ELDER DIRKES WHAT'S IN A NAME? SIMEON...

[ed. this is a reprint from Banner of Hope 2:1, June 2008]


WHAT’S IN A NAME:
“SIMEON”
“And she conceived again and bare a son; and said, because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this also: and she called his name Simeon.” (Gen. 29:33)

Leah conceived again and a second son was born unto Jacob! It may be reasonably understood how that Jacob had fulfilled his marital responsibility to Leah as he ‘went in unto her’ and she conceived and bore the first son, Reuben. He had taken her to wife and became one with her in the flesh though he did not love her. This obligation being completed, it would not have been totally inconceivable that he would have abandoned Leah for Rachel whom he loved, but he did not. Or even understandable that Leah would refuse him this privilege of consorting because of how she had been humiliated before her father and her people, but she did not. Or that God would have no regard for this purely physical attraction and sensual relationship that had nothing to do with love, yet He continued to bless them. Contrary to the logic of society which are the traditions of man, Leah did not rush off to find some silver tongued solicitor to file for divorce based on ‘irreconcilable differences’ or ‘loss of spousal consortion’ or ‘mental cruelty and emotional anguish’. She did not take her son and flee seeking ‘child support’ and ‘alimony’ presuming to be entitled to half the communal estate of Jacob and his inheritance.

Sound familiar? An objection may be raised that these ‘social benefits’ for the protection of the abused wife and child were not available in Old Testament time and that would be a valid point, to a certain extent. The modern social programs which we are all too familiar with, were not in place, but the putting away of a wife certainly was a common practice. It was and still is in many cultures so common and protected by law and religion, to permanently ‘dispose’ of a wife because she no longer pleases her husband. And certainly the selfishness and arrogance of the offended party is the same today as it was then, as is the greed and avarice of the victim defendant. The question then is, without these ‘magnanimous’ programs to attend to one in such dire straits, who took care of poor Leah? Did Laben, her father, come to her rescue? Did the people of her land take up her cause and rally to her defense? No! Why? She belonged to her husband. He had worked seven years for her and had purchased the rights to her. She was not her own for she had been bought with a price and belonged to him. Laben relinquished the custodial lordship of the father over her and had given her over to the lordship of her husband. He dare not interfere or presume to take her back. Leah understood this, the people of the land acknowledged it and Jacob exercised it. The head of the wife is the husband and the head of the husband is God. To have her head uncovered, would be a shame and a reproach to her as well as a disgrace to her husband. To uncover his head by intruding on his lordship over his bride would be to intrude upon the sovereignty of God who is Lord over all, which type the husband portrays. (I do not mean to make light of or appear condescending to anyone who may have experienced the heartbreak and anguish of a divorce or circumstances like these. The scripture gives us no record of neglect or abuse on the part of Jacob toward Leah. He included her in his household and continued to give her ‘constant attention’. Our society has not only made it convenient to divorce but in many cases profitable. We are attempting to present a far more beautiful depiction of Almighty God and His care for His bride to praise His name.)

The testimony of the scriptures give the only explanation for the behavior of Leah in the midst of all this pain and hardship. This was her labour assigned unto her by the hand of the Almighty for her to be exercised by (Ecc. 1:13). She was born into this world before Rachael, married before Rachael and unloved of her husband. This was the time of her habitation and the manifestation of the limitations thereof (Acts 17:26). She was made willingly subservient to her husband according to the One who works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11). And she conceived again, for the fruit of the womb is of the Lord (Ps. 127:3). The course of her life was not her own nor was the manner in which she would live of her own doing, for the way of man is not in himself, it is not of him that walks to direct his steps (Jer. 10:23). Shall we continue? The Word speaks for Himself and is not wearied for proof, for He commands all mankind to try Him and prove Him to see that He is God. It is He that has made us and not we ourselves. We are His workmanship and there is nothing that we have that has not been given to us according to His good pleasure, no, not in possession, personality or station in life. He set the moment of our emergence onto the stage called time. He set and directs each of our steps, hedging in our ways by perpetual decrees that enable us to go the way He ordained and prevent us from wandering astray. He has granted us life and breath and all things necessary to carry out the assignment without possibility of failure. He causes us to walk as He decrees, with each and every step in exact compliance to His will by making us willing in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3). It matters not if the vessel is a child of grace or of the seed of the serpent for none can resist His will. He is King of Kings and Lord over all.

