27 21. Seekers Who Always Find
21. Seekers Who Always Find
INTRODUCTION
"Seek, and ye shall find" and "He that seeketh findeth" are declarations of our Lord. (See Matthew 7:7-8.) A principle is involved here, and we want to study this Scripture and come to see it as it is. You will observe that these words give room for no contingency, no room for failure. Every seeker contemplated in this statement finds. If you could find just one seeker, in the mind of our Lord when he uttered these words, failing to find, you would prove him not to be the divine Son of God; for it would prove that he was not infallible as a teacher—that he said things that were not true. He does not say, "Some who seek findeth," but, "He that seeketh findeth." He does not say, "Seek, and you may find," but, "Seek, and ye shall find." Do you see, then, that he leaves no room for a failure? Hence, the subject of the lesson is, "Seekers Who Always Find."
WHAT THE WORD "SEEK" COMPREHENDS
It is safe to say that the whole plan of salvation is couched in this little word seek. You can prove Christ to be superhuman simply from his power to choose words in which to express himself. Suppose you take the sayings of our Lord and try to find words that better express the thought than the ones he used. Find how powerless you are to do so. Even the enemies of our Lord had to exclaim: "Never man so spake." These were officers who had been sent to arrest Christ and stop him from teaching. But they made the mistake when they reached the place where he was teaching in listening to him. He was so powerful in his teaching that they returned without him. When asked why they made no arrest, the reason they gave was: "Never man so spake." (See John 7:45-46.) So let us raise the question: What ideas go to the making of this word? Words, we are correctly told, are signs of ideas. What are the ideas couched in this word? The idea of a seeker and an object sought are in the word. You cannot use the word without these two ideas in your mind. Here is the seeker and there is something he desires, hence seeks it. The idea of separation is in the word—that is, the seeker is in one place and the object sought is in another, and the purpose of the seeking is to bring the seeker and the object sought together. The idea of motion, or action, is in the word seeks. It is an active verb, and the thought always is that of the seeker moving, acting, and not the object sought. The ideas of darkness or of ignorance are in the word seek. The seeker, therefore, needs light, needs a guide. Use the word seek if you can without these ideas therein. People who are seeking for anything need information; they need light on the subject. The guide that they need is one who can tell them exactly where the object sought is located and the way to that place. This is the light they need about the thing they are seeking.
Now, in common everyday speech, we always use the word in this sense. Jesus, when here, picked up those words that contained the ideas he wanted to express, and these are the words he used.
"For this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." (Psalms 48:14.) So you see we are not left to guess as to who our guide is. When Jesus said, "He that seeketh findeth," he had in mind seekers who take Jehovah as their guide. Could it be possible for any such seeker to fail?
Blind guides. You certainly have heard of people seeking and not finding, but they are not the seekers Christ is talking about, for all of them find. But the Bible speaks of blind guides. (See Matthew 15:14.) "They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pit." And we are not left to guess who blind guides are. Read verse 9 of this chapter and we are told who they are: "But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men."
Now, those who follow blind guides sometimes are led to think they have found; but, as a rule, they find only a delusion. They are made to think they are God’s children, that their sins are blotted out, when this is not true. But among their seekers there are many who do not find. Not so with our Lord’s seekers; they all find, and not one of them finds anything except salvation—the thing the seeker wants.
HOW JEHOVAH GUIDES THE SEEKER
"Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."(Psalms 73:24.) In harmony with this statement, we have David saying in Psalms 119:105 : "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path." Here is the way Jehovah gives light to the seeker. And Satan so understands, hence tries to keep this light out. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 you learn that people are lost because Satan has blinded them from "the light of the gospel." The entrance of God’s words gives light. (See Psalms 119:130.)
God guides man in an intelligent way. He approaches him by teaching him by means of words that he can understand. "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me." (John 6:45.) This is the way Jehovah, our Guide, draws or leads us to Christ.
These are the seekers who always find. "Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah, and read: no one of these shall be missing." (Isaiah 34:16.) Could language be plainer? These are the kind of seekers Jesus had in mind when he said: "He that seeketh findeth." The devil is powerless when he sees you going to God’s word determined to let God through it guide you into the way of salvation. How he dreads to see the word enter your heart! Listen to Jesus tell us about the devil’s fear of the word: "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And those by the wayside are they that have heard; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved." (Luke 8:11-12.)
LISTENING TO THE GUIDE SPEAK
We want salvation. Does our Guide know where it may be found? Here is what he says: "1 will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." (Isaiah 46:13.) If you will read verses 9 and 10: you will find that he is here giving us a prophecy of what he would do some time in the future. But the question now naturally arises: What is Zion? "Zion" is the prophetic word for the church Christ established. When Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), he was referring to the very place in which he said he would place salvation. Will you here turn to Hebrews 12:22-24; Hebrews 12:28 and study carefully, and you will find that Zion is followed by explanatory modifiers—viz., "city of the living God," "heavenly Jerusalem," "general assembly and church of the first-born." You will also find that when they came into "the church of the first-born" they found God, Christ, and the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. In verse 28 you will learn that in coming to Zion, "the church of the first-born," they received "a kingdom that cannot be shaken."
OurGuide says salvation is in Zion. Blind guides say that salvation is found out of the church. Do you see the difference? our Guide says that the church, which is the body of Christ, is "the fullness of him that filleth all in all." (See Ephesians 1:22-23.) Blind guides say there is nothing in the church. Our Guide says the church is Jehovah’s habitation. (See Ephesians 2:19-22.) Blind guides say you can find God out of the church as well as in it. The way to Zion. When the seeker is told that salvation is in Zion, how natural it is for him to ask the way to Zion! And God anticipated this. "They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten." (Jeremiah 20:5.) There is no such thing as being in covenant relationship with God out of Zion, which is "the church of the first-born."
WHAT OUR GUIDE SAYS ABOUT THE WAY TO ZION
Remember, we are studying seekers who always find. Let our Guide just here tell us exactly who they are: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13.) This settles it. The seekers who find are those who search with all their heart.
What does our Guide say is whole-hearted seeking? He plainly says it is ceasing to do unrighteousness and walking in his ways. (See Psalms 119:2). Go to Deuteronomy 4:29; Deuteronomy 4:20. and you will find that wholehearted seeking is: "Thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice." Going to Isaiah 55:6-7, you will learn the same thing. Tell me, in which direction am I going when I quit doing wrong and walk in Jehovah’s ways? There are but two directions in religion—viz., (1) the one that leads to God, and (2) the one that leads from God. How could it be possible for a soul to fail to find God if he ceases to do evil and becomes obedient to the voice of our Lord? This is the way to Zion. You cannot miss it if you walk in this way.
EXAMPLES The Pentecostians. You will turn to Acts 2:22-42 and study it carefully. What do you find? You find people who were taught of God by the preaching of Peter. They were certainly great sinners, but they turned their backs on all of their evil ways and gladly received the words of the Spirit and were baptized— about three thousand of them. Not one seeker was left seeking—they all found. And why? They sought God with all their heart by repenting of their sins and obeying what Christ says a sinner must do to be saved. (See Mark 16:15-16.)
Other examples. (1) The Samaritans (Acts 8:5; Acts 8:12), (2) the eunuch (Acts 8:35-39), Saul (Acts 9:1-19; Acts 22:16), the jailer and his house (Acts 16:32-34). They were taught how to get into Christ, into the remission of sins, into the church, or Zion. (Galatians 3:26-27; Romans 6:1-5; Romans 6:17-18.) The apostles never left a seeker seeking—they all found, because they were taught to turn their backs on sin and do what Christ says to be saved.