BETWEEN the final charge of the last chapter, and the action of the King now described, there is a close and a very striking connection. It is first to be carefully noted that the men whom He charged to pray specifically for labourers, were those whom He immediately sent forth to labour. "Pray ye," is the first command; "go ye," is the next. The men who have learnt to look with the eyes of Jesus until they feel with the heart of Jesus; and who, out of such vision and such feeling, begin to pray, are more than half ready for the work of bringing in the harvest. "Pray," that is the first thing; but "go" is the next; and as surely as He says "pray," He says "go." Yet let it be remembered that He never says "go" until He has said "pray."

If that fundamental connection between the compassion of the King, and His commissioning of the twelve is recognized, then we may proceed to the discovery of the main value of this section. That main value lies in the fact that it contains "His commandments." Chapter eleven begins, "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and preach in their cities." Thus it is at once seen that chapter ten consists of the Master's charge to those men whom He was about to send out, in co-operation with Himself, to do the work which lay so heavily upon His heart. In this charge the King Himself reveals the lines of service, the methods to be adopted, and the prayer to be offered.

So far in the propaganda of the King we have considered His enunciation of ethics; and have observed His exhibition of benefits. Now we see Him about to enter upon the great work of enforcing His claims; and first He sends forth these disciples. Thus they become more than disciples; He constitutes them apostles. This is the first time the word is applied to them. Only once in Matthew is this word, which indicates their relation to Him in specific and well-defined service, made use of. An apostle is a delegate, the first messenger, the one who represents the King, whose only business is to represent the King, who speaks the word of the King, and speaks it with authority because he is sent, delegated, the ambassador of the King.

Let us first make a broad analysis of the whole chapter, that we may follow its movement, and understand to some extent what the King was really doing, as He prepared those twelve men and sent them forth on their mission.

The King's outlook was upon the work which those whom He appoints will have to do to the end of the age. Some of the things which He said have no application to us; they were only for the men who were then with Him. Nevertheless there are underlying principles in every part of these charges which are of perpetual application. The changes which would follow in circumstances and conditions were recognized by the King; and in an orderly movement, perfectly balanced, perfectly adjusted, He gave instructions to the apostles for the whole dispensation which He was about to initiate. As the King stood in the midst of the twelve, He looked at them and at the immediate present; but He also looked with those clear, far-seeing eyes into the near decades; and still further He looked down all the centuries; and speaking to the first apostles, He delivered a charge which in its comprehensiveness and finality is applicable to the whole movement of His enterprise, until His second advent. He declared the abiding principles, which must obtain through all the ages; and He described the changing conditions, which would necessitate changing methods.

This charge divided the age into three distinctly-marked epochs. In the first four verses we read of how our Lord called these disciples and named them apostles; and we have the names of the twelve. Then from verse five to the end of verse fifteen we have the first section of the charge. The fifteenth verse reads, "Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city," that is for any city to which these men would come and would be refused; against such a city He charged them to shake the dust from their feet. This is one movement, one division of the discourse.

At verse sixteen it is evident that our Lord lifted His eyes and looked further on, and saw how His apostles, His messengers, these very men, would presently enter upon, a new phase in their work, and have to face new difficulties; He said, "Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." That was the description of a new movement, quite different from the one described in verses five to fifteen, as we shall see more clearly presently. It ended with the strange words of verse twenty-three, "But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." There ends the second movement in the great charge.

Then begins the third, which commences with the words, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord;" and runs to the end of the chapter.

Thus, in this one discourse, the King referred to three distinct epochs; the first division, verses five to fifteen, exactly describing the work of the apostles from the day when He ordained them, until the day of His own crucifixion. It had to do with their immediate work. All His instructions in that division were applicable to the men whom He sent forth, while He still lived amongst them, until the day of His crucifixion. With His crucifixion, the order initiated ended, and save in fundamental principles, the commission of those verses has no application to us.

