In connection with a paper which appeared in the last number, we would make a few further remarks on this important chapter. It contains much practical instruction.
God has allowed man many times to struggle against, and apparently to defeat the counsels of His love; and this chapter describes the willful opposition of Israel to the tender care of their shepherd.
The character of His shepherd care is marked by the two staves “Beauty” and “Bands.” He was appointed to feed them with this view, that they might be so beautiful in moral comeliness, and so strong in the grace which He gave, and so united in holy fellowship, that all nations might call them blessed. It was for this end that they were separated from the nations, that they might be blessed and a blessing unto others: and while they continued to value the privilege of being separate, they were not rejected, though they often transgressed and were often punished; yet, when in their distress, they sought the Lord to lean upon His arm, they were not cast off; but when they ceased to value their privilege of being separate into identification with His strength, and when they professedly and openly acknowledged the king of Assyria as their hope, them the love of God obliged Him to disown them. For to pour grace and goodness upon those who were separate and leaning upon Him, would end in universal good; because it would lead to Him, who alone can satisfy every want: but to accredit that which was resting on the strength of man, would be to guide into sorrow and disappointment of spirit. It would encourage the leaning on a broken reed.
Accordingly He brake the staff Beauty, The visible token of His presence departed from the temple; the beauty of the Lord their God was no longer upon them, establishing their handiwork; and men could no longer say what had been said to Solomon “Happy are these thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom.”
The staff of Beauty was broken. The Gentile image, as revealed to Daniel, was allowed to arise. The power and the glory were given to it, but it was the power of blessing no longer; for it was no longer administered by the shepherd of Israel; though it is His rightful possession, and soon He shall clothe Himself with it again.
The flock at large cared little about the breaking of Beauty, for they understood it not. But “the poor of the flock, the remnant according to the election of grace,” understood that it was the word of the Lord. They are marked as having been long the object of the shepherd’s care; for whose sakes He was content to wait upon the universal flock, even after they had become, in God’s sentence, the flock of slaughter; i.e. devoted to judgment. (verse 7) But “Bands” was allowed to remain, even after Beauty was broken. The holy union of the family of Jacob was, as it were, the platform of blessing, on which His goodness was to be known to all the peoples: and He was lothe to break it up; and therefore, though no longer professing to feed the universal flock, for He had now said, “I will not feed you,” yet He still fed the “poor of the flock,” and was still ready to feed all that should come and submit to the one staff which still remained unbroken. But they continued regardless both of what they had lost and of what they were losing; and instead of being humbled when He personally came to try them for the last time, they proudly said, “We are Abraham’s seed, we were never in bondage to any man,” and they valued the shepherd of Israel at thirty pieces of silver.
And then Bands was broken also. The holy union of those who should have been brethren in the common blessing of separation from the rest of the world, was broken up, and no vision of peace was seen in Jerusalem.
The “poor of the flock” were not forgotten. It was said to them, “Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” But as to the rest, they have passed and they will pass from shepherd to shepherd, until they shall come, as they speedily will, beneath the care of their last shepherd, even Antichrist, “who shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed him that standeth still, but he shall eat of the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces.” (verse 16.)
But these things were written for our instruction. The Jewish branch was broken off from its own olive tree, but the Gentile was grafted in. The Jewish flock was displaced, but a Gentile flock was chosen; they were fed beneath the staff Beauty at first; and they answered to its care. “I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again— “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (Rom. 1) Such is the testimony of the Spirit to the early state of the Gentile Church.
But when did this Beauty depart? It soon began to wane and it was waning long, but when they professedly ceased to be Nazarites, separate unto the Lord, it departed altogether. Whilst they rejoiced in believing that they had no earthly head nor any earthly power but that their Head had passed into the heavens, and chat their power was the strength of His Spirit—then they were strong, though they were not untried by the enemy. They were tried first by the persecutions arising from without, and they were strong because they rested on the Lord; they were tried with heresies and persecutions arising from within, they sought refuge in the powers of earth and the Beauty departed like the Shechinah from the temple; and the Church, as formerly constituted upon earth to be the witness of Christ’s glory, ceased to be recognized in this character at all. The Church and the world were no longer distinguishable, and God could not give His glory to the world, The staff Beauty “was broken in that day, and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.”
