The Leading of the Lord by Jessie Penn-Lewis A Spiritual Autobiography

The Leading of the Lord

      by Jessie Penn-Lewis

      A Spiritual Autobiography

      This is a testimony from a servant of God who had a fruitful through the Welsh revival and deeper Life devotional writings. She was born in 1861 in South Wales; even decades after her home-going, thousands of her books are sold yearly. In spite of her gender [in turn-of-the-century culture] and poor health, God used her to teach His Word in distant lands such as Russia, India, and North America. To what spiritual lessons did she attribute her usefulness to God's Kingdom? What can we learn from her ministry?

      I was brought up in the very heart of the religious life of Wales, for my grandfather was a Welsh divine, well known throughout the Principality in his day; and my father's house was a rendezvous for the ministers as they passed hither and thither on their Master's work. My childhood's memories gather round their visits and the great meetings of the Sunday-schools, when often I sat as a tiny child in the midst of the grave elders in the "big pew", listening with intense interest to the "howl" of the minister.

      "The mercy of the Lord is ... unto children's children; but as it is often with children brought up in the midst of religious surroundings, the true inward change of heart did not come until I had married and moved away to England. Then it occurred without the aid of any human instrument, but the day -- New Year's Day -- and hour are imprinted on my mind.

      Only a deep, inward desire to know that I was a child of God; a taking down of my (too little read) Bible from the shelf; a turning over the leaves, and the eye falling on the words, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" [Isaiah 53:6]; again, a casual turn of the sacred pages, and the words, "He that believeth hath eternal life"[John 6:47].

      A quick facing out whether I did believe that God had laid my sins upon the Lamb of God on the Cross; a pause of wonderment that it really said that I had eternal life if I simply believed God's Word; a quick cry of "Lord, I do believe" -- and one more soul had passed from death to life [John 5:24], a trophy of the grace of God, and the love of Him Who died. The Spirit of God instantly bore witness with my spirit that I was a child of God [Rom 8:16], and deep peace filled my soul.

      The new life bore fruit in that I sought to conquer my besetting sins, whereas hitherto I had found myself at their mercy, as I feebly attempted to restrain them. But my attempts still ended in abject failure, and the succeeding few months were a record of bitter repentance, and many tears over sins I could not conquer. At this point we removed to Richmond, Surrey, and found our way to Holy Trinity Church. The first sermon I heard from Rev. Evan H. Hopkins was an opening of heaven to my soul. I learned the secret of victory, and it was not long before I proved the power of God to deliver from the bondage of sin through the precious blood of Christ.

      Under the Spirit-lit teaching of Mr. Hopkins, and the earnest, loving help of his noble wife, I learned the joy of full surrender and the possibilities of a Spirit-filled life [Eph 5:18]. But active service for Christ seemed far away from me, for from childhood my health had been frail, and now winter after winter was spent in increasing suffering from bronchial and lung attacks. It seemed as if my life was slowly ebbing away. Nevertheless, in 1890, with apparently only a brief span of life before me, I ventured to take the hon. secretaryship of the Richmond Y.W.C.A. Institute -- "If only for six months", I said, for my whole heart was drawn out in service for the King.

      Gradually I learnt to draw upon the Lord for strength for His work, so that in spite of continued ill-health and suffering, I worked, and organised, and laboured incessantly. But after a time I became conscious that the spiritual results were not equivalent to the labour of the work. I began to question whether I knew the fulness of the Spirit. Without doubt I had received Him, and had "entered into rest" as concerned my own life and fellowship with God [Heb 4:10]; but, when I compared the small results of my service with the fruit given to the apostles at Pentecost, I could not but own that I did not know the Holy Spirit in the fulness of His power.

 My weekly Bible-class also was a great trouble to me, for I had no power of utterance. Organising work was much easier, but meetings were a sore trial. Self-consciousness almost paralysed me, and no practice ever made speaking less difficult. Others might have the gift of speech, but it was clearly not given to me, I said!

      "But did God promise to us to-day as full an indwelling and outworking of the Spirit as in the days of Pentecost?" was my question, and I began to read book after book on the subject, until I was more and more confused. Finally, I put all on one side, and threw myself upon God to teach me Himself to know the fulness of the Spirit in power for service, as I had known Him for sanctification of life. For months I prayed, until my soul became "a furnace of intense desire", and I was ready to count all things loss, if God would but grant me that which I desired.