Immediately following these instructions, He continued, "Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." Now, these men knew practically nothing of persecution until after the crucifixion of Jesus. He was rejected, but they were treated with respect, even by the crowds. The crowds argued with them, tried to understand what relation they bore to Jesus, asked them what Christ meant by certain things; but did not persecute them. He kept them to the end, bore the brunt of persecution, gathered it into His own heart, and they knew nothing of it. But when the rough and rugged Cross was revealed, persecution broke upon them from their own nation In view of this He charged them that when they were persecuted in one city they were to flee to another, saying, "Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." In these words He was evidently referring to His coming in judgment at the fall of Jerusalem, which took place in the year A. D. 70. Thus the second period ended with the fall of Jerusalem. It was then that the Son of Man came in the sense in which He meant here. A very remarkable fact of history throws light upon this; never from the day of Jerusalem's fall until now has a Christian believer been scourged in a Jewish synagogue. From the moment when Jerusalem passed out of human history as a commonwealth, her direct persecution of Christ ended. Alas, and alas, that Christians have persecuted Jews, but the Jew has never persecuted the Christian since the fall of Jerusalem. Thus in the second movement the King was dealing with the new conditions of His apostles' service, following His crucifixion and continuing until the fall of Jerusalem; and again, save in fundamental principles, the instructions are not applicable to us.

Then He saw still further down the centuries, all that would follow the fall of Jerusalem, to the end of the age; and in view of that period He began to talk about the relationship of His servants to Himself, going back to the word disciple, and no longer using the word apostle, thus including in the final movement of His instruction all the company of His children who will be His servants until He come again. "A disciple is not above his teacher;" and so on, in that wonderful passage in which He revealed this supreme truth, that after Israel's nationality ceased, and His Church should become the instrument for the proclaiming of His Gospel, her power would consist in her immediate identification with Himself; and her mission be that of constant co-operation with His purpose.

That is, of course, only a broad survey of these commandments of the King. We shall need to consider them more carefully; but before we do so, let us notice that the change of conditions created by the crucifixion of Jesus, and again by the fall of Jerusalem are self-evident. The position of these men was greatly changed after the crucifixion of Jesus; and it was as greatly changed again when the principal force in persecuting them was broken. It is perfectly clear that the King foresaw these things, and that He understood perfectly the whole movement of the years that stretched before Him. Let us recognize the perfect wisdom and sufficiency of the King. One of the profoundest reasons for trusting Christ to-day in the matter of all Christian service is that here and elsewhere He revealed His perfect knowledge of conditions which no man could forecast, and which yet have transpired exactly as He foretold them.

Now let us go back to a more particular examination of the first two of these movements. We will notice the immediate application of what He said to the men who stood around Him as to their work until His crucifixion; and then the application of the next words, which He spoke to them concerning the period after His Cross until the destruction of Jerusalem. After considering the immediate application of these things, we will consider two principles of permanent value which bear their message to us.

As to the first period, we first notice the sphere of their operations. They were not to go to the Gentiles, they were not to go to the Samaritans. They were to "Go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." It was a limited sphere. Ere He ascended all this was abrogated, as He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation."

Notice further, that He charged them that came into a. city of Israel, being forbidden to go to a Gentile city, or a city of the Samaritan, they were to seek out those who were worthy. If the house were worthy they were to enter; if not, they were not to enter. That is the exact opposite of what we are to do to-day; the messenger to-day seeks the house of the lost and the unworthy. So that the charges He gave to these men, are not the charges He gives to us.

Yet again, notice the message these men were to deliver; that "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand;" that the Kingdom was close because the King was there; that the King, long looked for, hoped for, waited for, was amongst them; that if they did but turn to Him they would find the Messiah. It was a peculiar message. Not a word about forgiveness of sin, not a word concerning the filling of the Holy Spirit, not a word concerning the things which are our special message and glory. Their message was Messianic, but not fully interpreted, and the proofs they were to give evidenced the divinity of their mission, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." It is because men have lost the sense of the proportion of our Master's orderly speech that, to-day, some imagine that all this is still our work. This is not our work. We have no commission to heal the sick miraculously. If we have a commission to heal the sick miraculously we have also a commission to raise the dead, for the two things are closely connected. Every man who claims that he has a commission to heal the sick, must, in order to convince of his authority, be able to raise the dead also. We are not now discussing the question of divine healing. All healing is divine; the devil never heals. It is possible for God to heal us without medicine, without aid, but we have no warrant for claiming healing at the caprice of our will, but only as we use the means that God has given to us. This commission to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons, was a commission to those early disciples, their credentials of power, because they were preaching the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The whole was withdrawn when the Spirit came, and made the Church the spiritual messenger of the Spiritual Kingdom, which finally is to unfold and manifest and realize the material also.

