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AN OUTLINE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL

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1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Samuel 1:1 - 28

J.E.B. Samuel is spoken of as a prophet in the New Testament. What bearing would that have on this portion of Scripture?

C.A.C. I suppose the prophetic word definitely began with Samuel. Peter says in Acts 3:24, "And indeed all the prophets from Samuel and those in succession after him, as many as have spoken, have announced also these days", bringing Samuel into this sphere.

J.E.B. Is there not a break in the Old Testament Scriptures at this point?

C.A.C. Yes, a break which is occasioned by the thought of the kingdom being introduced and Jehovah's Anointed coming into view. God had in view not only helping people in their distresses and delivering them as in judges, but He had in view the bringing in of something that was entirely of Himself in connection with which His strength, power and glory should be known.

H.B. Was it not a new departure in the ways of God?

C.A.C. It was, publicly. God had in mind the introduction of a king. The very fact that he is introduced in connection with the prophet rather suggests the present position, namely, the kingdom as introduced morally. What is in my mind is that it is rather the kingdom in the character that we know it now, not in its millennial aspect.

H.B. Do we get first Christ in rejection and then Christ in power?

C.A.C. Yes. 1 Samuel carries us to the death of Saul, making way for God's anointed; then 2 Samuel carries us

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on to the offering of the sacrifices in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite; that brings us to the house. I think we might find great profit in looking at these books with that as the governing thought as spiritual instruction. It would help to see how we come into the kingdom in a spiritual way and how the kingdom leads to the house and the service of God. We might find great instruction in pursuing these lines. The basic principle of the kingdom is obedience.

-.F. Is obedience a characteristic of a prophet?

C.A.C. I think so. The prophet is not one who has a mind of his own. The thing about a prophet is that he has the mind of God and can bring in moral power so that the people of God may be prepared for the kingdom. It is the kingdom in a moral way.

H.B. Are you thinking of prophetic ministry?

C.A.C. Prophetic ministry is the most important thing we have at the present time. The prophet as having the mind of God would pray for the people. In the light of that Samuel said in chapter 12 of this book, "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you" (verse 23). The prophet prays in communion; as having the mind of God, he would pray on that line.

-.F. In this day, conditions were there that Samuel could pray for the people, but later on we read, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not turn toward this people" (Jeremiah 15:1).

C.A.C. Thank God the time has not come in church history for God to refuse to hear. We are still in the time when a feeble and despised remnant can secure things morally.

H.B. In that way you feel that this has a bearing on the present moment?

C.A.C. Yes, the circumstances here are very instructive.

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Here is a Levite who was occupying a position that was then of God. He was occupying his local position in Ephraim but occupying it in the light of Shiloh. He was occupying a position locally in the light of what was universal; that is a great matter for us. Shiloh was where the ark was and the tabernacle. It represented what was universal and also a state of things that God was about to reject on account of the corruption that was there. We are living in times when the universal idea has been brought into discredit by the conduct of those identified with it. There are a vast number in christendom who occupy the universal position, and they bring discredit on it. Notwithstanding that, the man of faith does not give up the universal thought because it is discredited, he clings to it and goes to Shiloh every year.

H.B. Was Hannah in contrast to what was outward?

C.A.C. Quite so; we get intense exercise in Hannah. Elkanah is presented to us as having two wives who were of a very different spirit. The one was more outwardly favoured of God than the other, but that only leads to boastfulness. Hannah refers to that in the next chapter, "Do not multiply your words of pride, let not vain-glory come out of your mouth" (verse 3). A woman under reproach does not seem to have as much favour from God as her rival. Peninnah seemed to have the favour from God; she had sons and daughters, and it looked as though God was more favourable to Peninnah than to Hannah. Sometimes people talk of great numbers and great blessing and it seems as if all were right with them but we see here another woman who was outwardly sorrowful and going through the deepest exercise because she wanted something for God. It is open to us all to take up that exercise. That which is outward and is prosperous and successful always despises and looks down with contempt on that which is lowly in spirit and that only seeks something for God. We

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have to be prepared to face that exercise.

-.F. Would you connect this with the end of judges?

C.A.C. I think it is rather the beginning of a new chapter. We see the corruption in Shiloh and faith in Elkanah in that he goes up yearly to Shiloh; he could not give up the divine thought because it was publicly discredited.

A.B. I should like help as to Shiloh. We sometimes say that if we name the name of the Lord we must depart from iniquity; if so, why was it faith to go to Shiloh?

C.A.C. Because God had not abandoned Shiloh. The time came when He did, when He had to forsake Shiloh and then it had no claim on faith. But at this time God had not forsaken Shiloh or given "his strength into captivity, and his glory into the hand of the oppressor". In this part of the book Shiloh was owned of God and represented the universal thought which we are to cling to however much it may be discredited. The thought of the one church is discredited, but we are not to give up the divine thought because it is discredited; that is important.

H.B. Would the beginning of Luke correspond with this?

C.A.C. Yes, I think so. The remnant in Luke had profited by a long course of prophetic ministry from Samuel to Malachi. They had profited and come to realise that the time of fulfilment was at hand.

J.E.B. The link with Luke makes this book very valuable.

C.A.C. Yes, we are slow to take it in, but the kingdom has actually come into being. It is not an altogether future thought because God's King has appeared, 'Hosanna, Jehovah's Anointed has been exalted'; these are present facts. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel show us how we can come into the good of these blessed divine facts; they give us the moral history of how we come in. We are feeble in

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the service of God because we are feeble in the kingdom. If we were more in the good of the kingdom, we should be more use in the house. It is a great thing to have this exercise, to have a man-child. Hannah wanted a child that would develop into a man and be in life-long Nazariteship for God, and would maintain among the people of God what was suitable to the kingdom and to the Anointed. That is the object of all prophetic ministry.

H.B. She surrendered her natural ties for God?

C.A.C. She wanted a man-child who would be wholly for God; she wanted something better than was there. God can put that into our souls, that we may desire to have something better than anything we have got. There was nothing in Shiloh that was distinctively for the pleasure of God. The ark was there and the priests were there but the priests were sons of Belial and they caused the people to transgress. In such conditions Hannah had a longing for a man-child, something that was better. The exercises she went through were great spiritual gain to her because they developed in her the spirit of a vow. I do not think that success develops that spirit. It is defeat that develops the spirit of a vow. Her defeat was that she had no child and her rival had. It caused intense grief and that developed the spirit of a vow -- she makes a vow, 'If Jehovah will give me a man-child I will lend him to Jehovah all the days of his life to be a Nazarite'. That is an exercise that we can all take up, that something may be brought in that is not adulterated by any human element. We should all be zealous in desiring this. Hannah sets forth the state that should be found in a spiritual remnant. Peninnah had a place as in association with Elkanah; she profited by her nearness to a faithful man, but she had not the depth that was in Hannah. Peninnah represents an unspiritual believer; a spiritual person thinks of what is for God, that there should be something for God. Hannah got into the

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secret of the divine ways. God's way is to kill, "Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive" (chapter 2 verse 6). God brings low before He lifts up, "He bringeth low, also he lifteth up", (chapter 2 verse 7). Some of us get lifted up before first being brought low! Sometimes when I have been brought low I have taken courage by the thought that it was God's way and that He had got something on the other side for me. Paul speaks of the God of encouragement.

J.E.B. Hannah means grace and Peninnah means coral. You cannot do much with coral, it is showy but there is no substance.

C.A.C. That is very interesting. It is an exercise for us as to whether we are on the line that has real value for God -- are we seeking that? It is the privilege of every brother and sister to seek something that will be distinctively for God. It would be wonderful to have even one brother or sister in every meeting who was definitely set for God; it would be a wonderful thing. One who overcomes in an assembly would be sufficient to save the assembly. Hannah was a woman of a sorrowful spirit; it is a great thing to be brought to that experimentally. Hannah was brought to it experimentally by the consciousness of utter inability in herself and the deep consciousness of the state of things in Israel generally. In her sorrow and distress she pours out her soul before Jehovah, and He answers as He always will answer a soul like that.

-.F. She speaks in verse 11 of "Jehovah of hosts".

C.A.C. That brings in the thought of a great company.

-.F. However small things may appear outwardly, faith always looks beyond.

C.A.C. Yes, it is a great thing to be in the greatness of things. The smaller we are outwardly the more the necessity to be in the greatest things inwardly. In a morning meeting one does not care for a reference as to our being few or small. Scripture speaks of our being many. A

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brother prayed the other day about the little upper room, but the Lord says, "He will show you a large upper room"! We like these small ideas but the Lord speaks of the greatness of things. This thought of greatness was in Elkanah's mind also when he went up yearly to sacrifice to "Jehovah of hosts". It is very striking as it was a remnant time but these two had a thought of the thousands of them that love God and of the Lord who shall "come amidst his holy myriads". It is wonderful while in actual smallness to get into the wide range of the divine thought so that we can think of the many sons that He brings to glory. Faith always has great thoughts because, as the old divine said, 'Faith thinks God's thoughts after Him'.

J.E.B. Elkanah did not enter into Hannah's exercise.

