(Neh. 3:)
(Continued from page 213.)
"Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and
set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof."
Nature has its place in the economy of grace. Those who utterly decry it show but poor acquaintance with their Bibles. Our bodies, with all their marvelous members, belong to the old creation still; but He who will glorify them by and by finds use for them in His own service even now in the day of their humiliation.
Evil is not in natural things themselves, but is in the abuse of them. Every talent we have is to be used for His glory. Woe to the man who hides one of them away, under pretense that nature-in this sense-is opposed to grace!
I have thought the Old Gate might remind us of this. It has its place in the wall. It might speak of the old used in the new, and thus it would seem to say, " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom 12:i). The child of God should remember that he has been bought with a price. His body is purchased with the blood of Christ. He is not called to "consecrate" himself, as people put it to-day, but to gladly own that he is already consecrated by the death of the Lord Jesus. The blood and oil have been placed on the ear, the hand, and the foot. He belongs to Christ:-the ear, to listen for His commandment; the hand, to do His bidding; the foot, to run in His ways.
Can any one truly enter into this, and yet be careless in regard to service ? Impossible. You are not only saved from hell, but purchased to be the bondman of Jesus Christ.
There is a depth of meaning in the word '' present, " as noted above. Your body is His already. He might simply demand His own. But in grace He says, " I beseech you . . . present your body." Have you done so ? Have you, in other words, owned His claims upon you ? If not, will you longer delay? O beloved, yield yourself unto Him, that thus you may bring forth fruit unto God. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit " (John 15:8).
I do not press it that the Old Gate was meant to intimate this special truth, and I trust none will quibble over an application. It might also suggest the judgment of the old man-the recognition that God has condemned him in toto, and the mortification of his deeds. Without this there can be no true service; and in fact the two things run very closely together.
But whatever the meaning one more spiritually-minded may discern, the fact remains that "ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price." It is this I seek to emphasize, for it is, with many, well-nigh forgotten. Vast numbers of Christians live as though their only thought was to enjoy the present scene, "on the east of Jordan;" pampering every whim of their blood-purchased bodies, and looking forward to going to heaven at last without having ever known the toil and conflict-yet the deep, hidden joy-of the servant's path.
Especially is this often so of those in comfortable and easy circumstances. The willing workers of verse 8 might well rebuke such. "Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries." I question if goldsmiths' and apothecaries' sons had known much of downright labor, but here we see them hard at work helping to fortify Jerusalem. God has not forgotten that their soft white hands became hardened and sun-burned as they used trowel and mortar on the walls of the holy city.
Nor does He forget the devoted women of verse 12. "Next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters." It must have been a grand sight to behold their ruler and his daughters so zealously affected in a good thing. Our sisters have here a bright example of devotedness to the Lord. Would that it might be followed by many today!
But if we are to be used of God there must be not only this recognizing of His claims upon us, but also that lowliness of spirit that ever commends a servant; and so we pass on to
THE VALLEY GATE.
" The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah" (ver. 13).
This surely suggests humility-a willingness to take a lowly place that thus the Lord may be exalted. One fears it is a gate little used by many of us nowadays.
Pride is ever characteristic of fallen creatures, who have nothing to be proud of; for "what hast thou that thou hast not received ? " Even in connection with- service for 'the Lord, how this unholy thing creeps in, leading one servant to be jealous of another, instead of catching the Master's voice as He says, " What is that to thee ? follow thou Me "!
What Cowper says of sin in general may be predicated of pride in particular:
" It twines itself about my thoughts, And slides Into my prayer."
It is indeed the root-sin of all. By it Satan himself fell, and one "being lifted up with pride, falls into the condemnation of the devil."
God has said, "To this man will I look; to him that is humble, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word." It is perhaps only a truism to write that, only as one walks humbly before Him, is he in a condition of soul to be safely used in service. I do not mean that God cannot overrule all things, and in a sense use even the basest of men. The devil himself has to serve. God used Balaam, and others equally ungodly. But in such cases it is to the condemnation of the very one used.
To go on preaching and handling the truth of God while the heart is lifted up and the eyes lofty is one of the most dangerous courses one can take, and certain to end in ruin and disaster.
We have much cause, as we contemplate our coldness and indifference, and the appalling power of the world over us, to be on our faces before God, instead of walking in pride, only to learn eventually that He "is able to abase" us, as in the case of Babylon's haughty king. If we humble not ourselves, He must humble us in His own way, for it is part of His purpose to "hide pride from man."
Keeping this, then, before our minds, we pass on to the solemn and much-needed lesson of
THE DUNG GATE.
"But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem" (ver. 14).
Humbling work this, for a ruler, but necessary labor surely.
The Dung Gate was the port whence they carried forth the filth, that the city might not be denied. And so we read, " Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God " (2 Cor. 7:i).
Real blessing there cannot be if this is forgotten ; but if we have truly learned the lesson of the Valley Gate, that of the Dung Gate will be no difficulty. As saints and servants we are called, not to unclean-ness, but to holiness. We are to cleanse ourselves; that is, to judge, in the presence of God, and turn away from, all filthiness-let its form be the grosser one of the flesh, or the more unobjectionable (in the eyes of men) of the spirit.
In the first three chapters of Romans we have sharply delineated the naked hideousness of the filthiness of the flesh. In the first three chapters of 1st Corinthians we have unveiled the filthiness of the spirit :a mind exalting itself against God and His Christ-a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish. So we read elsewhere of the "desires of the flesh and of the mind," in which we once walked. (See Eph. 2:)
From all these things we are now called to cleanse ourselves. Body and mind alike are to be preserved free from impurity, for the glory of God.
"Flee also youthful lusts" is a much-needed word. In the world about us, men live to pander to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It should be otherwise with the Christian, and must be otherwise if he is to be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Down with the bars of the Dung Gate, brethren, out with the filth!"Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." H. A. I.
(To be continued.)