      I did not know then that He was already beginning to answer my prayers, by preparing me for deeper surrender to all His will. The more I prayed, the more there seemed to be a blight upon my much-loved work; and I was greatly perplexed. The fulfilment of my petitions seemed further away than ever. Then the Spirit of God began to question me, and to bring to light the "thoughts and intents" of my heart [Heb 4:12].

      Why did I desire the fulness of the Spirit? Was it for success in service, and that I should be considered a "much-used worker"? Would I desire the same fulness of the Spirit if it meant apparent failure, and becoming "the offscouring of all things" [1 Cor 4:13] in the eyes of others? This had not occurred to me before, and I quickly agreed to any conditions the Lord should please to set before me.

      Again came the question: Would I be willing to have no great experience, but agree to live and walk entirely by faith on the Word of God? This, too, was a new aspect, but I quickly answered "Yes". Then came the climax, when one morning I awoke, and, lo, I beheld before me a hand holding up in terrible light a handful of filthy rags, whilst a gentle voice said: "This is the outcome of all your past service for God" [Isaiah 64:6]. "But, Lord, I have been surrendered and consecrated to Thee all these years.

      It was consecrated work!" "Yes, My child, but all your service has been consecrated self; the outcome of your own energy; your own plans for winning souls; your own devotion. All for Me, I grant, but yourseIf all the same." Then came the still small voice once more, and this time it was with one little word -- "Crucified".

      "Crucified!" What did it mean? I had not asked to be crucified, but to be filled. But since the Spirit of God kept ringing the word "Crucified" in my heart, He must know best. As a little child, I rested on the word thus given; and then, "it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him" [Gal 1:15-16], I knew the risen Lord.

      The Holy Spirit already dwelling in my heart had fulfilled His office, and revealed the risen Lord in full possession of His temple. "Glorious, indeed, is this Anointing! Where will it end? Waters to swim in -- no little trickling rivulet!" wrote Mrs. Hopkins to me on March 25, 1892. Immediately the living waters broke out as "torrents" in the work, and like a "tidal wave" lifted it, so to speak, on to a new plane, my fellow-workers coming into the tide with joy.

      The Bible classes were thronged; on all sides souls were convicted of sin, and brought to Christ. The converts became, in their turn, soul sinners. The dead prayer meetings were changed into times of blessed access to the Father. In such an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit none could be dumb. Answers to prayer rejoiced our hearts. Souls were won for Christ even at our social gatherings.

      The usual trouble over finances changed into records of sometimes romantic answers to prayer; we learnt that where the Holy Spirit was free to work He provided the funds, and deficits in our yearly balance-sheets were things of the past.

      We had sought to arouse missionary interest with difficulty, but in the atmosphere of the Spirit our hearts became enlarged. We began to pray for the whole world, and to ask that the living waters flowing amongst us might reach to the ends of the earth -- the Lord answering these prayers by the scattering of one and another to various parts of the world, whilst calls poured in upon me to carry the message of abundant life to other places in Great Britain.

      Two years had I laboured in my own strength without the anointing Spirit, and four happy years afterwards was I permitted to watch what He could do, when we consent to be "crucified", and to give Him right of way through us to souls. My "six months" had been prolonged into six years by the wondrous grace of God. Then came the wider service which God had purposed for me, and which I had not dreamed of, when I sought the fulness of the Spirit -- and which, from physical frailty, it seemed impossible ever could be mine. But by this time the knowledge of my resources in God had grown, and I was able to cast myself in utter abandonment upon Him, and find all-sufficiency for all my need, at all times and in all circumstances.

      In 1896 we removed to Leicester, and at once came a call to Sweden. Another crisis in my life had come. Raised from the grave, so to speak, for the Lord's service, my husband felt, with me, that my life was a trust from God to be used only for the Master's Kingdom. With one mind we yielded that life anew to Him Who claimed it, that He might make the fullest possible use of the frail vessel. Not disobedient to the heavenly vision, I crossed the North Sea to Stockholm for the first Scandinavian Conference of the Y.W.C.A. Delegates from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, gathered together, and the devotional meetings held in a beautiful hall were thrown open to the public.