C.A.C. We often find that those in the path of faith do not always understand the exercises of those who want something for God. Hannah had an ideal before her that had not come into the soul of Elkanah. He thought that she should be content with him. He was a man of faith, standing in the testimony but he did not share this deep exercise that Hannah had. She wanted something altogether different from what was at that time in evidence; the existing state of things did not satisfy her, she wanted something more. Paul was like that; he was an insatiable man. He was never satisfied with the brethren; he was always wanting something more! He encouraged them to abound more and more. That is the true exercise of faith that there should be more for God than there is now; that is never to flag until the King is set up in power and Jesus comes. We are never to flag; there is always to be something more in me and in all the brethren. It comes about in intense lowliness and deep sorrow of heart. Hannah got what she wanted. I believe what is asked for in reality for God and the Lord Jesus will always be answered. The Lord has that in mind when He says, "Whatsoever

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ye shall ask in my name, this will I do", John 14:13.

F.B. She got the answer to her prayer before she got the child.

C.A.C. Yes, indeed. The whole history of these books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles is summed up in, "Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end", Isaiah 9:7. Samuel's service was to anoint David; that was the greatest service he did. From that point we see a continual increase until we reach the climax in the glorious reign of Solomon and the temple is seen in its magnificent service, all divinely ordered. It is a wonderful history of increase.

-.P. All is seen to come from the godly exercise of a woman.

C.A.C. That is very fine. If we knew the secret of God's ways during the last 100 years when there has been such a flow of ministry going on we should find that it probably started in the prayers of some obscure unknown individual. It is wonderful to get behind the scenes as we shall by and by.

H. B. Hannah looked onto the day when Samuel would anoint the king.

C.A.C. Yes, she was not occupied with Samuel; her song was not about Samuel but about Christ. She understood that Samuel would be instrumental in the coming in of Jehovah and that is the secret of all prophetic ministry. All the prophetic ministry from Samuel to Malachi had in view the coming in of Christ, and that is so in the prophetic ministry of the church today. If this is not being worked out, prophetic ministry, as far as we are concerned, has been in vain.

Well, Hannah gets the man-child and then the next thing is she must have him weaned. She will not go up to Shiloh until then.

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F.B. She brings him according to God.

C.A.C. Yes, weaning is an essential exercise if there is to be a man-child for God. There are two great weanings in Scripture, Isaac's and Samuel's. Nothing is said as to the weaning of Christ, there was no need for it in Him for Psalm 22 tells us that from the earliest moment of His history in this world He was entirely cast upon God. He never had to be weaned from other sources of supply. The thought of weaning is that the time has come when you have to take up things on your own exercises before God, apart from natural or even spiritual sources. Whatever spiritual help we have had there comes a time when we have to take up things in our own personal exercises. There is no man-child for God apart from that. Perhaps few believers reach it but it is a very important thing to reach. Samuel has now a definite spiritual history of his own. Weaning is the breaking off from what is legitimate and helpful to a certain point. The moment comes when things have to be taken up for ourselves. Timothy had a lot of help and comfort from the faith of his mother and grandmother, but the moment comes when he had to take things up on his own personal faith. Paul said, "I am persuaded that in thee also", 2 Timothy 1:5. One is sustained in one's relations with God in the power of one's own exercises. Having weaned him Hannah brings him to Shiloh with three bullocks and one ephah of flour and a flask of wine. She dedicated him in all the greatness and preciousness of Christ, as if to say that nothing of the natural goes to Shiloh. He goes there in the preciousness of Christ -- it is wonderful. The bullock is the largest sacrificial animal.

H.B. What would the flask of wine represent?

C.A.C. The ephah of flour would be for the oblation, and would bring in the perfection of the life of Christ. The bullock sets forth His sacrificial capability in its largest

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measure, and the flask of wine the drink offering, the absolute devotion of Christ to the will of God. Hannah brings the full setting forth of Christ so that the boy, who does not yet know Jehovah, is identified in his mother's faith with all that.

-.F. Would the wine be for joy?

C.A.C. No doubt it would. The offerings seem to be sacrificial, and I thought the wine stood in relation to the drink-offering, absolute devotion. Paul said, "I am already being poured out" (2 Timothy 4:6); that is like the drink-offering. These books, 1 and 2 Samuel, are much marked by increase. David was not marked by full growth all in a minute; it was a gradual process of increase. That is the process which divine grace is carrying on with us all. We begin with small thoughts of Christ; we begin as babes, not grown up. The principle of increase goes on all the time and develops in these interesting and valuable parts of Scripture.

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1 SAMUEL CHAPTERS 4 TO 6 (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Samuel 4:21, 22; 1 Samuel 5:1 - 3, 9 - 11; 1 Samuel 6:1 - 3, 6 - 10, 16, 19, 21

-.F. What is the force of the glory having departed from Israel?

C.A.C. The ark was the true glory of Israel and it was looked at as that which was committed to the guardianship of God's people. The ark is in itself purely of God, but the time came when God had to give it up into the hands of the enemy because of the state of those who should have been its guardians. It is a very solemn thing when God cannot support what is of Himself because of the moral state of those identified with it.

-.F. Phinehas' wife gives her reasons for the glory having departed. She says, "Because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband".

C.A.C. Yes. If the ark goes, the priesthood goes too.

J.E.B. What would correspond today with the ark being taken?

C.A.C. What has happened in christendom through the unfaithfulness of God's people; what is precious and holy has passed into the hands of the world; publicly the ark is taken. The idolatry of the people of God led to this condition of things. God's anger was kindled so He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh. The ark at Shiloh represented the place that God gave to Christ in the faithful affections of His people at the beginning. That has been lost; the glory in that sense has departed. All the present activities of God are really to secure the restoration of the ark to a suitable position, not to go back to Shiloh but to be

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brought back to a suitable position. It was not suitable for the ark to return to Shiloh for the priesthood was corrupt and the Lord could not identify that with the ark. What we find in the addresses to the seven churches in Revelation, until we come to Philadelphia, is that the glory is departed. He has to call on five of those assemblies to repent and bring a trespass-offering. Christ had left His place, there was no suitable place for the ark. We are today in the dispensation that has lost its glory; it is very solemn.

All that is precious has gone into captivity, all the precious truth of God has remained in christendom, the Bible is there and a lot remains that is of Christ but it has passed into Philistine hands.

H.B. What do the Philistines represent?

C.A.C. The Philistines were a people who came out of Egypt and were in the land of Canaan but they did not come out of Egypt by divine deliverance and they were not in Canaan by divine gift. They are a sort of imitation; they are like spiritual wickedness. David was one who really subdued the Philistines and secured a place for the ark. It never got its own place until David spread a tent for it in the city of David. It is so interesting to see in these books how the kingdom results in a suitable place being prepared for the ark. In spite of all, there is a suitable place for the ark -- for Christ. No doubt these Philistine priests were led of God in the way they proposed to send the ark back.

It is one of those instances where you find God coming in with a Balaam or a Caiaphas. What the Philistines proposed to do with the ark was the right way for it to be brought back.

Ques. Why were the men of Beth-shemesh punished for looking into the ark, for it says they were glad when they saw it?

C.A.C. There may be a great lack of reverence even with those who are glad to see the ark come back, as the

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men of Beth-shemesh were. It is a solemn warning to us. The lesson of this part of Scripture is the holiness of God and the jealousy of God as to Christ. The question is raised as to whether we are suitable persons to have anything to do with the ark. Are we spiritually able to bring the ark back? Have we the character of milch kine? That is an exercise for us tonight. The Philistines were quite right to put the ark on a new cart; it was the acknowledgement that there was not a man among them who was fit to carry it. They had no Levites. Even David had to learn the holiness of God and we all have to. One feels often what a lack of becoming reverence there is in the handling of the holy things of God, particularly as to Christ.

-.F. In Exodus 19 this kind of carnal movement is guarded against. We all should be careful how we take up divine things.

C.A.C. Yes. God knows how to give a testimony, even among the Philistines, to His thought of the ark. We see here that the ark was greater than their gods; Dagon falls down before it and is broken.

H.B. Are we sometimes like the Corinthians in the way we handle things?

C.A.C. Yes, they were taking up holy things in a fleshly way. Most of them were true believers but the ark was not being handled reverently.

-.T. Would not John 18 be the fulfilling of this? They took the Lord and we see Him standing in His holy dignity and they have to fall to the ground.

C.A.C. Yes, indeed. God knows how to give testimony to Christ, even when Christ is taken captive. The Philistines were glad to get rid of the ark.

-.F. In a certain way did they value the ark?

C.A.C. No doubt it was a great triumph for them to get the ark. It was a kind of glory for the world when it became possessed of Christ through the unfaithfulness of the

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people of God. He is in captivity there. We do not get the ark in its liberty there. God is working to liberate the ark; He is calling to those who can move in a spiritual way for its liberation. We should all like to contribute to the bringing back of the ark.

H.B. Would the beginning of Luke come in in this connection?