Therefore, for this cause, did He raise Leah up, that He should shew forth His power in her and that His name might be declared throughout the land from generation to generation. She was not left to fend for herself anymore than she was left uncared for and unprotected. Nor was she left to the villainy of a sadistic husband for Jacob was as guided and directed as she was, yea even more being a child of promise. They were both in His care and so, as the husbandman over His vineyard, He caused the natural course of the marital relationship to continue and Leah conceived again.

“…because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, He hath therefore given me this also…”

Leah had an interesting concept of God. She surmised that God had heard that she was hated of Jacob and therefore He blessed her with some sort of consolation. She did not say that she cried unto the Lord and He inclined His ear unto her, as David would record many years later. She does not acknowledge His sovereignty or His power but rather gives the impression that this information came to God by some unmentioned medium and caused Him to respond. Was she hated more since the birth of Reuben? Was she hated more because of the birth of Reuben? Was Jacob complaining to the Lord of his hatred for her as he went in unto her and she conceived? Because of the birth of Reuben, had Jacob’s love for Rachael grown proportionately to his hatred for Leah? The answers to these inquiries would be speculative at best and could not be supported by scripture. Leah’s conclusion that because God had heard THAT she was hated, gives every indication that she believed this to be a time event in which God had no prior knowledge. It also indicates that God responded, reacted or worse yet changed His plans because of this hatred. An ever changing, reactionary god who can be intimidated or influenced through adverse or contrary conditions is the definition of the god of today’s modern religious society. He is not the God who rules and commands; he is the god who must hurry about in a state of confusion frantically hoping that everything works out the way MAN wants it so everyone will be happy and love him. He is not the God who calls those things that are not as though they had already been; he’s the god who looked down the annals of time to see how man would react and made his plans accordingly. He is not the Lord God Omnipotent who is seated on His throne as all creation fulfills His commandments; he’s the god who hears a whisper or a rumor and must rush to see what it is so it does not adversely affect his plans. This is the god whom Leah knows.

“…he hath therefore given me this also….”

Leah’s god was now compounding the situation with more problems and thereby adding to her anguish. She was hated of her husband, outcast of her family, despised by her counterpart Rachael and now further humiliated by another child. God had not risen up to defend her but rather had added insult to injury. Would this line of reasoning conclude that God hated her also? Or at best was sadistic and malevolent? This premise is the prelude to the Greek and Roman mythologies in which superior deities, after acting out some sexual fantasy and impregnating a young maiden, would toy with the inferior mortals by heaping burdens upon them by casting obstacles in their way, in some sadistic manner, to amuse themselves, while perched safely away in some high and lofty mountain. These deities would strive to impede the way and oppress the mortals with the intent that when all fleshly attempts had failed to overcome these trials and hardships, they would then turn to the gods, praying for assistance and deliverance. If the diminutive mortals did not circum to this pressure and influence, pestilence, famine, drought and all form of catastrophe would follow. This insurmountable fear of reprisal influencing every aspect of daily life would ensure a never ending remembrance and worship in the poetic sonnets, written and sung about the adventures, in praise to the great god, Zeus of the mount Olympus. Generation upon generation would hear of the judgment, mercy and benevolence of the ‘great Diana of the Ephesians’. They would turn to her for protection when confronted with the intrusion of a new doctrine (Acts 19) and cringe before her statue lest her wrath rain down upon them.

