Notes Of An Address

by N.D.W.Miller | Category: General | Sept 1933

"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise "(Hebrews 11. 8, 9).

The call recorded in Genesis 12. involved very important issues. This is the first time in Scripture that we read of God calling a man. God did a new thing in Abraham. He came to Abraham and revealed Himself when Abraham dwelt in Mesopotamia, and that appearance converted Abraham from idolatry. Abraham could say, "What have I to do any more with idols? " So he came to know God. He looked out on a scene blighted and blasted by idolatry. But the same God who appeared to Abraham, called him from the land of his nativity and from his kindred and from his father's house. Thus as called of God he started out from the land and finally was severed from his home. His relatives, however, were a hindrance to him and God removed Terah, Abraham's father.

Every believer is blessed of God through Abraham's faithfulness, " So then they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham " (Galatians 3. 9), " In blessing I will bless thee."

When Abraham goes into the land he is faithful to the call. I have no doubt there were difficulties in the way even from the beginning, but it is written that when Abraham was called he obeyed; and he did it by faith. Some believers would like to see the end before they see the beginning. They wonder what they will have to lose ; what they will have to suffer; what tribulation they will have to pass through! Let such remember the principle, "Made perfect through sufferings." Abraham did not know where he was going, nor what he might have to encounter and endure; but he went out steadfast in faith ; he did God's will.

When we pass on to the history of the children of Israel, who through their own disobedience were at length carried away captives to Babylon, we see that they could not serve God in Babylon. Ever since men associated themselves with Nimrod and rejected God's will, men must separate themselves from Babylon if they would serve the Lord.

In Matthew 11. 28, the Lord Jesus says, " Come unto Me." The invitation is to those who labour and are heavy laden, and in coming to Christ, they find the rest which He gives. Now that call is the result of God's foreknowledge-" Whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son ... and whom He foreordained, them He also called." You will notice that the call precedes justification (Romans 8. 30), and those who respond to that call find themselves in what the Lord Jesus Christ calls " My Church (Matthew 16. 18). But when we conic farther on, God has something more to say. He says "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers ... Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you "(2 Corinthians 6. 14-17). Abraham in his day found God faithful; and we, in like manner may find God faithful ; as it is written, " God is faithful through whom ye were called into the Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

Now, God's will can only be done by those who are prepared to do it, and we read that "Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called," and there is a reason for this, "that no flesh should glory before God." To those who obey the Word of God-"Come ye out from among them and be ye separate " ; there is the promise, " I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

The gospel comes to mankind, and "He that believeth," equally includes the female and the male. Those who obey the gospel, whether male or female, become sons, " Ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Here there " Can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female: for ye all are one in Christ Jesus " (Galatians 3. verses 26-28).

In the House of God, otherwise called the Fellowship of His Son, there are sons and daughters, men and women, male and female, as see 1 Corinthians chapter 11. verses 2-16 ; 2 Corinthians chapter 6. verses 14-18; I Timothy chapter 2. verses 8-15; chapter 3. verses 11, 12; and both men and women need to learn how to behave themselves in the house of God (verse 15). There is a place for each, for "neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord." This verse does not contemplate the married state, but shows that in the will of God male and female must have their place. The Fellowship of His Son is not a society of males to the exclusion of females ; nor contrariwise, of females to the exclusion of males ; and where such exclusive societies exist they are plainly not of God, whatever may be said to the contrary.

The woman is to be in the place of subjection. The woman's place of subjection is not because she is an inferior creature, for sometimes you find a woman superior in certain ways to many a man. She is to be subject for the double reason given by the Apostle in 1 Timothy chapter 2. Firstly, "Adam was first formed" (verse 13). Secondly, "Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression (verse 14).

It is for each, whether man or woman, to learn the God appointed place and seek to abide therein and fill it to God's glory; being, through obedience to the call of God in the place of separation, a means of blessing to men, such as Abraham was, and still continues to be.

N.D.W.Miller | Sept 1933
General