C.A.C. Yes, there were those there who had the character of milch kine. They represented those who could move in the Spirit of Christ. It had all a sacrificial character. Milch kine were clean creatures, they were suitable for sacrifice and were in moral keeping with the ark because they moved under a moral impulse in a way contrary to what would be natural. It ended in their being offered as a burnt offering. If I am going to help to bring back the ark I must be prepared to suffer. What am I prepared to surrender to give expression to the Spirit of Christ? We have, through grace, a sense of the holiness of Christ who is the image and glory of God. Everything is going to work up to the point where He will have His right place in the temple but in the meantime He is to be brought back, not to Shiloh, but brought back in a suitable way to a suitable place. It is something we all have to be exercised about. What a suitable Levite Mary was! How suitable she was to carry the ark! Christ does not come amongst people who do not appreciate Him. He came amongst a priestly company. That is the beauty of the beginning of Luke; you see a priestly company waiting to receive Him. All Israel had become Philistines, so to speak, but there was a little company of circumcised people who were able to cherish and carry the ark. We have that privilege today; the public profession has lost Him.

H.B. He has never ceased to be the Ark of God.

C.A.C. No. Whatever may go on in the land of the

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Philistines the true lovers of the ark would want it back. The truth was that God gave His strength into captivity. It is a solemn judgment that Christ has passed into the hands of the world. All these big cathedrals are the judgment of God; they tell us that Christ has passed into the hands of the world. The world does not know how to value Him though they may be compelled to own that Christ is greater than anything they have. God will compel them to own that. The Philistines did not want to give up their own gods. If christians had been true to Christ from the beginning the world would never have taken up christianity. It was the unfaithfulness of christians that led to the world taking it up.

J.E.B. Would not Dagon's fall indicate the break-up?

C.A.C. It was a testimony that all that was idolatrous must give way. The Lord said, "I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven". He saw the great overthrow of Satan. I think there are dealings of God with the christian part of the world that are different to those with the heathen world. God thinks of Christ. Many of the terrible visitations that come on the christian part of the world are the result of how Christ is treated by those who profess His name and are in the place of the Philistines. God makes His hand felt in connection with Christ and we cannot get away from it.

The Philistines had to acknowledge that their god had been overthrown. One feels how instructive this section of the book is as to the ark. There is great spiritual instruction for us. We are challenged as to how far we are prepared to move on lines that give Christ His suitable place. There are frequent references to the place of the ark in this book. The Philistines let it go to its own place, and David prepared a tent and brought the ark to its own place. It is a great thing that there should be a place for Christ, that holy conditions should be maintained. Beth-Shemesh was

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not a suitable place; there was no reverence, they looked into the ark. They represent true people of God who appreciate Christ but who do not realise the holiness of the ark or the seriousness of having to do with it. It is a fleshly thing to look into the ark.

-.F. Was it a wrong action to fetch it from Shiloh?

C.A.C. Yes, it showed they did not understand that it was the glory of God. They brought it out as a kind of charm to secure victory for them but there was nobody there fit to have to do with it.

A. S. Does the place of the ark involve what is collective?

C.A.C. The tent David spread for it involves what is collective. It is only then you get its place -- he brought it up to its place. The divine thought is that there should be a place where Christ gets His place among the people of God collectively. The houses of Obed-Edom and Abinadab do not give the full thought; they show how God can work so that Christ is appreciated by individuals. It requires the truth of the kingdom to secure a collective place for Christ. The tent is provisional before the temple is built. The temple is what looks on to the day of Christ, but before that time comes there is a tent -- a provisional place. Philadelphia is very like the tent thought. How delightful it is to God to have a few persons who have a due sense of the greatness of Christ, who have been subdued to Him. There is a holiness about them that is suitable to Christ; priestly conditions are there. There are delightful suggestions on God's part brought before us in these chapters. God's thought in the kingdom is to prepare suitable conditions for the ark. It is a very necessary exercise for us.

J.E.B. Why did the Philistines bring a trespass-offering?

C.A.C. The thought of a trespass-offering was suitable. Of course we know that they could not bring anything

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that was pleasing to God, but the spiritual suggestion of it is beautiful. If Christ has not been rightly regarded a trespass-offering is needed. We cannot get Him back to His right place without a trespass-offering. He had not been rightly regarded or worthily handled among either the Philistines or the Israelites. Probably the place He had in Israel was more offensive to God than the way He was handled among the Philistines because the Israelites should have known better.

Every one of us can do something to bring the ark back, every one of us can provide a suitable place for Him. It must begin individually, and then there is the collective exercise to provide such a place for the ark so that that blessed One may be cherished and honoured in a way that is pleasing to God. It depends on spiritual state; an unspiritual people cannot provide a suitable place for the ark.

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AN OUTLINE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL

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2 SAMUEL CHAPTERS 5 and 6

PHILISTINE ATTACKS (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Samuel 5:17 - 25; 2 Samuel 6:1 - 11

It seems to me that the Philistines coming up to seek David would be typical of the false brethren coming in to spy out our liberty in Christ Jesus as referred to in Galatians 2:4. They were met in stern combat by Paul and their images were taken away by the decree of the apostles and elders. But they come up yet again and have to be met in a new way. "Turn round behind them" would be more like Paul writing to the Galatians and his rebuke to Peter. In each case he took them up on the ground of their own past. There had been a real work of God there which could be counted on. The mulberry-trees would speak of taking advantage of what is favourable in meeting the enemy. Any work in souls is a divine growth and He moves in relation to that. Amongst true believers there is always that to be counted on; the "sound" of marching will be there.

But then there is a third Philistine attack which is more successful than the other two and it comes in where we might have least expected it. When we feel quite sure that we are doing what is right there is often a lack of dependence and of care in making sure that we are going about it in a way that God can support. David was assured that his city was the place for the ark, and he would bring it there. But his way of doing it was not a spiritual way and it brought out that there was an unjudged Philistine element in himself. There may be a Philistine element in that

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which truly desires to make much of Christ. In Chronicles we get much more of the spiritual exercises of David and the recognition of what is priestly and levitical and of hallowing for this great service. There is a due order in handling what is holy and if that order is not observed some Philistine expedient is almost certain to be adopted.

The ark had never had the honour in Israel that was due to it from the time when the Philistines had taken it. It had been cherished in private but before it could have its public place Zion had to be taken and the lame and the blind removed. All that had in view a place for the ark. It is as the saints occupy Zion and understand what it is to dwell in the city of David in the fulness of what is secured in Christ on the ground of His victory, and from whence the lame and the blind have been excluded, that the exercise can have place in relation to the ark. But how often in Scripture we have the thought of a first which does not answer to the mind of God and then a second which does. I believe this enters into nearly all spiritual exercise. We do not at first understand the holiness of what we are taking in hand to do. We think that what can be done in the way that first suggests itself will do for God. But we have to learn that what is priestly and levitical must take the place of what is Philistine. There are a great many now professedly gathered to the name of the Lord, and most of them, we may admit, have a true desire to honour Him and to provide a place for Him. But if things are not done in a truly priestly and levitical way we may be sure that something of the "new cart" character will be found in evidence. We find that in the house of Abinadab he hallowed Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah (1 Samuel 7:1), but that hallowed man does not appear in 2 Samuel 6. It was just the absence of that hallowed state that made all the difference between pleasing God and displeasing Him. What strikes one in Philadelphia is that the Lord presents

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Himself as the Holy and the True, and He speaks of the overcomer as being made a pillar in the temple of His God. The holiness of the position is emphasised. It is possible to have the light of all that is proper to Philadelphia without the state in which alone it can be carried out for the pleasure of God. This is a great exercise for us all. We can only have the ark with us on its own conditions. Even so great a servant as David had to learn this. And even Paul had to learn how deadly the Philistine element was if once allowed a footing. David was afraid, and it is well when such a holy fear comes into the heart. But God gives Him a lesson in grace, as He always does when we are in danger of becoming legal under rebuke.

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2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 6 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Samuel 6:12 - 15

The 'ark of God' is the term applied commonly to the ark in Samuel where it is, we may say, more exposed to unholy handling than anywhere else. That is, it is viewed according to its essential divine character, not in the relations of grace which would be signified by the name 'Jehovah' or when the covenant is definitely brought in. It is very much like the difference between 'God' and 'the Father' in John 4. God is a spirit; it is what He is essentially, and this must never be forgotten in worshipping Him. Indeed, if we lose the sense of this, and the reverence suitable to it, we shall miss the sweetness of the name of 'Father', and all that goes along with it. Christ as the Ark of God would be regarded as the One who maintains, or in whom is maintained, all that is due to God, and in whom is set forth all that God is morally. He has declared God who is light and love: "In him is no darkness at all", 1 John 1:5. He sits between the cherubim; there is perfect discrimination between good and evil.