Much financial gain and social profit was obtained in the promotion, worship and service of these deities. Such is the case today in what is called ‘modern christianity’. These neo-evangelical systematic theologies are white washed with ‘duty faith’ and ‘free-willisms’ with the stench of ‘conditionalism’ for effect. They purport that god is in heaven casting adversity before the sons of man in order to passively lead them to repentance and turning them unto him for deliverance and eternal life. They do lip service to His sovereignty by stating that He has the power to control and ‘over-rule’ such events and that He has, in some disjointed yet limited manner, ordained these things. But since He would not interfere with their ‘free will’, so as to make man a ‘robot’ or a ‘puppet’, he infiltrates the activities of daily life, seeding them with such difficulties and sorrow so that man would have no other choice but to turn to him for the resolution of all his problems. None would ever say that He has given one over to a reprobate mind since He is forever ‘long-suffering and kind’. The well educated and smooth talking preachers of this doctrine tell people that turning unto Jesus will resolve all martial problems, remove all financial debts, smooth the bumps out of the path of life, and make the way prosperous. “Behold, these are the ungodly that prosper in this world, they increase riches” (Ps. 73:12). Like Eliphaz the Temanite they cry, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart” (Job 22:21). Thus all the trials and tribulation which had been brought upon Job by the hand of a malevolent god were merely intended to turn Job unto him for worship and praise. So say the three friends who “darken counsel without wisdom”. Just a simple acknowledgment of his sin would set Job on ‘easy street’ for the rest of his life. Temporal blessings would abound as a result of fleshly obedience to the gentle prodding of a loving father to his wayward backslidden child. He only wants what is best for them. He wants them to be happy and daily ‘knocks at the door’ hoping one will open and let him in. Then will he come in and sup with them and reward them for being good and faithful servants. This, like the proverbial sword of Damocles is a two edged weapon of fear and reprisal. It hangs precariously above its helpless victim ready to release destruction and condemnation for disobedience. The conclusion of Leah was that God had heard that she was hated and had given her another child; therefore, Leah called the child’s name, Simeon, “heard”.

The providential decrees of Almighty God had, before the birth, before the conception, before the marriage, before Leah, before Laben, yea, before the foundation of the world, ordained that these events must come to pass. He determined the settings and circumstances which painted this canvas in exquisite perfection, each and every part of the whole, in complete harmony. Leah was given her fears and anxiety as well as the conception of the second child of Jacob. The power of God did not overrule these ingredients. He caused them to be effectually in place, according to the good pleasure of His will. Thus the name ‘Simeon’ serves as a type and foreshadow of the Redeemer not by the will of man nor the power of the flesh. If it were in her power, Leah would have preferred that these events had never happened.

Simeon certainly does not represent a type of the Anointed One by his lifestyle or his actions. In Genesis 34, he and brother Levi took their revenge upon the Hivites for the action of the prince, Shechem, in his defilement of their sister Dinah. Shechem had taken Dinah and had forced himself upon her, but his father, Hamor, came to Jacob and asked for her as a wife for his son. He also offered his daughters to Jacob’s sons and asked for Jacob’s daughters for his sons to make amends for the actions of Shechem. For the dowry, the sons of Jacob demanded, deceitfully, that all the house of the Hivites be circumcised and become as the children of the covenant. Hamor accepted this proposal and looked forward to the peaceful and profitable benefit that would arise from this arrangement. “These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land and trade therein; for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.” (Gen. 34:21f)

The commandments from God was explicit to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that they make no alliances with the inhabitants of the land; that they forbid their sons from marrying the daughters of the land and take not the daughters of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites or anyone else, indigenous to the land, for to raise up seed in their family. The Word of the Lord, through the law giver, Moses, expanded upon this to predict that the inhabitants of the land would cause compromises and confederacies that would draw away the hearts of the children of Israel after the gods of the land. These alliances would cause Israel to forget her Lord God and to walk after idolatry and sorcery. This is why Esau took the Canaanites woman to wife, for it displeased Isaac and balked at God. This is why Rebekah sent Jacob back to Laben, her brother, for a wife.

The deceit and treachery of the sons of Jacob was now complete as the Hivite males were all circumcised. “And it came to pass on the third day, when they were all sore, that the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came and slew all the males." (Gen. 34:25). Then they slew Hamor and Shechem, spoiled the city, took the sheep and oxen and all the wealth, made the little ones and the women captives and destroyed the house of the Hivites. For this Jacob said, “Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land…and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (Gen 34:30) Therefore in his epilogue, Jacob declares, “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty their habitation." (Gen 49:5). (Or, ‘their habitation is determined to violence and injustice’). This is not a type and foreshadow of the Redeemer for all His ways are verity and truth.

Leah called her son, “Simeon”, for God had not only heard, as she presumed, that she was hated, but He also had done something. He gave her this child. She had assumed, according to the logic of Adam, that the news of her predicament had ascended the heights and come unto the ears of God and caused Him to respond. If this were true, then God had respect for her person and the particular, respect to these very personal set of circumstances that had befallen her. The testimony of the scripture is quite the opposite for God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). He is not influenced or moved by anyone or anything. He is the immovable mover.

