himself, is, by the sovereignty of God, put into a position which is going to be the testing situation for the people of God. He provides a supreme test as to whether these people really are going on with God, or going on with Saul; going on with heaven, or with the world; going on in the Spirit, or in the flesh. David becomes the test now of spirituality - real spirituality.

In the first place, we find him in the cave in the wilderness - that is, the place outside,spiritually outside, in rejection; the place apart from that worldly system which had captured the Lord's people; apart from that merely traditional order of things which was only outward, in form and ordinances, but not a thing of the heart. David was put right outside of that in the wilderness, and of course he was repudiated by that whole official system, and it was  positively against him - if possible,for his destruction. So that the very first thing that arose for the people of God was the question of their discernment, discernment as to where God really was - with Saul or with David - and as to where their deepest spiritual needs would be met. I think it is very unfortunate that the Hebrew word has been translated "discontented" in the text. It would have been far better to keep the marginal rendering in the text - "bitter of soul." It has been made use of by a lot of people who speak disparagingly of a place as a 'cave of Adullam,' implying that it is a place of a lot of discontented and disgruntled people who cannot get on with any body else. But to give it that kind of meaning is to sweep aside the whole spiritual significance of this. God has had to do this sort of thing again and again. When the Church has departed from a purely spiritual, heavenly position,a true life of separation unto Himself, it has been found that the majority were not ready for it, and then people have said of them, 'Oh, that is a cave of Adullam, a lot of discontented people.' No, they were bitter of soul, and unable to meet their spiritual liabilities; in debt because the provision for spiritual competency had been lost on account of something quite false having gained the position amongst the Lord's people. That is quite a true position spiritually.

But  here was David outside of that whole world system that had captured the Lord's people, and it was a question of whether the Lord's people could discern; and those that did discern went out to David to a place of faith.

(b) Union With Christ In Death

What I want to say here in the first place is that this position in the wilderness, and all that it involved for David and for those who went out to him, clearly and positively represents the believer's union with Christ in death. These others have been glorying in this wonderful fellow Saul, glorying in this idea of their's of a great kingdom. It was a worldly thing, according to the nations. Paul said, "Far be it from me to glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). It is that union with Christ in death to the whole world spirit and system, to the whole world tendency that is constantly invading the Church, like the Philistines who came in again and again with their worldly principles, causing trouble and bringing the Lord's people into a place where He could not go on with them nor commit Himself to them. Those who went out to David took a position outside of that, and represent the truly spiritual people who take their place in that aspect of the Cross which means death to that whole thing. David's life was being sought, and those who joined him became fugitives with him and really, from one standpoint, it was a laying down of  their life to the whole world. They lost their position and all their hopes in that kingdom. They laid down their life, and took all the risks bound up with associating with David.

(c) Union With Christ In Resurrection

The second passage, at the beginning of 1 Chronicles twelve, brings us to Ziklag. We will not stay to rehearse how David came into possession of the city, but here we find that in Ziklag there was another secession to David. What we do not know about Ziklag is that while David and his men were away one day, the Amalekites made a raid on the city and captured everything, wives and children and all possessions, and then burned the city with fire and went off. When David and his men came back, they found everything gone or destroyed. They wept, it says, "until they had no more power to weep." It was a very serious and critical situation. It was the death side in very truth. But then it says, "David strengthened himself in the Lord his God," and he inquired of the Lord whether he should pursue after the Amalekites,and the Lord said, "Yes, pursue." The Lord sovereignly facilitated his overtaking of the Amalekites, so that he recovered everything (1 Samuel 30:1-31).

This is another stage in true spiritual life and fullness. To me it corresponds to the Letter to the Romans. In the first chapter of that letter you find everything being lost. From the very first verses, you mark this movement to discover something that has been lost in Adam, and when you get to the end of chapter five, you have reached the point where everything is lost. Chapter six brings in the Cross, and from then onward you find everything is being recovered. Everything that was lost is recovered through the Cross. In chapter eight, you have a full recovery, and you find that the whole creation, which was subjected to vanity, is recovered. All that was lost through Adam's sin has now been recovered, and this is the resurrection side of the Cross. The death always goes with it. The Lord never overlooks the death side - that in Adam, in the world under judgment, everything is lost. In the case of David we carry over from the wilderness to Ziklag on the death side, but then we take a further step here to the recovery of everything in resurrection. David strengthened himself in his God. The Lord said, "Pursue ... overtake, and (thou) shalt without fail recover all." That is the other side. There is resurrection union with the Lord Jesus as well as death union. It would not do for us to take the death position with Christ and leave it there; we must come on to the other side. Spiritual progress means the apprehending of Christ risen for the recovery of all that has been lost: and it has been recovered. It was a very full recovery.

continued with # 3 - (d) Union With Christ in the Heavenlies