When the ark is affectionately entertained, as in the house of Obed-Edom, it is spoken of as the "Ark of Jehovah". The houses of Abinadab and of Obed-Edom represent what is unofficial, but they gave testimony to God's readiness to be entertained, and show that He could provide suitable conditions for Himself in a sovereign way. Abinadab hallowed his son, Eleazar; he understood that holiness was necessary. In Obed-Edom's case no adjustment was necessary; the ark brought only blessing. Its true normal character came out, so that David was

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encouraged and his heart was established with grace. He had accepted the lesson. There is always an element of severity in God's ways when His order has been disregarded. But David's restoration was brought about by the confirmation in grace which was afforded when Obed-Edom's house was blessed. God said, as it were, 'I have not changed My thoughts of blessing; though you have changed and brought in an offence, I am unchanged'. So David brought up the ark with joy. The city of David was a new place for it; it was not restored to its original place in the tabernacle. Zion was a new beginning, and referred to what God would establish on the ground of Christ's victory, where all is of the power of God's kingdom. That place was holy enough for the ark. The saints, viewed as having come to Zion and having been established in Christ and in grace, are suitable to entertain the ark assemblywise. Much of the work of God is to bring us collectively to the city of David. All there is of Christ and in Christ, but it is in view of there being a place for Christ.

When they had gone six paces death came in again, but how different from the first time! Now they must move in accord with the death of Christ. An ox would speak of Christ in spiritual energy and the fatted beast of matured excellence. What a contrast to the new cart! Then we see great energy in David, but of a priestly kind. Our meetings should be full of that kind of energy.

Then the communion side comes in. We need Colossians and Ephesians to fill out the thought of fellowship.

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SUMMARIES OF TWO READINGS

2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 7 (1)

2 Samuel 7:1 - 29

In 2 Samuel 7 we see David as the spiritual man, having been greatly favoured of God and given rest from all his enemies. Now he thinks of the ark of God dwelling under curtains while he dwells in a house of cedars. He did well that such a thought was in his heart but he wanted to go beyond what was allotted to him. There was a preparatory course which he had to take in God's school, and it is a course which many of us need to take. God, as it were, said through Nathan, 'You are going too fast, David, I have something else in My mind first. I have not dwelt in a house and I have never spoken about having a house of cedars. You must learn first what I have done for you and what I will do for you'. There is first God's personal election, taking David from the pasture grounds to make him great. We need to think first of the greatness that God confers and the place which He appoints for His people, "a place of their own" where they will "be disturbed no more". It is really the blessed place in Christ which He accords to His people through grace. He plants "them, that they may dwell".

Then Jehovah makes us a house. Ephesians 2 is a wonderful chapter to read; it is all God's actions for us. We are slow in learning that this is the great matter. Ephesians 1 and 3 are both on the same line. Before the house can be built there must be secured the kind of persons which are to occupy it. This is what we see in 2 Samuel 7, persons who go in and sit before God in the restfulness of what He has done. It seems sad to think that believers may be on

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the wrong line in thinking what they can do for God, and may be diverted thereby from the blessedness of what God has done for them. It is only as we are in the restfulness of knowing this that we can go in and sit before Him. That is what He wants. He not only does this greatness but He longs to make His servants know it (verse 21). This is spiritually greater than Solomon building the house. I think that we can see that there is a loftier note in this chapter than there is in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple.

Then Christ is spoken of as David's seed, God's Son (verses 12, 14). We are brought to think of Christ as the true builder and as God's Son whose kingdom God will establish for ever, Christ effecting all for God and being established by God for ever. One can understand after this chapter those great celebrations of God which David voiced in the Psalms. Some of our own choice utterances have come into our mouths from David. Such are, Jesus in the fulness of joy at God's right hand having seen no corruption, crowned with glory and honour, now singing God's praise in the midst of the assembly, and as Son giving effect to the whole counsel of God, and, in particular, building the house. He is the builder of the house and He is over it as Son.

David, representing the spiritual believer, accepts the adjustment of all this. He went in and sat, or tarried, before Jehovah. This is what we want more of. What we have here is one of the most worshipful utterances that we have in Scripture. "Who am I?" at the commencement is a blessed disallowance of all that he was naturally. It is now altogether what God had done and what God would do.

"Thou hast brought me hitherto". How blessed to be brought to God! "A great while to come" -- as we take this up it goes on into eternity. We shall "be conformed to the image of his Son"; "we shall be like him, for we shall see

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him as he is", 1 John 3:2. There was a greater building in David's soul than ever Solomon built of stones and timber.

Then, "Who is like thy people ... ?" (verse 23). Notice the word 'went' is in the plural -- a beautiful hint of the Trinity being engaged in this wondrous redemption, "to make himself a name". Verse 24 is the covenant established. Then the thought of David's house is much before him as blessed of Jehovah. There is a striking scripture in Zechariah 12:8, "He that stumbleth among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David as God, as the Angel of Jehovah before them". It is striking that this is reached through the deep sorrow and mourning that they pass through when they see how they have wounded Christ. I believe that God is building David a house at the present time in the sense that He is securing a family after the pattern of David, those who can sit before Him in the deep worshipful appreciation of what He is for His people and what He is in Himself. Have we found in our hearts such a prayer as this?

2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 7 (2)

2 Samuel 7:4 - 17

There is a wonderful vision brought into view in what Jehovah said to Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:4 - 17. It is spoken of specifically as a "vision". In Balaam's third parable he speaks of himself "who seeth the vision of the Almighty" (Numbers 24:4) and also in the fourth parable (Numbers 24:16). It is said of Zechariah that he "had understanding in the visions of God" (2 Chronicles 26:5); if we understand the vision which Nathan had, and which he communicated to David, it will have the same effect upon us that it had upon David. It will make us worshippers.

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"He chose David his servant" (Psalm 78:70) and made him "a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are on the earth". David could say, "Thy condescending gentleness hath made me great", 2 Samuel 22:36. In applying this to ourselves how much more exalted is the outlook. We are chosen to heavenly greatness and to heavenly blessing. We have our appointed place in which God has planted us -- a place of our own in Christ.

But the great theme of the vision is what God would do for David. "Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house". David himself was a dying man -- he would sleep with his fathers (verse 12) but his Seed would have His kingdom established. This is in contrast with David sleeping with his fathers. I have no doubt it contemplates what would be made good in resurrection. It is the risen One who would build a house for Jehovah's name, and the throne of whose kingdom Jehovah would establish for ever. David's house and kingdom would be made firm for ever before him, and his throne established for ever. That is, Christ would come in as David's Seed, but as God's Son, and the house made for David would be made firm by the coming in of Christ in resurrection power. David's house represents those who come into blessing solely by God's election, and through the One of whom God says, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son".

Abraham built altars and called upon the name of Jehovah, but we have no utterance of praise or worship from him. He was blessed on the principle of faith and he is the father of all them that believe, so that Abraham's house is a large one, the household of faith. Moses was the first one to sing to God, but he did not institute any service of song. The song which he taught the people (Deuteronomy 32) was a witness for Jehovah against the children of Israel. David has a remarkable place as "the sweet psalmist of Israel". Seventy-four of the Psalms were written

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by him, and probably others which are not directly attributed to him. He ordered the service of song, and made the instruments (1 Chronicles 23, 25). That great element in the service of God is connected with David; he was raised up and anointed to be the sweet psalmist of Israel. When the ark was brought into the city of David, he delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren (1 Chronicles 16:7). 2 Samuel 7 is David's private utterance, personal to himself, which seems to me to underlie all that was more public subsequently. Jehovah gave the knowledge of Himself to David in His great designs of sovereign love so that David went in to sit as a worshipper before Him. I think in this character David is the head of the worshipping company -- a wonderful type of Christ, but also in some sense personally head of a family whose occupation is to praise. I have no doubt that in this sense the assembly is the true house of David today. So that we are in the "great while to come" of verse 19. There is a generation who can bring up the Ark to the city of David, and who can appreciate the way in which God has made Himself known to them.

"For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, to make thy servant know it" (verse 21). God known as doing what is according to His own heart is the highest point that creatures can reach. God will have a house where He is known and praised as having done things according to His own heart. So we read in Ephesians 1 of "the good pleasure of his will" and "the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself", and then "being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will". Have we ever considered what is according to God's own heart? How it would lift us up to God, and enable us truly to be of David's house. It would enable us to speak more directly

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to God of what He is as known in love. True worship is produced when we see the actings of God in Christ. When Jesus healed the child possessed by a demon we read that "all were astonished at the glorious greatness of God", Luke 9:43. That was what they saw in Jesus. Greatness in Hebrews is evidently that of God Himself (Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1). This is what is celebrated in 2 Samuel 7:22, "Wherefore thou art great, Jehovah Elohim; for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears". This would confirm that David is here the spiritual man, the head of the praising company as filled with the Spirit of Christ, rather than Christ Himself typically. It is what the Spirit of Christ would voice in all David's house.