God, being Alpha and Omega, is the author and finisher. He is the first cause of every cause and He causes all things, whatsoever comes to pass. (Yes All things!) He spoke and the heavens and earth were created, coming into being by the power of His will. “I the Lord have spoken, it shall come to pass and I will do it” (Ez. 24:14). God created all things by the Anointed Deliverer of Jehovah, “For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him,” (Col. 1:16). He called those things that are not as though they had already been, “Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times that are not done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I shall do all My pleasure” (Is. 46:10). He called the ravenous bird from the east and caused the bird to come. He spoke and the dead heard His voice and came forth. He spoke and Lazarus was quickened and brought forth. He said; “Let him that hath ear to hear, let him hear” (Rev. 2:7), and the children hear and obey. This is Simeon, to hear, to cause to hear, to obey and to cause to obey.

Genesis gives the account of God's awesome power and sovereign will in the creation of all things. He created a garden where He formed man, beast and all things that fly or creep upon the earth. A river went forth from the garden called ‘pleasure’ (Eden) and it divided and became four heads or the chief unto the four corners of the earth. These waters encircle the world representing dominion over every kindred, tribe, nation and tongue divided from the beginning. All four heads broke forth in earnest from the garden not as though from a spring in the ground, but as a flood breaking forth from its source; or as the first rays of light as they dart across the sky above the horizon at the moment of sunrise; or the bursting forth of a child from his mother's womb; or even as the heaven and earth came into existence at the sound of His voice when He said, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:2). This is the land of Shinar that the Lord has created wherein dwell the just and the unjust, the true and the counterfeit. Throughout all the scripture the record of these two is evident; Light and darkness, heaven and earth, the dry land and the sea. The beast of the field and the fowl of heaven dwell here. The possessor of the land, Cain, and the breath or Spirit, Abel; the child of bondage, Ishmael, and the child of promise, Isaac the one whom God loved, Jacob and Esau, whom He hated; the chosen race, Israel and the despised gentiles of the world being without hope and alienated from the commonwealth; the righteous and the wicked; the wise and the fool; the natural man and the spiritual man. Herein are they which have ears to hear and they who having ears to hear, hear not.

The general populous of Adams race have the two appendages on either side of the cranium which act as the receivers for the auricular system. If functioning properly, the hairs in the canal detect the vibration of sound waves in the air. The nerves then transmit these impulses to the brain where they are deciphered, processed, heard and understood. (Forgive the crudeness of the explanation.) To the eye of the natural man, anyone having these organs should be able to hear. A response of acknowledgment or a bodily reaction would serve as confirmation that one has heard. But at best this is an assumption until proven.

The natural man may have ears but even in the natural sense, they sometimes do not hear. They may not function properly or at all. There may be a defect or an obstruction or distraction which impedes their function. Rebellion or stubbornness may lead one to ignore the sounds, or even a louder noise may override the intended sound. It should not be, therefore, a necessary conclusion that because they have ears to hear that they shall hear. Nor should it be concluded that because they hear that they shall understand or comprehend and ultimately obey. This is no new revelation to anyone with children, bosses, employees, spouses or any contact with man in general. Just because a sound goes forth does not ensure hearing for sound cannot make someone hear.

These things are true in nature and well understood. How much more are they true in the spiritual realm? The nation of Israel was given a front row seat to the glories and majesty of God's power and will. They watched as He brought forth His wrath upon the Egyptians and destroyed Pharaoh. They heard the cries of the house of Pharaoh as the death angel killed every first born who had no covering. They rejoiced as God's love delivered them from the strong man's house, singing as they left with the spoils of the land. They saw the pillar of fire and the cloud of smoke as it stood between them and the mighty army. They were mesmerized as Moses, upon God's command, lifted his rod and made a way through the Red Sea that they should go dry-shod through. The cloud of smoke gave them shade from the sun by day and the pillar of fire gave them the light of day at night. They then watched His judgment as He crushed the pursuing armies. They heard the crashing waves, the cries of man and beast as they were drowned in the angry waves. They drank the water that came from the rock. They ate the “what-is-it” (manna) that the hand of God delivered to them every morning and feasted upon the quails that lay before them every evening. They came to the mount and heard the thundering and the sound of trumpets. They felt the earthquakes and saw the fire of God as it descended and enveloped the mountain. They heard God speak with Moses and saw his face shine like and angel which glory they could not steadfastly look upon. Simply put, they heard and saw the glory of God!