The Unrivalled Power Of Prayer

By Oswald Chambers


'We know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.'
Romans 8:26

We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; we know what it is to pray in the Spirit; but we do not so often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays in us prayers which we cannot utter. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.

"He," the Spirit in you, "maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God," and God searches your heart not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what is the prayer of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God needs the nature of the believer as a shrine in which to offer His intercession. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, He "would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and said - "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

Have we recognized that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, though it is only a tiny bit of our personality, is to be regarded by us as a shrine of the Holy Ghost. He will look atter the unconscious part that we know nothing of; but we must see that we guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment--Rev 3:5

  
George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      White Raiment
     
      He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment--Rev 3:5
     
      The color white, which is so often mentioned in the Bible and always with an element of symbolism, is emblematical of purity. It is the symbol of purity in every language; the outward sign of it in every ritual. When I was in the country a few weeks ago, the grip of winter was still upon the land. But there was one bank, rising from the road, that was covered with innumerable snowdrops. And one could not look at them, so quietly beautiful, braving the bitterness of icy mornings, without recalling this text in Revelation: "He that overcometh shall be clothed in white." It was that thought which made the psalmist cry, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow." It was that which clothed the priest in his white robes when he stood to minister in holy things. It was that which filled the heart of the apostle when he looked heavenward and saw a throne, and the throne was white because of Him who sat on it, for He is infinitely and forever holy.
     
      Now I dare say there are some who feel a sense of shame when they hear that. If white is the sign and sacrament of purity--God pity them, they shall never wear it. Is there no young man here who has been living foolishly since he awoke to the liberty of manhood? Is there no young woman who is very different from what she was a dozen years ago? "Character," said Mr. Moody once, "character is what a man is in the dark," and if we knew what you were in the dark, would there be any hope of white apparel? I answer most emphatically, yes. That is the Gospel I am here to preach. It is not to the heart of childlike innocence that the white raiment of our text is promised. It is to every one who overcomes; who rises from his past and is ashamed; who cries, from the very margin of despair, "Create within me a clean heart, O God."
     
      The Color of the Conquerer
     
      Then once again, I want you to observe that white was the color which indicated victory. It was so not only in the Bible, but also in the literature of Greece and Rome. Today, we do not so regard it. It is not significant of triumph now. The white flag is the symbol of submission, and the white feather is the badge of cowardice. But in the ancient world of Jew and pagan there was no such sinister suggestion in it: it was not the color of the coward then; white was the color of the conqueror. There is a legend in the myths of Greece which illustrates this in a pathetic manner. It relates to Theseus, son of Aegeus, who was so mighty in succouring the weak. And it tells how Theseus, before he sailed to Crete to do battle with a horrid monster there, made an agreement with his aged father. If he was slain, his vessel would come home under the dark sails she always carried. But if he slew the beast and was victorious, his sails were to be white on his return. And Theseus slew the beast and was victorious, but quite forgot his promise to his father, who, seeing no sail of white upon the ship, flung himself over the steep cliff and perished. That is a legend from the myths of Hellas; may I take one now from the traditions of Rome? Well, there is one in Vergil which occurs to me and which, I take it, every schoolboy knows. For when Aeneas, in his flight from Troy, came with his comrades to the coast of Italy, the first objects seen upon the shore were four white horses in the pasture. They were horses and so they spoke of war, but they were white and so they spoke of victory. And that was a happy omen for the voyagers and was accepted as a sign from heaven. So in Greece and Rome as in Judaea, there was nothing in white suggestive of submission; but there was something which suggested victory and whispered the exultancy of triumph.
     
      Do you see then another facet of our text--he that overcometh shall be clothed in white? It means that the battles which are won in secret shall some day be the vesture which we wear. Our hardest conflicts are not fought in public; our hardest conflicts are on a hidden field. There is no one to rejoice when we are conquerors; no one to hear the tidings of defeat. And yet these hidden conflicts of the heart, which we imagine to be so unobserved, get themselves written out upon the character and clothe us at the last as in a garment. There is really no such thing as secret sin. Sin is always making for the surface. Thy speech betrayeth thee--thy look is tell-tale--if not today it will be by and by. And at the last no victory is secret, though it be won in solitude and silence. There is not a point in the whole range of character but some day shall reveal its influence. That is one swift suggestion of our text--he that overcometh shall be clothed in white. It tells that the hidden issue of today shall be the visible garment of tomorrow. And that is a thought which it is well to cherish when we are alone with our besetting sins. Out of our hidden triumphs God is weaving the robe that is to clothe us by and by.
     