Then in verses 23 and 24, God's people Israel are brought in as those redeemed to be a people to Himself and to whom He has become their God. We are here on covenant ground evidently. It is not the same as the house built for David; the latter is, I have no doubt, a small circle with a peculiarly favoured place. We see the house of David distinguished from the inhabitants of Jerusalem and from Judah in Zechariah 12:8, "the house of David as God, as the Angel of Jehovah before them", but they are brought in through deep moral exercises, as we see in that chapter and the next. "The key of David" in Revelation 3:7 is in Isaiah 22:22, "the key of the house of David", which would show how the thought is linked with the assembly. And the reference by James in Acts 15:16 to the prophet's words, "After these things I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and will rebuild its ruins ..." is to the same purpose, as showing that God had in mind from eternity to bless the nations as known in the tabernacle of David. That is, God would be known there (Amos 9:11, 12). So that it appears that in a spiritual sense the house of David has the

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blessing of the nations in view, as it is known now in the assembly. The blessing of the house of David would go, I think, beyond the covenant blessing of "thy people ... Israel". It is more intimate as being in the fullest way according to God's own heart. I think verse 14 would show that sonship is included and verse 29 the eternal thoughts of God. If the house of David is for God one could hardly have anything higher stated. So that it seems to reach out, as far as the Old Testament could go, to the whole counsel of God. And David can speak suitably to God about it all. This is the great service of the assembly as the true house of David. So that He builds a house where He can dwell in the affectionate praises of those who not only love Him, but have sons' intelligence and maturity. The assembly takes up the new covenant, as it were, before the time, and it also takes up the blessing of the house of David. This is a peculiar and unique portion to be known and enjoyed in restfulness.

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2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 8 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Samuel 8:1 - 18

The key to 2 Samuel 8 lies in its connection with chapter 7, for it is "after this it came to pass". The chapter speaks of the victories of a spiritual man, and their results for God in what is dedicated to Him. My impression is that while David is often distinctly a type of Christ, he is more often a type of what is spiritual in saints. His psalms are, as we well know, often the personal utterances of the Spirit of Christ as developed in saints -- particularly in the remnant. Solomon is the seed, Jehovah's son, in chapter 7, and David worships as in presence of the counsel of God established by Him. In one sense Christ can be spoken of as the great Worshipper, singing praise to God, but it would seem that He sings as identifying Himself with the praising company, all of whom praise as having His Spirit. If He identifies Himself with them He must necessarily be in their midst as the pre-eminent One, undoubtedly the Chief Singer. The saints as a praising company constitute His house.

But we come in chapter 8 from the sanctuary to the region where overcoming is needed, and David is seen as the great overcomer. The Lord's last word to His own before going forth to the garden was, "In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage: I have overcome the world". He was the great Overcomer, and His saints have to be overcomers; the thing true in Him has to be true in them, so that it is not easy in the types to draw a very sharp line between what sets forth Christ and what sets forth actions or victories which are true, or which may be

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true, of His saints. It is certain that if we came from the sanctuary we should be overcomers, and it seems to me that is the thought suggested in 2 Samuel 8. Here we find the Philistines, who had come up again and again, subdued, and the power of the capital taken out of their hand. They are effectually brought under, and I do not think they appear again until the time comes that David has weakened, so that in conflict he becomes exhausted (chapter 21). Here the bridle or curb is taken out of their hand; they are deprived of control. "The capital" means the influential place. The Philistine represents what is in the land -- that is, it is professedly christian but it is hostile to divine thoughts. It is a great thing when its influence is entirely broken.

Then David measures the Moabites with a line. They represent, as we may gather from the prophets, the pride and arrogance of man. But the power of the kingdom is known now by ability to subdue that which is contrary to God, so that it may become serviceable to Him. The measuring with a line would seem to be that all are brought down to a common level -- "making them lie down on the ground" -- so that they are subdued to whatever line of dealing God may be pleased to take with them. "He measured two lines to put to death"; God has taken two ways to measure men, first by the law, and then by the prophets, but both bring men to death. They show the hopeless state of men when measured by God. But "one full line to keep alive" would have in view the "full line" of what God is as known in grace, which, when applied to men in power keeps alive. So that even Moabites become David's servants and bring gifts. Men as subdued turn to God to serve Him.

Then we find in verses 3 and 4 how David recovers his dominion by the river Euphrates. The king of Zobah, and the Syrians who helped him, seem to represent what man

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is in his natural state as fallen. He would resist the establishment of David's power, but as subdued he becomes tributary. The promise to Abraham in Genesis 15 is "to the great river, the river Euphrates". It represents the wide dominion of David -- "Thou hast kept me to be head of the nations: A people I knew not doth serve me ...", 2 Samuel 22:44 - 46. "The Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts".

Then we get the prowess of David recognised by Toi, king of Hamath, and he brings vessels of silver and vessels of gold and vessels of bronze. He represents persons not of Israel but not marked by definite hostility; they are thankful for the benefit which accrues to them as the result of David's victories. There are people who are glad when what is of God gets ascendency; they feel that it is beneficial to them, and they become tributary. They have not had to be subdued as enemies; they get relief from the gospel. They have been harassed and perplexed by the evil that is in the world, and they are glad when what is of God gets the upper hand. I have no doubt there are many who are of that class; they contribute what can be dedicated.

Then the Edomites have also to be subdued. They represent those who have an assigned portion from God but who despise what is really the best He has to give. Such are sure to become adversaries in the long run to the kingdom rights of God, and of His Anointed. But as subdued they become servants to David. What marks David all through this chapter is power to subdue all things to himself, and to make all kinds of people tributary to the service of God. It raises the question as to whether we have been so subdued to Christ as to be tributary?

Psalm 60 and Psalm 108 are to be noted in this connection. Psalm 60 comes in when God has cast off His people in His displeasure, but He gives a banner to them that fear Him that it may be displayed because of the truth, that His

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beloved ones may be delivered. Then He claims His right, not only to His own people, but to Moab, Edom and Philistia; He claims all to be serviceable to Him. It is God acting in a day when He has had publicly to cast off His people. So that it applies in a very definite way to the present time in the ways of God. But in Psalm 108 it is a fixed heart that learns the mind of God to claim His rights. It is one, we might say, calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart. It is persons of that kind who get the banner. The louder we sing the more God will assure us of His rights, and He will assert them in His own way. In the sense of this, we want all His beloved ones to be delivered.

The things which would hinder us from standing by the banner are set forth in Moab and Edom and Philistia, but they are all to be subdued to God. No one who fears Him or loves Him need give way before them. God has spoken in His holiness; He will assert His rights even where they have been most disregarded. It is something like the Lord saying to Philadelphia, "I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee", Revelation 3:9.

"And David made him a name when he returned, after he had smitten the Syrians in the valley of salt". Salt is a figure of the principle of faithfulness in the soul which will not spare anything that is opposed to God. It is a good valley to fight in, but we have always to remember that the fighting in this chapter is not to destroy but to subdue. Our object in following the true David is to get all His rights asserted by every one over whom He has rights. The last four verses of the chapter show His rights in exercise: everything is ordered in the kingdom in a beautiful way.

It is to be noted that while Jehovah spoke to David in 2 Samuel 7 of David's house and his kingdom, when David spoke to Jehovah he dwelt altogether on the thought of the house and never mentioned the kingdom. He had evidently

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seized the divine thought that the house was the greater of the two. In the presence of God and for His worshippers the house idea predominates. For the house of David is the praising company Godward, as I understand it, and this is the inside place with God. But we have to come out and deal with enemies here, so that they may be subdued and become tributary to the service of God. We have to follow the lead of David in this matter also; if we follow his lead in going in we have to follow his lead in the subjugation of all adverse elements. We obtain distinction as we do so, for I believe we see David here in a character in which we have to follow him. It cannot be simply that we see the true David doing it, but how will His Spirit in us act in having to deal with elements adverse to the rights of the kingdom? All through the chapter it is what David did. We are told that he reigned over all Israel, and there cannot be a doubt that "the host" (verse 16) was with him in all these military exploits.

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2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 9

THE KING AND THE CRIPPLE (NOTES OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Samuel 9:1 - 13

The incidents of this chapter present a lovely picture of the grace of God to sinful men. David, after years of wandering and warfare, was at last securely seated on the throne of Israel. With prosperity at home and peace abroad, the king's generous heart sought an object on which to bestow his royal bounty, and hence the gracious inquiry with which the chapter opens, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness?"

Saul had sought to pierce David with a javelin even to the wall. Again and again he had attempted to lay violent hands on David, and had pursued him upon the mountains like a partridge. He had, moreover, hated him without a cause. Yet when David was established on his throne he said, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness?" and again in verse 3, "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God to him?"

The kindness of God goes out to His enemies and to the utterly undeserving. Otherwise it would never reach lost and guilty men. "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy

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he saved us", Titus 3:3 - 5.

A wicked girl, in a frenzy of passion, struck her Christian mother with the poker, crying, 'I would kill your God if I could get at Him'. The kindness of God is toward such a one as that. You may be shocked at such bold wickedness, but remember that a deceitful and desperately wicked heart beats within your own breast. Have you never had hard and rebellious thoughts of God? It is true of all, that "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God", Romans 8:7, 8.

Man's enmity against God was proved at the cross. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, but it would not be reconciled. God presented His grace to a guilty world, but the world's answer was the rejection and murder of His beloved Son. But, in spite of this, God's attitude towards men is one of "kindness and pity". For well-nigh two thousand years He has continued to proclaim by His servants "repentance and remission of sins" in the name of the Lord Jesus "among all the nations". This is the kindness of God. His attitude towards men is one of infinite grace, and He desires that His grace should be known even by those who have said in their hearts, if not with their lips, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways!", Job 21:14.

"And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet". In chapter 4 we are told how Mephibosheth became a cripple. "He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame". The present condition of man is figuratively set before us in this fallen cripple.