Then notice the methods they were to adopt. They were to make no physical provision for themselves. They were to be dependent upon those to whom they came. They were to take no gold nor silver nor brass. That command was definitely set aside by our Lord in the words chronicled by Luke; "When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. And He said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet: and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword." The necessity for provision presently became part of the work of these men. In this first commission He was speaking of a local and limited ministry which they were immediately to exercise.

Then the result of their coming was to be that they were to pronounce peace, a message of joy and gladness. But if the house refused, in the dust they cast behind them their curse remained upon that house. All that has changed now.

Has He changed His method because this earlier method failed? No; this is a mistake we all often make. He fulfilled His first intentions by these early methods and then changed them.

In the next section also we find words which were of immediate application. First He said, "Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." There have been other eras of persecution in the Church, but never from the day in which Jerusalem fell has there been a systematic persecution of Christians by Jews. That was a manifestation peculiar to the period immediately following His crucifixion. Another was that of the destruction of family peace. As the evangel came into the families of the Jews, and certain therein believed, strife followed in peculiar form and ferocity, such as had never been known. Then was to come the Spirit's witness under circumstances of trial, the peculiar witness of defence.

Finally they were to haste through the cities of Israel because the coming of the Son of Man was imminent, and unless they hasted they would not have passed through the cities of Israel before He came. Here again is a fact to be carefully noted. Never since the destruction of Jerusalem has Israel had a city anywhere on earth. She has gathered into the cities of the Gentiles and the people have made their power felt, but to-day Israel has no city to call its own. Jerusalem itself, "the city of the great King," whose very dust is precious to the Jew, is the one spot in all the world he would fain possess. It is the one city in all the world that those who possess wish they did not. And yet those who hate it cannot lose it, and those who want it cannot gain it. Here is a problem for the politicians, in the face of which we must take God into account. There are more Jews gathered together in New York than ever were gathered together in Jewish cities in later times, but it is not their city; they are aliens among the nations.

What is meant here by the coming of the Son of Man? Some hold that the Second Advent of Jesus is past; that He actually came in Person at the time of the fall of Jerusalem; and was seen of some few faithful souls. There may be an element of truth in that view, but that does not exhaust the teaching of the New Testament concerning the Second Advent. He had often come before; He had talked with Abraham, He had spoken to men in the past as the Angel of Jehovah, and who shall say that in His Personal Form He did not guide the Roman legions as they took Jerusalem? It is quite certain there can be no explanation of the coming of the Son of Man in this case except in the sense of judgment. His coming at the fall of Jerusalem, ended the cities of Israel, and this accounted for His urgency and haste in driving His apostles out to tell the story of the King and the Kingdom.

But if these two sections are very largely applicable to the days we have referred to, there are permanent principles in each. In the first section none of the things we have mentioned apply to us. But in the words, "Freely ye received, freely give;" we touch a deep permanent truth which never changes. It was His word to those early disciples who went with the first proclamation of His Messiahship; it was His word to those whom He sent out as sheep among wolves; it is His word to us, "Freely ye received, freely give."

It is the law of Christian service as to its disposition, rather than in its amount. The word "freely" does not mean abundantly. Jesus does not say, "Abundantly ye have received, abundantly give." The word signifies rather, "Gratuitously ye have received, gratuitously give." Our giving in service is to be on the pattern of God's giving to us. We cannot buy anything from God; we are not to expect men to buy anything from us in this sacred service. God is good to us not for gain to Himself, but out of His grace, out of His passion for giving. Now as Jesus said to His workers in that earliest period, so He says to us, "Freely ye received, freely give." Our service is not to be for success or profit, but for the sake of those we serve, expecting nothing in return. This is the law of Christian service. Freely we are to pour out of our best in sacrifice, in order to be in true co-operation with Him.

Then again in the second period, we find a word of immediate application, and of abiding principle; "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." "Wise" means sagacious, not sly; it is the quality of the serpent in its wariness for self-defence. "Harmless" means simple, or as Luther almost perfectly translated it, without fault, without flaw, simple and undeviating in life. That is a strange combination, but it is a perfect revelation. It is impossible to be wise as serpents save as we are simple as doves, for the serpent's wisdom ends when it becomes vicious. It is impossible to be harmless as a dove without the wisdom of a serpent, for the dove's simplicity ends when it becomes careless.