“What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2). The Word of God gave them the tabernacle, the priesthood, the feasts, the doctrines and the covenants. Shall we continue? “But I say unto you, have they not all heard? Yea verily, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” (Romans 10:18) The sound surely went out throughout all the land but having eyes to see they see not and having ears to hear they hear not. Just as in nature it is improper to assume that one can and does hear simply because of outward appearances or that the sound went forth. These same ones who would draw nigh unto Christ with their tongue had their uncircumcised hearts full of wickedness and deceit. Just because one cries, “Lord, Lord” does not mean that there is life within. Just because they have, “prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22) does not mean that they have heard His voice calling unto them, being dead in trespasses and sin, causing them to rise up and live. Works of the flesh are no indication that He has removed the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, written His law upon the inward parts, made them willing in the day of His power and cause them to be obedient, walking in His statutes and commandments. Man looks upon the outward expressions and actions. He sees with carnal eyes and evaluates with a wicked heart and a corrupt mind. But God looketh upon the heart and knows them that are His. He rewards all the work-mongers with a most somber proclamation, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23). He speaks peace to those who live by His faith saying, “Rise up my love, my fair one and come away” (Song 2:10).

“God, who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…” (Heb. 1:1). The voice of God has always been proclaiming His majesty and Holiness but as Isaiah asked, “Who hath believed our report and unto whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. Certainly God revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the nation of Israel, yet they did not believe the report. Hearing is not the only ingredient in the proof of a child of grace. This has been a great stumbling block to all those who would take Romans 10 and try to say, all you need to do is go (or send forth) and preach so they can hear and believe, after all, “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. It is not our intention to address this passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome at length. As the Lord enables, someday we may venture forth with our thoughts. It does not require any major investigative prowess to know that there is no shortage of hearing in the evil world that we live in. Like the fools on Mars Hill in Acts 17, the whole world is mad dog crazy to hear something new. They rush off after sensationalism in the news broadcasts and weather reporting. They love the fantasy speculation of Madison avenue advertising and will spend hour upon hour riveted to a speech by the next ‘Johnny-come-lately’ giving his opinion about what is or prognostications of things to come. Man in the simplicity of his sinful nature has an ear to hear anything but the truth and wisdom; “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him” (Prov. 7:21). He will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap unto themselves teachers, having itching ears. He will turn away his ear from the truth, and shall turn unto fables, (2 Tim 4:3-4).

This is nothing new. God spoke unto Adam and Eve in the garden and they could not hear Him. This is how man was created. It should be no wonder that man does not hear the truth for he was made incapable of hearing it. Rather it should be an amazement that any of Adams race hear at all. (This is not to insinuate that the hearing spoken of is a carnal matter. Hearing the truth is a spiritual matter after the spiritual nature of the new man within. Truth is communicated from faith to faith by the Spirit within. After the flesh, man, all men, are liars and cannot speak or hear the truth.) The apostle Paul did not mince words or speak in dark sayings. Faith truly comes by the hearing of a circumcised ear, by the Word of God. And that Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The same was in the beginning with God and the same is God. He is the Angel with the trumpet of the everlasting gospel who has proclaimed the good tidings of great joy unto all the earth and all the heathen have seen and heard. “The Lord hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of all the heathen” (Ps. 98:2). Therefore man is without excuse, “for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

God told Isaiah to, “Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not: and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed” (Is. 6:10f). These two passages from scripture are not disjointed but rather intertwined. Heavy ears are closed over, usually from swelling, like fatness, and this causes the skin to itch. Anyone who has ever had an injury or edema knows all to well how the skin will itch as it stretches. This is what Jeremiah spoke of when he said, “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken: Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it” (Jer. 6:10). So it is not just simply a matter of standing on some street corner spouting off a few select verses from scripture or a well written speech; or handing out a cunningly formulated handbill to lead one to Christ; or telling everyone that ‘god loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’; or even the spoken words of Jesus Christ Himself directly to the ears of Saul of Tarsus. Unless one has been given ears to hear and has had the foreskin removed by the power of the Holy Spirit they will never hear the commandment from God Almighty to live, stand and come forth. “But when it pleased God, who had separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood;” (Gal. 1:15f).