When God created Adam and Eve, He put them in a

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place prepared by His own hands for their reception. Everything in the garden of Eden ('Pleasure') witnessed to the goodness of God. The fruitful tree, the flowing rivers, the golden sunlight, all declared with harmonious voice that God was good.

But man had not been made as a mere machine, or as an irresponsible animal. He was an intelligent and responsible moral being, and to remind him of this, as well as to test his obedience, he was forbidden to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The penalty of death was attached to disobedience.

While Adam and Eve obeyed the command of God they were innocent and happy. But the serpent came upon the scene and suggested that God was not good, and that He was keeping back from man something that would be for man's benefit to possess. Losing confidence in God, and carried away by lust and pride, our first parents fell from their happy state of innocence, and came not only under the power of sin and Satan, but also under the penalty of death.

Thus, in the very infancy of the race, man fell and became a moral cripple; he cannot walk with God; he cannot run in the way of God's commandments; he has fallen and become lame on his feet. And, like Mephibosheth, he is lame on both his feet. He is defective and incapable in his responsibilities both towards God and his neighbour.

People do not like to admit that they are entirely crippled. They do not mind confessing in a general way that they do not walk quite straight. They will say, 'We are all sinners; we all have our shortcomings', and so on, and many try to remedy their defects by resolutions, vows, pledges, turning new leaves, and other crutches and appliances of similar nature. But human efforts are in vain. It remains ever true that man is "without strength",

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(Romans 5:6); he is destitute of power to perform the will of God. How good it is to know that God in grace does not claim from man that which cannot be rendered, but that "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness", Romans 4:5.

"And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar".

The sinner's condition we have already dwelt upon, and now we come to his position. Lo-debar means a place of no pasture, and it fitly represents the world. It may seem strange to speak of the world as a place of no pasture, for its things are very attractive to the natural man. The world's things are perfectly adapted to suit the tastes, and gratify the desires, of man as a fallen sinner. But, viewed morally, the world is a desert, because the knowledge of God cannot be found there. The world is a vast system of things in which men seek to make themselves as happy as possible at a distance from God. Thus, in a true and divine sense, the world is a veritable Lo-debar. It contains nothing to minister to the deepest necessities of man; for of what avail are all its boasted stores of wisdom, honour, wealth, and pleasure, if God remains unknown? Sad is the portion of those who are "without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12), for they are strangers to that in which alone true satisfaction can be found by human hearts!

"And king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar".

Here we see, in figure, the activity of God's grace. If the sinner cannot remedy his own imperfections, and if he is at a distance from God without desire to seek after God, blessing must come in altogether from God's side. In the gospel of His grace God approaches men as they are and where they are, and makes Himself known as a Saviour

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God. It is by the gospel that God brings men to a knowledge of Himself. Then it is of all importance that we should know the true nature of the gospel of God.

Briefly stated, the gospel is (1) the presentation of a Person, (2) the declaration of what that Person has undergone, and of God's actings towards Him and (3) the proclamation of repentance and remission of sins in His name.

1. The Person whom the gospel presents is the Son of God. By sending His Son into the world God presented Himself in grace to men. There was no form of human need that He was not able and willing to meet; there was no kind of pressure upon man that He could not relieve. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him", Acts 10:38. He came not to condemn the world, not to impute trespasses to men, but to present in the excellence of His own Person the blessed grace of God.

There was also in Him the complete setting forth of everything that was according to God's good pleasure in a Man. He was the beloved Son, in whom the Father was well pleased. Every divine perfection was brought near to men in pure grace in that blessed and holy Person. And every one whose heart was attracted by His grace, and believed on Him, obtained forgiveness of sins and found the knowledge of God.

2. But this wondrous grace must reign through righteousness, and it could only be presented to men in One who was willing and competent to charge Himself with the liabilities of men. The Lord Jesus could speak of forgiveness of sins because He was about to bear sins in His own body on the tree; He could heal every disease, and rescue men from the power of death itself because He had come in grace to undergo all that was due to men in consequence of sin. In the days of His flesh the accomplishment of all this was future, but it is now past, and the gospel declares

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what He has undergone on man's behalf. He has borne and suffered for sins, has been made sin, and has tasted death. He charged Himself with the liabilities of men, and has undergone the holy judgment due to sin. And all this in absolute grace, that the grace of God might flow out in righteousness to men.

Then the gospel declares further how God has acted towards the One who thus came in grace into man's condemnation. God raised Him from the dead, so that He saw no corruption, and He lives for evermore beyond the reach of sin and death. Man, in the Person of the Lord Jesus, has an entirely new place with God, and is found in a state to which no imperfection or condemnation can ever attach. Nothing has been overlooked or compromised. Sins have been borne, sin has been judged, death has been suffered, Satan's power overthrown, and all this by One who is now raised from the dead as the glorious Witness to the complete triumph of grace.

3. Now we get the proclamation of forgiveness of sins. "Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man remission of sins is preached to you, and from all things from which ye could not be justified in the law of Moses, in him everyone that believes is justified", Acts 13:38, 39. God thus approaches men in unmingled grace, as One who "desires that all men should be saved", 1 Timothy 2:4. He is made known through the Lord Jesus Christ as a Justifier and a Saviour God. He sets forth what He is that He may be known and believed on in that character. If we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, righteousness is imputed to us. "Therefore having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ", Romans 5:1.

It is by this wondrous and blessed gospel that God approaches man in his ruin and distance. This gospel,

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received by faith, gives man the knowledge of God in grace, and brings him away from the world where God is unknown. He leaves Lo-debar for the courts of royal grace.

How blessed to know that the kindness of God is toward men because of what Christ is, and on the ground of what He has accomplished! It has no respect to merit, or worthiness of any kind, in the sinner. David's kindness to Mephibosheth was according to the worthiness of another. "That I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake", and "I will certainly shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake". The excellence and perfection of Christ are now before God, and all His grace to men is according to His estimation of Christ. Can anyone say that such infinite grace as this is not "worthy of all acceptation"? Then why not believe, and receive it now?

Another thought we may gather from the picture before us is that the known grace of God not only separates a man from the world of the ungodly, but it gives him a true judgment of himself. In the presence of David's grace Mephibosheth could only say, "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" This is repentance -- the judgment which a sinner has of himself in the presence of divine grace. "Repentance and remission of sins" are both preached in the name of a risen Saviour.

Finally, we see here in picture the purpose which God has in view in making known His grace to men. "As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons". It is God's purpose and pleasure that we should receive sonship (Galatians 4:5). This is not to meet our need, but to gratify His own heart. He is "bringing many sons to glory", Hebrews 2:10. The love of God will find its satisfaction in having a company "conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren", Romans 8:29. And God delights

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that even here His children should know, by the Spirit, the liberty with which the Son makes free, liberty to be in the home circle of divine affections, and to respond to those affections with the cry of sonship, "Abba, Father". May God affect our hearts by His grace and love!

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2 SAMUEL CHAPTERS 17 AND 19 (NOTES OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Samuel 17:27 - 29; 2 Samuel 19:31 - 43; Philippians 3:7 - 13; Habakkuk 3:17 - 19

It is of all importance that we should take account of the close of our journey here, and I desire to present to you what a spiritual finish is. We are very near now to seeing the Lord's face, and we ought to speak together in this hope. The Holy Spirit is giving to the saints today a sense of the expectation of it: we shall see Him come into all His rights, but I am thinking more of the blessedness of His very presence, surrounded with delight by all His own.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians in a different way from what he does to any other assembly. They had just recently been gathered to the Lord's name. Paul writes, not 'to the assembly at Thessalonica', but "to the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Thessalonians 1:1. I suppose they were very young, and, as just gathered to the Lord's name, had not been formed in assembly truth and principles, and he writes to them in that simple way. He presents the Lord and the Lord's coming in such a way as to set their hearts right, not only in relation to the testimony, but in the knowledge of divine Persons. He presents not only the public appearing of the Lord Jesus, but also the way we shall meet Him in the air.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Paul beseeches them "by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him". It is an expression of peculiar sweetness -- think of all saints gathering together to Him -- not to His name, but to Himself, and as 1 Thessalonians 5:10 says,

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"that ... we may live together with him". That is our eternity, our full portion with Christ. We are not only to be together but we are to live together with Him. This is really what is to touch our hearts and fill them with that expectancy of love that regards the Lord's coming with supreme anticipation of pleasure.

After presenting the hope of the Lord's coming in the first epistle, the apostle in chapters 1 and 2 of the second epistle gives words of consolation and instruction in view of the coming apostasy: then he says "But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word", 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17. Nothing, not even the thickness of tissue paper, is to come between the Lord and our hearts; then we should have the enjoyment of our relationship with the Lord Jesus and with our God in service and in suffering for the testimony. It is the consciousness of the immediate support and love of the heart of Christ and the place we have eternally in our Father's heart and purpose that is our proper start: if we are to continue and to finish well we must make this beginning.