But we can have the perfect combination, because He says, "I send you;" and if He send us, He will give us His wisdom, His harmlessness. Let us see to it that we are about His business, ready to do His will, then we can lean back upon all that He is, and appropriate it for our work.

The teaching here for us in these first movements may be simply stated.

Our authority is His; and proceeds out of His compassion for the unfit.

Our service must be like His; gratuitous, free.

Our attitudes are to be worthy of Him; we must be wise with His wisdom, simple with His simplicity.

IN this section we have words which have direct application to ourselves. Just as in the great intercessory prayer of Jesus, recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, He included us with those who were then round about Him, so here He included all those who should share in His toil, until the consummation of the age at His second advent.

This, then, is a section of supreme interest to us, and of supreme helpfulness. The area of application widens. This is indicated by the instruction given to those to whom the Lord began to speak when He said, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord." Keep these two words in mind-disciple, servant. Then go to the, end, and in verse forty-one, where, when dealing with that great subject of identification, He said, "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." These are words descriptive of those to whom He speaks in this final section-not apostles exclusively, but disciples also. There cannot be an apostle who is not a disciple, but there may be a disciple who is not an apostle. The apostle is the first messenger of the King. That is the distinct office of the apostle. The apostle always breaks up new ground, flashes light into darkness that has never before received it; and we thank God for those who have been successful in that long succession of apostolic toil.

But the apostles are not the only workers in the orderliness of Christ's Church; they do not exhaust the line of service. "He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Even these do not exhaust the line of service, for, following the word of that Ephesian declaration we read, He gave these "for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering." That is to say, the whole Church is in the ministry, and those gifted within the Church are gifted in order that they may perfect the Church for the doing of this work. So not the apostle only, not the prophet only, not the evangelist only, not the pastor and teacher only, is in the ministry, but every disciple, every servant of Jesus. When any man receives the gift of the apostle, that constitutes him the first messenger of the King; or of the prophet, that sends him like a flame of fire through the land; or of the evangelist, that bids him go forth in wooing tenderness to bring men to Christ; or of the pastor and teacher, that enables him to feed the flock of God, and take the oversight of all sacred and holy work; all are in order to find and equip disciples and servants for ministry. Every disciple is called into fellowship with Jesus in His work; and standing here among these first twelve, who were to be apostles, He spoke to them, and through them, to the whole company of His disciples; and in this wonderful section He teaches us supreme and fundamental lessons about our relationship with Hun in service. The work to be done is not described in detail here, but it is inferentially seen. It is that of confessing Christ before men. That is the Church's work. It is all-inclusive. When we have said that, we have said everything we can say about the apostle, the evangelist, the prophet, the pastor and teacher, and the disciple and servant. Whatever our gift may be within the Church, or as a member of the Church, our work is to confess Christ before men. Confession does not mean merely saying, He is mine, and I am His. That is a blessed thing to say, and, if only all disciples would say that to men, multitudes would be born into the Kingdom of God. But by confession we are to reveal Him, to flash His glory, to make Him known. The Church of Jesus Christ is not constituted in order that it may discuss philosophies or indulge in speculations. It is created to confess Christ, and it never ought to rest for one moment, until the last weary, sin-bound soul, in the furthest region of the world, has heard His evangel, has beheld His glory.

The first movement of this chapter had to do with men who were going to be sent away from Jesus, though, of course, identified with Him in sympathy. In the second movement, when they were to go as sheep in the midst of wolves, and yet bound to Him by the Holy Spirit, they were to have no fear when they stood upon their defence. This last movement becomes more gracious and tender, more searching and fiery; and the whole theme is that of the identification of the worker with Jesus, and all that it means to him as he goes forth.

First, our Lord shows what the result of identification with Himself will be in the personal position of the workers (verses 24-28) [Mat 10:24-28]; secondly, what the result of identification with Himself will be, in the matter of the workers' relationship to God (verses 29-33) [Mat 10:29-33]; finally, what the result of the workers' identification with Himself will be in the matter of the workers' relationship to men who are outside, and to whom they are sent (verses 34-42) [Mat 10:34-42].