      The Expression of Joy
     
      Observe, also, that white is the color which expresses joy. It does so because it is the color of light, and there is something cheerful in the light. We do not speak about the day of sorrow; we speak and sing about the night of sorrow. "The night is dark, and I am far from home," is the utterance of one in heaviness. But light is cheerful and it heartens us and it summons forth the music of the birds, and so there has always been the thought of joy in the radiance which is the badge of day. White is not the color of the mourner. White is the color of the happy bride. It is the sacrament of what is glad; the symbol and interpreter of joy.
     
      And so our text hints at this other truth--a truth which we can never take to heart too much. It tells us, in the symbol of apocalypse, that overcoming is the road to joy. It is not by doing just what we want to do--it is not by yielding to every gust of passion--it is not thus that life becomes a glad thing with a sound of music in its desert-mile. It is by taking up the cross in patience; it is by holding fast to lowly duty; it is by trampling on the wild beast within until he learns who is the master there. If to be happy is your one ambition, you may be certain you will not be happy. The young fellow who is bent on a good time finds out at forty what a fool he was. It is not thus that happiness is won; it is by travelling on a harder road where there are marks of blood upon the soil and the shadow of a cross upon the hill. Why was the joy of Christ so rich and full? Was it not partly because He overcame? He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet He never swerved from His appointed way. And so with us, however we may be tempted, there is always joy in mastering temptation. To yield to it is always to be miserable. To conquer it is always to be glad. He that overcometh will be clothed in white. He will grow happier every year he lives. And life will be richer and the world more wonderful because he is fighting bravely in the silence. For the last result of sin is always sadness and the disappointment of an empty heart and a pilgrimage across a loveless country where all the water-wells are dried up.
     
      The Clothing of Heavenly Service
     
      Once again I want you to remember that white is the clothing of heavenly service. It is the garb which all the angels wear, and the angels are the ministers of God. Has not our Master taught us thus to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven"? The type and pattern of perfect service is the unceasing ministry of angels. And always, when they are busied in that ministry and speeding on the errands of their King, we read of the angels that they are clothed in white. Do you remember what the women saw within the tomb on resurrection morning? They looked for Jesus and He was not there, but the tomb was not empty though their Lord had risen. For, sitting on the stone there was a man, and the women hurried back to the eleven to tell them that they had seen a vision of the angels. And he was clothed, not in the garb of woe, but in radiant clothing of white, for in the sepulchre, as before the throne, he was busied in the service of his King. That thought was very familiar to the Jew. He always associated white with angels. Flying abroad upon the wings of help, the angels were always garbed in white. And so the color came to speak of service, of instant and unquestioning obedience, of readiness to do the will of God though the path of ministry was to a grave.
     
      Do you not see, then, another fine suggestion in "he that overcometh shall be clothed in white"? It means that if we do not overcome, we cannot hope to have the robe of service. It is not only on our own account that God is calling us to self-subdual. If we are to serve with any power and blessing, one of the first essentials is self-conquest. For all our influence upon other lives is rooted in the silent depths of what we are and takes its character of weal or woe from the victory or from the failure there. Think, for example, of the home. Have we not all known angels in the home? We think of the mother of our childhood, perhaps,--so patient, so gentle, and so loving. But what we never saw when we were children was the self-denial which lay behind the service, the quiet mastery of mood and temper which came with benediction to the home. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white. Self must be mastered or we shall never serve. We must learn to do things when we feel least like it. We must crush down that rising irritation. And that is what made Christ the perfect servant--that He had been so perfectly victorious and had a heart which was the joyous home of wisdom and serenity and prayer.
     