Now in speaking of Barzillai, I wish to draw attention to this very serious consideration, that a person may have a good start and make progress, and then go back, the Lord having lost in the heart the place He had at first. There is nothing more sad than departure from the Lord Himself, and I suppose the history of Barzillai has been given to us in Scripture so that we should be able to take account of the sadness of spiritual enfeeblement. Barzillai and his companions met David when he was in reproach, bringing the very best they had, and no mean provision it was. The Spirit of God gives us a list of what they brought, "beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and

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parched pulse, and honey, and cream, and sheep, and cheese of kine". The Lord does not forget our work of faith and labour of love, and if He has enlarged us and blessed us so that we have been able to minister to Him and to His own, He never forgets it! But how sad if the freshness that prompted it has declined in our souls!

Now in chapter 19, David returns to Jerusalem and Mephibosheth is there to greet him. Mephibosheth's affection has been sustained; he has been feeling the absence of David and the falling away from David of many in Jerusalem and through the testing time of David's absence he has ever remembered him with affectionate regard for his person and rights: his happiness is bound up with God's beloved. David mentions the inheritance, but Mephibosheth replies, 'It is not that I am thinking of. I am not troubled about the inheritance, everything to me is that you have come back'. What a comfort to the heart of David! -- a welcome from a heart that had never declined but had beaten true in his absence. But it is otherwise with Barzillai; he meets the king and follows him over Jordan. David makes a proposition to Barzillai, 'Come up to Jerusalem and I will feed you. I do not forget that when in adversity you fed me, and now I want you to be my guest in Jerusalem, I want to maintain and feed you there'. What an invitation! The Lord proposes an advancement spiritually for us -- that we should go right up into the heart of blessing, where Christ is supreme, that we should dwell with Him in His Jerusalem. We should enjoy now what we are to enjoy eternally with Christ. The Lord finds pleasure in our willing response to that. Although the Lord regards with delight every bit of service towards Himself as it comes out in relation to His people -- caring for them, feeding them, serving Him in His interests here, just as Barzillai and his associates cared for David and his followers -- yet more deeply valued still by the Lord Jesus is the

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devoted affection that will follow Him up to Jerusalem where He may share in grace all He possesses with us there, and serve us that we may fully enjoy it all. "He will gird himself and make them recline at table, and coming up will serve them", Luke 12:37. Our being occupied with His interests here is one thing, but it is another His welcoming us into heavenly scenes even now in spirit, to share the fulness of what His ascending there has secured. It is blessed, but if it is to be responded to, it calls for personal spiritual energy. It takes vigour of soul to pass up from Jordan to Jerusalem, and it is just the lack of that which comes out typically in Barzillai's case. David had lost in Barzillai's heart the place he once had. If you watch Barzillai's feet you know where his heart is. He says, 'I am not as young as I was once nor as able to go about: I am superannuated: it is time I retired from the conflict; I will go over Jordan a little today'. It is very good to cross Jordan even for a visit, but David's proposal was that he should go up and reside with him; he said, 'I will maintain thee'. Does your heart incline to follow the Lord over Jordan into the sphere where He is owned as the risen One? If you do, that is well, but He wants you further, He wants to lead your heart up to heaven, that you may know and enjoy heavenly things.

The Lord attracts us over Jordan that He may set our minds on heavenly things. It may be only a visit at the start, but you cannot cross very often without feeling it would be good to follow the Lord up to Jerusalem and remain with Him where He is supreme and where He maintains all. We may come down to this side to serve His interests here, but our centre and home is with Him there.

Barzillai says, 'I am to old, I will go a little way'. Do you think a saint in spiritual energy would speak like that? Remember the walk Enoch took with God -- it was as "the

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path of the righteous ... as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come", Proverbs 4:18. Do any of us feel old spiritually? That once there was a discernment of divine things and an appetite for the things of Christ, and now one is at a loss when one hears others speak of things that one is unable to discern? You have grey hairs and you know it not: age has crept on and you did not observe it, affection for Christ has waned, and the heart has turned to something else, and the Lord Jesus is accorded a second place where once He was first. It is very serious if one is beginning to find a lack of edge in one's taste for divine things. Barzillai said "Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?" It is important to see that spiritual things are sustained in deep spiritual joy, and saints who are going on spiritually are bound to sing. Wherever saints are sustained in spiritual affection for Christ and for His interests they are bound to sing. When David is having His place in Jerusalem there is bound to be singing there. We should be at liberty, not only to hear the saints sing, but to sing with them. David said, "This man was born there" -- Zion. "Jehovah will count, when he inscribeth the peoples, This man was born there", Psalm 87:6. Christ is the Man who was born there; Jerusalem is His city, and this Psalm speaks of the singers and dancers being there. It is the place God loves, He loves "the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob". Now the men and women singing tell of the intelligent and affectionate interest of the saints in everything being established in Christ, and that He fills the heart of God and His people so that God should find His pleasure in a company of saints who sing to Him. There is a reference in Job 38:7 to the morning stars singing together and all the sons of God shouting for joy. They saw what God had before Him and delighted in sympathy. What a poor estimate of the heart of David Barzillai had -- "Why should

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thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?" Affection for Christ would cast you entirely upon all that He gives -- the care and support that would love to carry you across Jordan and up to Jerusalem and set you down amongst His happy company so that you should partake of all the good of the best things in Jerusalem. One feels that unconsciously there was with Barzillai a doubt of the affections of David. Barzillai says, "Behold thy servant Chimham: let him go": Chimham means 'longing' . David must have felt 'Ah, Barzillai, I have lost my supreme place in your affections'. Chimham gets all that Barzillai misses.

I have read the scripture in Habakkuk to illustrate what it is to have a good spiritual finish, what it is to sing in spiritual energy at the close. His day was like the day in which we live; He took account of things as they were among the people of God publicly, and it broke his heart. Habakkuk is a heart-broken man because of the testimony. There had been departure from the Lord: there was no course for him, devoted man that he was, but to stand upon the watch-tower and pray. A broken heart in relation to the testimony first of all isolates you, puts you in a separate path, and there you get a divine start. He is praying and soon light as to the whole mind of God comes before him; he sees that the issue of it is that the Lord will come out in His power and rid the scene of all desolation, and that the whole earth will be filled with His glory. What view have you got from your watch-tower? Habakkuk had a view of things as God had secured them for His own pleasure: "For though the fig-tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive-tree shall fail" -- although desolation shall mark the whole scene before me -- "Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation". Then he says, "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And he will make me to walk upon my high places". What a bright contrast to

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what we have been regarding! Here we have spiritual energy, no old age, and a man able to rise to high places. There are for us all the blessed privileges peculiar to the assembly in our high places but it needs hinds' feet, spiritual vigour, to rise to them. Now Habakkuk can sing "To the chief Musician. On my stringed instruments"! That is the end of a man's path who through exercise rose to the possibilities of the day in which he lived. A spiritual man ends with hinds' feet, high places and stringed instruments. You have them all in Philippians 3 in our apostle, and how exhilarating it is to hear his call to us! There is no idea of retiring from the race here, and no note of depression. Instead of decline there is increase -- "But surely I count also all things to be loss"; his taste is with him; there are no grey hairs, no waning of affection or enfeebled vision; he sees clearly. And it is all Christ and Christ in heaven, and so Paul is full of joy. He rejoices in the Lord.

May the Lord encourage us to follow Himself to where He is, and be thus kept amid the ruin of the moment in affection for Himself, and appreciation of heavenly things, with hinds' feet, on high places, and among the singing men and women with stringed instruments.

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AN OUTLINE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS

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1 KINGS CHAPTERS 4 TO 6

THE HOUSE OF GOD IN CONNECTION WITH THE KINGDOM (NOTES OF AN ADDRESS)

1 Kings 4:24, 25; 1 Kings 5:1 - 5; 1 Kings 6:1 - 7

I desire to speak a little tonight about the house of God in connection with the kingdom. This looks on, in great measure, to a day that is yet to come, but there is much in it of present value for our instruction.

The tabernacle was movable and provisional. It was intended to be carried about, and was only for the time. It did not represent an established or permanent order of things. The house, properly speaking, could not be built until the kingdom was established. When the kingdom was established and mount Zion secured under David the house came distinctly in view. In Psalm 78:68 - 70 we may see the connection between God's choice of David and of mount Zion and the building of His sanctuary. Jehovah dwelt in Zion as His rest for ever (see Psalm 132:13, 14), and this prepared the way for His sanctuary to be built by Solomon.

The effect of the kingdom being established in the hands of David was that the people were delivered from every enemy. "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree". Jehovah put all the enemies under the soles of David's feet, so that when Solomon came to the throne he could say, "Jehovah my God has given me rest on every side: there is neither adversary nor evil event".

At the present moment the kingdom is not set up in

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public manifestation, but it has been established in the victorious power of grace. Christ -- the true David -- has laid low every enemy and silenced every foe. He has been made sin in order to put it away by the sacrifice of Himself; He has died for our sins; He has annulled death and him who had its power; He has redeemed from the curse those who were under it; He has spoiled principalities and powers; He has put all our spiritual enemies under the soles of His feet, so that we may have "rest on every side". Through redemption the enemy's power is completely broken.