Let us take the first of these-the worker in identification with Christ. The Lord first stated the fact of identification. He declared the issue of identification. Next He spoke a word of assurance based upon the fact of identification. Further He uttered the commission which is the outcome of identification. Finally He revealed the one and only fear that need result from identification.

The fact of identification is revealed in the statement, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be (or become) as his teacher, and the servant as his lord." One need hardly say anything here by way of exposition. This statement of the fact that the worker is identified with the Lord, is a wonderful statement, thrilling with grace. We readily bow to the first position, "The disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master." The word servant here is bondservant, slave, and means not merely a servant as one who renders service, but a servant as one who is the property of his master, and therefore renders service. That is the word that runs through the New Testament as descriptive of service. Thus our Lord introduces us to the fact of our relationship to Him. We are His disciples, learning. We are His bond-slaves, bound to obey Him. We are therefore not above Him.

If the statement had ended there, we should reverently have bowed the head and worshipped. But He said another thing, a very wonderful thing, a thing no other master ever said, and no other lord ever said, " It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the servant as his lord." By this word the King teaches us that, in all our service for Him, He reckons us as identified with Himself, as going in His place, for at the conclusion He said, "He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." We are His disciples, He is our Teacher, and He is above us; but His teaching is to make us become as He is, and all He is, is ours in this matter of service. Thus He brings us into the place of perfect identification with Himself. 'The bond-servant, bound to obey, because the property of the King, is yet as he goes forth, identified with his Lord, with his Lord's royalty, his Lord's dignity, his Lord's authority, delegated by the King to speak for the King, in the name and nature and the power of the King.

Next we are taught the issue of that identification; "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household!" That is to say, the Master has been misunderstood, the Master has been misinterpreted, and we must not expect any other experience. If the Master has not been able to make clear to certain minds the truths He has been teaching, we must remember that we have to face the same difficulty. No doubt the Lord knew that there lurked in the mind of these twelve men the thoughts that are so often with us-the thought of their inability, the thought of the tremendous work He was sending them forth to do, and they trembled. They were afraid of the forces that were moving against them, and He said in effect; Yes, you will have difficulties, you will be misunderstood, you will be misrepresented, but ever remember this is the necessary issue of identification.

In view of that He uttered the word of assurance, "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." Here our Lord did not mean that the evil secrets of the hearts of evil men were going to be uncovered. That is also true, but here there is another application. It is as though He had said; Do not be afraid of difficulties which are in front of you; men will misunderstand and misinterpret you as they have misunderstood and misinterpreted Me; but do not be afraid; the covered thing you want to make known must be made known sooner or later; the thing that is hidden, that you strive to make real, must be revealed sooner or later. He said to these men and to us in effect; You are going out against terrible odds; I have been called Beelzebub; Men have attributed My works to demons, and My words to satanic agency; You are not going to be understood any better than I have been; but do not be afraid, the truth must triumph; the covered thing that you cannot make men see, must be seen at last; the hidden thing you desire to bring out into the light, must come out into the light at last. It was a great word of assurance.

Now mark the commission-and it is this commission, flinging its light back upon the former consideration, that explains the previous word-"What I tell you in the darkness"-that is the covered thing-"speak ye in the light: and what ye hear in the ear"-whispered-that is the hidden thing "proclaim upon the house-tops." In other words, the King said; You are to be acquainted with the covered things, and the hidden things, the things not seen by the rulers of this world, the things not discovered by human philosophers, of this or any other age; the things that the wise and prudent never knew; and your work is a twofold work; you are first to listen while I whisper them to you, and then to mount the house-top and proclaim them to men. That is the real order of Christian service. No man has anything to say worth saying to a congregation who has not been alone and waited while the Lord whispered secrets to him. This is our commission, "What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light." Note the change here. He had constantly been telling them not to tell. He told them to tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man should be glorified. They were secret things which He told them in those days of preparation. Such was the attitude of the Lord during the days of His flesh; but the day was coming when they were to tell the secret, to flash the light. That is our work to-day.

Then came the final word here, as to their personal relationship. You have only one thing to fear, said the Lord. You need not fear these men who do not understand when a hidden thing is revealed, and who, when the light flashes, will become angry. Ignorance will merge into hostility when light rebukes the sin which resulted from ignorance.