Only one of the rivers which flow from the Garden of pleasure encircles the land of increase, “Phishown”, for this is the land of precious stone, hewn from that great rock, and that Rock is Christ. In this land there is good, pleasant and agreeable brilliance and splendor for the glory of the Lord is there. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23). Here only the elect of God dwell. There shall be nothing that defiles or corrupts. No weeping or tears for all shall rejoice before His throne singing that new song which no MAN knows. These are children of the covenant of peace, faithful and true. They are not defiled but are washed in the blood of the Lamb, the regeneration. They have heard and they obey.

The other three rivers flow forth from the garden in the same manner as the first, with swiftness as good counterfeits. The one encircles blackness (the kingdom of Satan), Gihon to Ethiopia (Cush). The next, Hiddekel encircles Assyria, (the step). These are the ones who, like their father the devil, would ascend unto the altar and throne of the Most High and be like God. The last river surrounds the land of abundance, Euphrates, which, as demonstrated by natural Israel, is followed by forgetfulness; for when Israel became fruitful they forgot the God that delivered them from the house of bondage. Yet all four rivers flow in the ordained course at the divine direction and determinate counsel of the Almighty. Not one drop is wasted or unaccounted for. None can run dry or overflow their banks but by the decree of God.

Jesus spoke many things in His earthly ministry, the sum of which could not be contained in all the books of this world, yet He did not speak His words. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). This is not to infer inferiority between the Father and the Son, for, "I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30). The Father, the Son and the Spirit bear witness in heaven, and these three are one (I John 5:7), but the Son took upon Himself the form of a servant, learned obedience and was made perfect in all that He suffered. He knew the mind and will of the Godhead from the beginning as the Alpha, for in Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, yet as a servant, He came not to do His will but as He had heard of the Father so He did. “And Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). In this He demonstrates, as the elder brother and the head of His house, the characteristics and attributes of the second born son, Simeon.

He is therefore counted worthy of all honour and glory because He was faithful above all His house. Not as Moses who was faithful in the house as a member, but as the builder and maker of the house (Reuben), which house His children are, fitly framed together, growing up to an Holy habitation in the Lord, (Eph. 2:21). Each part or member of the house being a precious living stone hewn from that Spiritual Rock, Christ, are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. They are all of one mind and speak the same thing. They cannot have any independent agendas or ulterior motives lest the house not be, “fitly framed together”, and fall. Christ said a house divided against itself cannot stand. Can His church His bride be divided against Herself, against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail? Is She alive? Has She ears to hear? Has He spoken to her? Shall she not obey? How, in the power of her own will? Only if she is independent of Him and of a greater power and will than He. So when the apostle wrote, “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22), was this a request or an option? God forbid, for how can the redeemed of the Lord, having the mind of God and the everlasting love, wherewith He loved them, being purchased by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God and cleansed for all unrighteousness, care for anything other than to please the Father and be obedient to His will? How is this done? “Then He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the Word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, stating, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” (Zech. 4:10) It is the Spirit who quickens, the Spirit who enables, the Spirit who makes the children ‘willing in the day of His power’ and causes them to walk according to His laws and commandments. There is no room or place for one like Jehu whose heart was not right before the Lord as he cried, “Come with me see my zeal for the Lord,” (II Kings 10:16) for the zeal of Adam is vial and corrupt. The child of grace has been created in Christ Jesus unto good works and has been redeemed from all sin and iniquity by His precious blood and purified unto God Himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14). The ear of the servant has been opened, the Word has gone forth and shall not return void but shall accomplish all that the Father has purposed (Is. 55:11) and the brethren have been made obedient by the power of His will being made accepted in the beloved.

Obedience appears a struggle to the child while in this habitation. The will to do is present how to perform is unknown. The world lays heavy burdens upon the week chastising them for disobedience and demanding that the tally of brick (of obedience) does not falter or fail. But praise be unto God the Father who has begun a good work in His children and shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6) when the tabernacle of this dwelling shall be dissolved, corruption shall be swallowed up in incorruption and this mortality shall put on immortality.

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them unto me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” (John 10:27ff). He is Simeon, to hear and obey and so is His beloved.

(Elder) Chet Dirkes

Banner of Hope
Vol. 2, No. 1 – June, 2008