But the others have not known it. The sentence, “I will not feed you” has been long pronounced, yet they still continue to say in careless thoughtlessness— “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Like the Jews who prided themselves in saying, “We are Abraham’s seed,” long after they had practically renounced every moral feature by which Abraham was characterized; so also do the Gentiles in apostasy continue to boast that they are the successors of the Apostles and the inheritors of their power, and the very thought of apostasy is a stranger to their minds.
But not only so, not only are they grasping a phantom, in entire unconsciousness of the reality which they have lost, but the blessing which yet remains is neglected or despised. There is yet one staff, under which He would feed whosoever comes, and that staff is Bands; but every system which they have constructed whilst clothing the world with the garments of the Church, has been such as to hinder true Christian brotherhood and the unity of the one Spirit, by constraining to uniformity, and thereby multiplying division.
Nor have “the poor of the flock” walked in wisdom. There are two things which become them; first—to testify against those who would speak and act as though Beauty had not been broken; i.e., as though there were no apostasy; and secondly—to remember that “Unity” is the one thing to which the voice of their shepherd continues to call. But even the poor of the flock have not regarded these things, and are losing both the privilege of testifying against the evil and the blessing of obedience to the good.
To what amount of blessing obedience might lead it is impossible for any to say. The Holy Spirit, though grieved, has not left the poor of the flock, but He abideth with them and will abide with them even to the end. And if we were seeking to be united in the bond of peace and to edify one another in love, we should find that He still gives in measure the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and enables to speak to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
These are gifts which “the poor of the flock” value even more than the gifts of healing or the working of miracles; but the rest would not recognize their preciousness, for they would give the Church no beauty or authority of testimony in the eyes of the world. They would only lead towards the meekness, and passiveness, and separateness of Christ; and such separateness the world is even now reprobating as folly, rather than recognizing as good.
But to those among the remnant, who are of single eye, it would carry a moral testimony of no trifling power. The example even of one believer who forsakes houses or lands for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, is not felt to be powerless; and if the testimony were the united testimony of many, there would doubtless be much result of blessing. Like the testimony of Christ, in humiliation, it might be despised and rejected of men, but it would work its work among the children of the kingdom.
I firmly believe that this chapter teaches us a lesson of infinite importance now; every one may see how all systems are being shaken and many are devising new plans. Let this be the touchstone; whether they meet the great present requirement of our shepherd—Unity; for if they impede the unity of the poor of the flock, they may at once be rejected as essentially evil. But oh! it is indeed very grievous, and if we had more of the Spirit, we should feel our hearts burthened, when we remember how little the children of the kingdom think of unity, though it is the great desire of the shepherd’s mind; the fruit of simple obedience to that plain command, “whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”
Such unity the Lord would bless: it is the necessary pre-requisite to mutual edification in love, without which the Church cannot flourish so as for fruit to abound. But such unity is not found. We are separated and divided, and never meet together at all.
The staff “Bands” is and may be despised, but it will he broken at an hour when men think not; and then both Jew and Gentile will pass together under the care of that wicked one, who is described in the latter part of this chapter, and of whom it is written, that all shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life; (Rev. 13) for God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. (2 Thess. 2)
Dear Christian brethren, if these principles be true, our path is clearly determined. We have to remember that “Beauty” is broken; and therefore we need not wonder that strength and comeliness have departed. We have to remember also that “Bands” remaineth, and that there is the point of our present obedience. And whilst we fully recognize the former standing and present responsibilities of the general flock, we must beware of treating them as though the Lo-ammi sentence, “I will not, feed you,” (Zech. 11) had not been pronounced against them. We must watchfully remember that that sentence is irreversibly past, and that the poor of the flock are alone to be recognized as those whom the Shepherd really feedeth with the staff BANDS.
May He add unto their number daily, for His own mercies’ sake.