And did our King ever say anything more thrilling with dignity than this, "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul"? There is no utterance more vibrant with victory. If a man Mils the body that is the utmost he can do; and the Lord said, that by comparison, that is a small thing. Presently this King went to the Cross without faltering, without flinching, with regal bearing, so that the men who condemned Him look for all time mean and contemptible in His presence. He went to the Cross in the power of that philosophy. Beyond the limits of human power stretch the infinite realities. He said, Do not be afraid, there is a spiritual entity which they cannot touch.

But there is One to fear. By some strange perversion there are those who say that Jesus here meant the devil. Satan has no power to fling soul and body into Gehenna, and we are never told from Genesis to Revelation to fear the devil. We are always told to fear God. Men may destroy the body, but there is One Who can take hold of the body and the spirit, and condemn them to lie place of rubbish and ruin. Fear Him!

Then immediately, and by a change as startling as it is sudden, Jesus proceeded to discuss the relation of the worker to God, the outcome of identification with Himself. There is an interesting merging here of the two sections. The last closed by charging the disciples that in service only one fear is necessary or warranted, and that is the fear of God. Now carefully note the sequence. He first tells them the truth about the God Whom they are warned to fear, by giving two very simple illustrations. First, He is always with a sparrow when it dies; secondly, He numbers the hairs of our heads. Always with the sparrow. Yes, do not spoil this quotation by saying that Jesus meant that not one of them shall fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge. He did not say that. A Scotch commentator, usually to be absolutely trusted, in his commentary puts it thus, "Not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father"-and then he puts in brackets, "That is without His permission," and by that parenthesis spoils his exposition. The King said that God is with the dying sparrow!

And the hairs of your head are numbered. That is a passage out of which some would-be clever men have found great amusement. They have said, Do you suppose that God counts the number of hairs in a man's head? Jesus never said so. He said God numbers them. Counting is a human process. Numbering is more than counting. It is attaching a value to every one, almost labeling each; a far more wonderful thing than counting. Jesus was showing that God is in the infinitely little as well as in the infinitely great, and when the tired man at his work passes his hand across his brow to brush away the perspiration and just one hair goes with it, God knows! Do not be afraid, fear God, He is very tender, very gracious, very loving. Our Lord here charges us to fear, in order that we may be fearless; He charges upon us the fearlessness that grows out of fear. Dread Him, and Him alone, Who is able to cast the soul and body into Gehenna. But does He cast soul and body into Gehenna? It depends. The sparrow that fulfils the purpose of its being, He gives a nest in which to die, and the nest is His own soft and infinite Presence. Do not be afraid slavishly; only fear Him because He is right.

So God is here revealed in all His tenderness, and our relationship to Him is made plain.

Then notice what follows in close connection. "Every one therefore who shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father Who is in heaven." There is a little preposition in the Greek New Testament which is omitted in translation, but our revisers have put it in the margin. What Jesus said was this, " Every one therefore who shall confess in Me before men, in Him will I also confess before My Father." But there is no such preposition in the other part of the statement "-But whosoever shall deny Me"-not in Me-"before men, him will I also deny," not in him-"before My Father Who is in heaven." Therein is revealed the difference between identification and separation. It is our work to confess in Christ, in the sphere of His life, to make Him the whole fact. "Who shall confess in Me before men, in him," says Jesus, "I will confess before My Father." That man stands before My Father in Me and I in him. Identification in confession on earth is identification in confession in heaven. Whenever we go forth and confess the truth in Christ, we are standing in Him, hidden and secure. While we are doing that, He is standing in us before the Throne confessing in us there, so that while men see Him in us, God sees us in Hun.

Identification with Christ is a great responsibility as well as a great privilege. If we deny Him, then we are separate from Him, and He, in separation, denies us before His Father Who is in heaven.

There remain the last few words in which the relation of those in identification with Christ to the men of the world is stated. There are some who will refuse us; our coming will create variance, and foes, and a sword; but we are not to forget that in the presence of differences created by that variance and that sword and those foes, we must be worthy of Him. We must love Him more than husband, wife, father, mother, child. We must take up our cross and follow Him.

And then, by a sudden transition, the King speaks as though standing out in the far distance welcoming the workers. Mark the words, "He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." Oh, to meet Him and to hear Him say, You lost your life for Me, find it!