Chapter 18: The Secret Of Continuance
Chapter 18: The Secret Of Continuance
"Daniel continued." - Daniel 1:21.
The Closing Words of the first chapter of the Book of Daniel are very significant. We are told that "Daniel continued even unto the first year of Cyrus." If he were about fourteen years of age at the time of his transportation, this would mean that for seventy additional years he continued to practise those habits of self-control and abstinence which he had commenced in his youth. "Simple words: but what a volume of tried faithfulness is involved by them! Amid all the intrigues indigenous at all times to dynasties of Oriental despotism; amid all the envy toward a foreign captive in high office as a king's counsellor; amid all the trouble incidental to the insanity of the king and the murder of two of his successors - In that whole critical period for his people, Daniel continued."
Not unfrequently young souls are deterred from confessing Christ, or assuming some pledge of lofty endeavour and entire surrender, for fear that they may prove recreant to their high resolve. This may seem to betoken modesty of disposition and a low self-estimate; but much more certainly it betokens mistrust of God, and unworthy conceptions of his love and power-as though it were possible for Him to excite yearnings and aspirations which He could not satisfy, or begin a work which He was unable to perfect! Our duty and privilege is to obey, and to step out into the unknown, believing that He who gave the command will supply all needed grace for its execution, and will never suffer the righteous to be ashamed.
Our sources of continuance are furnished by the offices of the distinct Persons of the Blessed Trinity. First, in the Purpose of the Father. There are hours in life when it is of the greatest possible comfort to get down to the bed-rock of his electing grace. This doctrine ought not to be presented to the enquirer; for, whatever it may mean, it contains nothing to discourage the free access of any and every one to God. He has not spoken in secret, and said of any seeking soul, "Seek ye my face in vain." Nay, for all the world the door of mercy stands open, and over it this legend is inscribed, "Whosoever will, let him enter .... Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." It is only when we have entered that ever-open door that we are confronted with another legend, inscribed in gold, and set around the room, "In whom also we were made a heritage, having been fore-ordained according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." In other words, the comfort and meaning of God's electing purpose is not for those who are without, but for such as are within, God's home.
There is a verse which casts a little light into the mysterious depths of this truth - not very far, but for some few feet - that, from which we learn that whom God did foreknow He also did predestinate; as though his divine wisdom forecasted those who should become one with Jesus by a living faith: and his divine purpose included them in its unchanging determinations.
Do you not feel the force of these thoughts? Do you not see their immense re-assurance? Is it not a comfort, when the hatred of Satan is like a pitiless hail-storm in your face, to believe that the Love of God will never let you go? Is it not inspiring and helpful to realize, when you are most inclined to despond, that there is no fickleness, vacillation, or changefulness in the Divine Heart? He knew all we should be before He loved us. He knew all the difficulties of making us saints before He excavated us from nature's quarry. We did not choose Him, but He us. We did not first love Him, but He us. However strong the gale may be against us, our keel is in the strong current of his will, and this will master that. "My sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and none shall pluck them out of My Father's hand."
Next, there is the constant supply of grace from the Saviour. The prophet saw in vision that the bowl of the Temple candlestick was fed with golden oil from the heart of two olive trees. These symbolize the Kingly and Priestly sides of Christ's nature, and teach us that the oil of the Divine grace is constantly ministered to us from his heart, and as long as that continues we shall continue. Because Jesus lives, we shall live also.
This makes the difference between the old covenant and the new. God sorrowfully laments that his people continued not in his covenant; and then our attention is directed from the priests of the old covenant, who were not suffered to continue by reason of death, to Him, who because He continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, and is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. vii. 24, 25; viii. 9). Your continuance, and mine, depend on the continuance of Jesus as our minister and mediator before the throne of God.
The other night I fell into converse with the wick of my oil lamp, that for many weeks had ministered light to me. Some grateful acknowledgment was made for silent, regular, and unobtrusive service, and then the question came whether it did not shrink from the inevitable demands of the long winter nights. I could see in the glass oil cistern in which the wick lay coiled together, that there was a considerable length yet to run; and I knew that the scissors cut off each morning a very inconsiderable piece of char, and I said: -
"In view of the great and inevitable demands of the future, does not your heart misgive you? How will you be able to last out, how continue to supply light for my page?"
And, for my reply, 1 got the following: "I do not produce the light, I only supply the edge or fringe on which the oil burns. From the cistern yonder it climbs up by me, as by a ladder, and burns on my extremity to give light to all that are in the house. As long as the oil is supplied, so that there is no lack, and as long as the charred edge is removed, so that there is nothing to choke the access of the oil to the flame, 1 most certainly shall continue."
Similarly, our continuance depends on the unceasing thought and care of Jesus. He walks amid the seven golden candlesticks. Whenever there is need for the golden snuffers, He does not hesitate to use them; and, whilst He lives, there is no fear of failure in the holy oil. Out of his heart it ever pours to every believer, just as the oxygenated blood is poured forth throughout the entire body and to every part.
The mill-wheel never dreams of turning itself, and never anticipates ceasing in its useful ministry, because the stream is ever flowing beneath; and the miller lives at hand to obviate any, even the slightest, symptom of failure.
Lastly, there is the perpetual indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He does not say Yea and Nay: one thing to-day and another to-morrow. The life He communicates is everlasting, since it is eternal; and it is eternal because He gives Himself as the Eternal Spirit. The eternal is not subject to decay, or change, or evanescence. It persists. Our hope cannot make us ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart; and what is this but the Shechinah, the nature of the" I Am," who was manifested in the bush that burned with fire, the tender branchlets of which were not consumed because they were not required to yield fuel to the flame!
Rejoice, 0 trembling heart! The Holy Spirit has come to indwell thee, and He will not leave his residence. He has chosen thee as his temple, and He will not be driven forth. He has given thee glimpses, yearnings, first fruits, which are the earnest of an inheritance that He cannot do otherwise than grant. He has begun a good work, and will carry it on to the day of Jesus Christ. There are no unfinished pictures in his gallery, no unperfected blocks in his studio. "The work which his grace has begun, the arm of his strength will complete."