      White: A Symbolism of Christ
     
      Then, in closing, we must not forget that white is symbolical of Christ Himself. Think for example of the Transfiguration. Moses was there and Elijah was there, yet we do not call it an hour of heavenly conference. We call it what it is called in Scripture, the hour of the Transfiguration. And that just means that the wonder of the hour was the transfiguring of Jesus Christ when His garments shone with such a whiteness as no fuller on earth could whiten them. What was the color of Christ's dress we don't know. When He was mocked, they decked Him in purple. But the garb of the glorified Christ is not purple. It is a dazzling and lustrous white. And he that overcometh shall be clothed in white. He shall be like Him, for he shall see Him as He is. He shall have washed away forevermore all that would separate him from his Lord.

He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul!

He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you!" 1 Samuel 12:24 

Here is a simple RULE: "Only fear the Lord." 
It gathers in my wandering thoughts and desires. It reduces the thousand schemes and interests of my life, to singleness and unity. It writes the briefest and the most hallowing inscription over all my days and nights. It brings everything to one sure touchstone.

If I reverence and worship God, 
if I love Christ Who first loved me, 
if I cherish and obey His Holy Word — 
then nothing more is demanded of me. 

Here is a principle which will conduct me infallibly and securely through the difficulties and perplexities which now environ me — to the Celestial City!

Here is a penetrating TEST also: "And serve Him in truth with all your heart." Does it not probe deep? Does it not flash a searching light into the secret crevices of my heart? My Sovereign will not be satisfied with fair professions, and lovely words, and external obediences. He comes to reign within my heart. He puts my most hidden feelings, my secret purposes and intentions — into His unerring scales! He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul! 

Here is an appropriate PLEA also: "Consider what great things He has done for you!" 

There is nothing good in my daily life — but has come by His blessing and gift. There is no deliverance from danger, no sudden incoming of joy, no softening and mellowing and sanctifying through trial — which He did not devise and send. "Minutes come quick — but God's mercies are more fleet and free than they!" 

And then the unmeasurable marvel of His best treasure — Christ and His wondrous salvation! The Son of God gave Himself for me! Jesus never fails me, and never forsakes me. He will perfect that which concerns me. Does not love so amazing deserve my all?Shall I not be a willing captive to a Lover so gracious, so patient, so persevering, so victorious?

Rule, and test, and plea — together they constitute the blessed life!

Money!

Money!

(J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on 1 Peter")

"People will be lovers of themselves,
 lovers of money." 2 Timothy 3:2

"For the love of money is a root of all
 kinds of evil." 1 Timothy 6:10

Money feeds the lusts of the flesh by giving 
its possessor the power to gratify them. 

Money nurses his pride by making its possessor, 
so to speak, independent of the providence of God. 

Money fosters the love of the world by giving
its possessor a portion in it.

"You cannot serve both God and Money!"
     Luke 16:13

"Not greedy for money." 1 Peter 5:2

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have." Heb. 13:5

"The Pharisees, who dearly loved their
 money, scoffed at all this." Luke 16:14

He was a constant thorn in their sides!

He was a constant thorn in their sides!

(Arthur Pink, "Christ Despised" 1937)

"He was despised and rejected by men." Isaiah 53:3

Another reason why Christ was despised and rejected, was because He exposed and denounced sin. Ah, this explains why Christ was not wanted here. He was a constant thorn in their sides! His holiness condemned their unholiness! Men wish to go their own way, to please themselves, to gratify their lusts. They want to be comfortable in their wickedness—therefore they resent one who searches the heart, pierces the conscience, and rebukes their evil. Christ was absolutely uncompromising. He would not wink at wrong-doing, but unsparingly denounced it, in whoever it was found. He boldly affirmed, "For judgment I have come into this world" (John 9:41), that is, to unveil men's secret characters, to prove they are blind in spiritual things, to demonstrate they loved darkness rather than light. His Person and preaching tried everything and everyone He came into contact with!

The Battle Which Is Not Yours

The Battle Which Is Not Yours

By T. Austin-Sparks

      Reading: 2 Chron. 20:1--27.

      "Then upon Jehaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the assembly; and He said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat: Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed: tomorrow go out against them; for the Lord is with you" (2 Chron. 20:14--17).

      "Having despoiled (or, having put off from Himself) the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (the Cross)" (Col. 2:15; A.S.V.).

      While it is true that in the New Testament the Lord's servants are designated "soldiers," and while it is also true that there are battles to be fought, there is one big fundamental and all-inclusive battle in which the Lord's people have no part whatever. To engage in it is to write over all the work of our Lord Jesus in His Cross, Failure!--to write it off as something which does not hold good. There is a battle in which you and I have no fighting place. It was the Lord's battle, not ours, and it is over the recognition and settlement of that fact that most of the trouble arises in the experience of multitudes of the Lord's people. There has been a battle which includes all other battles, which has been fought by the Lord Himself for us. It is important for us to know both that fact, and what that battle was.

      A Victory To Be Appropriated By Praising Faith

      The story in the Old Testament which we have read is an illustration of it. I am not saying that it fits into Col. 2:15 in doctrine, but in principle it does. The principle is this--that in both of those passages of Scripture a battle is set forth as having already been won.

      The next thing is that the victory which already exists has to be entered into by faith. There has to be a stand taken in relation to that, and not a fight for it. If you begin to take up that fight you are destined to defeat, because you have put God's ground away from under your feet. We shall see that when we come to the nature of the battle. But it is very serious, and we should recognize it. Here is something in existence, and upon that something as an accomplished fact in the realm of hostilities a stand has to be taken by faith, and no conflict allowed.

      In the case of the people of Judah of whom we have read, their faith as to what had been said--"The battle is not yours, but God's... ye shall not need to fight in this battle"--was demonstrated by song. You do not need that I stay to show how necessary faith was, and that it was genuine faith and not mere optimism. No, it was faith that was required. It was a very desperate situation naturally, but faith was demonstrated, and it was demonstrated by singing. Their song was the evidence that they believed God and His Word; they believed the thing that was declared to them, and they proved it by singing. And it was not the kind of singing of the little boy walking along the country lane in the dark, who sings to try and keep himself cheerful in the midst of terrible fears. There is no doubt about it, it was a song of assurance and confidence.

      "...Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto the Lord, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, "Give thanks unto the Lord; for His lovingkindness endureth for ever." And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten" (2 Chron. 20:20--22).

The Battle Already Won In The Cross

      And then--this is where we begin to get near to the heart of the nature of this battle--the song was governed by the priestly and Levitical side of things. You will see at the end of the previous chapter how the government was put into the hands of the priests; and then the narrative in chapter 20 shows that it was the Levites, whose it was to praise, who spontaneously broke into praise (v. 19). Praise expressive of faith was governed by what was priestly and Levitical--which shows the nature of the battle at once. This was the question, the whole question--on whose side was God? and God has no favorites. God is not on one side just because He feels inclined to favour that side. God is only on the side of righteousness, on the side of holiness--"in holy array." God is on the side where salvation is already implicit by reason of priestly government, or the government of priestly principles--that is, the Blood, the Cross, all that redemption means through the work of the Lord Jesus. And so the answer to the question, On which side is God? is this--He is found where that is represented and implicit which is the work of His Son on Calvary. That is the nature of the battle; and that is not your battle nor mine; that was God's battle!

      So we come over to this well-known passage in the Letter to the Colossians. It is a wonderful passage. I have been looking at several different versions, and, although I do not often trouble you with the technique of different translations, I think it worth dwelling upon two or three.

      "Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (His cross)."

      "The dominions and powers He robbed of their prey, put them to open shame, led them away in triumph through His cross."

      "He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in His cross."

      Now you notice that is all in the past tense; that is something done. The ground has been taken from the enemy--that is the first thing; and when an enemy's ground is taken from him, he is in total confusion. Note the confusion back there in 2 Chron. 20--they are all killing one another. Why?--their ground upon which they trusted has been taken from them. In Colossians it is the same confusion: "put to shame." What is shame but confusion? If anybody is in confusion, they are very much put to shame. In confusion they are helpless, you can take their prey; and that is what Judah did in the story we have read. That is why I gave you those different versions. He took their prey, prey from the principalities and powers. Why?--because their ground was taken away.

      The Enemy's Only Ground Of Hope

      What was the ground upon which the principalities and powers rested their confidence, and upon which they found their strength? Now, follow closely here; let us look at it.