Then, again, the effect of the kingdom being established was that the people were commanded and ordered according to the pleasure of God. You remember how it is said in the book of judges, "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes". God raised up saviours for the people in their distresses, but there was no king to order them according to God's pleasure. The king was placed over the people to rule them for God. We read of Solomon that he was set on Jehovah's throne to be king to Jehovah his God (2 Chronicles 9:8). Christ has that place for us now. Not that we know Him exactly as King -- He is Lord to us -- but I speak of the principle. The day of His glory here, of which Solomon's reign was figurative, is yet future, but we sing oftentimes:

'Christ of God, our souls confess Thee
King and Sovereign even now'.

It is a great thing to come under the control of that blessed One. He has established His right to control us by going into death for us. We must admit that He has a right to command and order us and it is our happiness and security to be under His sway. We have no business now to do what is right in our own eyes. In the kingdom of God we are put under the blessed control of divine grace and love

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expressed in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may do what is right in the sight of God.

But what is all this in view of? If the king destroyed the enemy's power and controlled the people for God's pleasure it was all in view of the house of God being built. It is interesting to see that from the very beginning of David's history he had the house of God before him. I think we may gather this from Psalm 132. In the time of David's afflictions he devoted himself to "find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob", and he says in verse 6, "Behold, we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood". When he was living in Bethlehem and wandering in the fields -- long before he came to the kingdom -- the house of God was before him, and he came to the kingdom really to prepare for the building of the house.

In connection with this read 2 Samuel 5:3 - 7; 2 Samuel 6:12. David's first act after being anointed king over Israel was to take "the stronghold of Zion, which is the city of David", and one of his next acts was to bring up the ark of God "into the city of David with joy". The Lord had chosen Zion; He had desired it for His habitation. He had said, "This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it", Psalm 132:13, 14. David acted in victorious power to secure the place that God had chosen, and then he brought the ark to rest there. Zion spoke of the victorious power and supremacy of David and it represents all the grace and blessings that have been secured in a risen and ascended Christ on the ground of redemption. God's purposes of grace had to be established in Christ risen and glorified on the basis of redemption before His house could be built.

It may seem in the actual history of things here as though the enemy held the field, and that nothing of God's will was established. But as a matter of fact the enemy's

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power is completely broken and God's purpose and grace are established in the most glorious way in Christ as the risen and exalted One. This is known by faith and in the Holy Spirit, so that it can be said to believers now, "Ye have come to mount Zion", Hebrews 12:22. The house of God is built upon the impregnable basis of a victory which has broken the enemy's power, and a Person who has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light, One in whom God's purpose and grace are established, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

David thought and wrought from the very beginning in view of the house of God, and in this he was a type of Christ. Christ came here to secure a place and material for God's house. He secured a company in order to make them "living stones" for God's spiritual house. Then He accomplished redemption, and went to the right hand of God in order that the Spirit might be given to those who believed and that they might thus become God's dwelling-place here.

It is well to note that when the ark was brought to the city of David there was "gladness", and the people had a good time (see 2 Samuel 6:18, 19). They were caring that God should have His place, and the result was that they were blessed and enriched. If we want to have a good time we must be like David, who set his affection on the house of his God. If we do so we are sure to have prosperity of soul.

In 1 Chronicles 22:7 - 10 we see that it was in David's mind to build the house, but he was not suffered to do so because he had shed blood abundantly. This is an interesting scripture, because it points to a distinction between two characters which are united in Christ. Christ is the Man of war and the Man of rest and peace -- He is the true David and the true Solomon. David came in victorious power to meet and destroy every enemy, and Christ has

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taken up this character; He has maintained all the rights of God with regard to sin, and in view of the blessing of man. Then Solomon (peaceable) was a man of rest, and in his day God gave peace and quietness. Christ is now in the blessed peace of resurrection, having vanquished every foe. As the risen One He said to His disciples, "Peace be unto you". No disturbing element can ever reach the shore of resurrection. There is rest on every side, and neither adversary nor evil occurrent.

One might say that typically David was the king of righteousness, and Solomon the king of peace. Both are united in Melchisedec -- figure of Christ as the One who "shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne", Zechariah 6:13. In a coming day Christ will be the King of righteousness and the King of peace, and in connection with Him the millennial temple will be built, the glory will be brought in, and everything on earth will be ordered for the pleasure of God. But in a certain way, as I have suggested, we know Him in these characters now -- as the true David who in the victorious power of grace has put every foe beneath His feet so that there might be full blessing for all who believe on His name, and as the true Solomon in the blessed rest and peace of resurrection. These things are hinted at in picture in the Old Testament; we enter by faith and in the Spirit into the reality of them now; and in a quickly coming day they will be publicly displayed in power and glory.

It was reserved to Solomon to build the house, but David was the one who secured the place for it, and who provided the material. He could say, "Behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without

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weight, for it is in abundance; and timber and stone have I prepared", 1 Chronicles 22:14. David secured the kingdom when he took Zion, and then all through his reign he was providing for the house, treasuring the spoils of forty victorious years to that blessed end. It suggests to me that all the fruit and spoil of Christ's victory, and all that has accrued to Him as the exalted One, goes to enrich and beautify the house of God. In that way the kingdom contributes to the house.

Then towards the end of David's life he discerned the place for the altar of burnt-offering. Read 1 Chronicles 22:1. The circumstances were most solemn and striking: David had sinned in numbering the people and a plague from Jehovah was upon Israel. Everything on the line of man's responsibility had entirely broken down, and the unhappy king could only plead his own guilt and pray that God's hand might be upon him and his father's house and not upon the people. It was then that in blessed grace and sovereign mercy he was commanded to set up an altar to Jehovah in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and Jehovah answered him there by fire and bade the angel put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. "And David said, This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel". It was the place of grace and love and sovereign mercy when human failure was complete and on man's side everything was forfeited. The house as built by Solomon did not therefore stand connected with man's ruin and failure. That failure was indeed complete, but on the ground of the burnt-offering God came out in supreme grace and mercy and made choice of a place where He might dwell in blessing amongst His people.

I desire now to point out one or two things in connection with the temple which have no place in connection with the tabernacle. The temple adds considerably to our conception

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of the house of God for in connection with the temple we get the thought of God's house as a dwelling place for men. In the tabernacle there was no provision for men to dwell in God's house; there was not even a seat there for the priests. But in the temple there were chambers which suggest the thought of men dwelling in the house of God. That house was to be not only a place of approach to God but a dwelling place for men. I need not remind you how often this thought is taken up in the Psalms. "I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of the days" (Psalm 23:6); "One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple" ('beauty' may read 'graciousness'), Psalm 27:4. Again, "Blessed is he whom thou choosest and causest to approach: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, of thy holy temple" (Psalm 65:4) and "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be constantly praising thee", Psalm 84:4.

1 have no doubt that the Lord made reference to the chambers of the temple when He said, "In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be", John 14:2, 3. The Lord turned from the place on which the dark night of His rejection and death was settling down, to speak of His Father's house and a dwelling there for His own. He would have companions in the home circle of divine love. He came here to secure those who should be His companions in the blessed abodes of His Father's house. As we trace His holy pathway through this gospel we see how He secured them. It was by superseding everything else in the estimation of their hearts. He was

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here as the great Object and Centre to which the Father was drawing men (see John 6:44, 45).

Everything that had attractiveness or dignity in the estimation of pious people, or that was entitled to their veneration, was eclipsed by the Son of God. Moses was a great figure before the mind of the Jew, and rightly so, but he was put in the shade by Christ. "The law was given by Moses: grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ", John 1:17. John the Baptist was a remarkable servant of God, and esteemed to be such by the pious, but he spoke of Christ as One whose shoe's latchet he was "not worthy to unloose", John 1:27. The temple is seen to be only a figure of Christ as the true Shrine of divine glory (John 2:21). Jacob's well, a great object of regard to the people of Samaria, was superseded by Christ; He could give "living water" (John 4). The pool of Bethesda with its miraculous healing was a striking witness in the midst of all the failure that God's mercy endured for ever, but Christ was greater and better than the pool, for He could make whole one who was not able to benefit by the pool (John 5). Christ was superior to the manna (John 6:49, 50), and He was superior to the feast of tabernacles, the greatest feast of the Jewish year (John 7). In John 10, as the Shepherd, He displaces the fold, the whole organised system of judaism. Everything that was in any way entitled to have place in the hearts of the people was excelled and displaced by Christ. Then in John 11 and 12 we see Him in His own proper greatness and glory: as Son of God He raises Lazarus, as Son of David He rides into Jerusalem, and as Son of man He is glorified by going into death that He may not abide alone. He displaces every other object for those taught by the Father that He may hold their hearts entirely for Himself by His own mighty attraction. God ministers Him to us now by the Holy Spirit that everything else may be put in the background

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for our hearts. God is working to this end, and in this way is securing companions for His Son in the many abodes of His house.

The disciples who were drawn to Christ when He was here gained nothing as to this world. In following Him they came under the shadow of death and became heirs of reproach and hatred. Instead of coming into the light of the day of His glory they entered the dark shadows of a night which reached its deepest gloom in the garden and at the cross. How solemnly suggestive are those words in John 13:30, "It was night"! But in that dark moment the Lord took occasion to speak to them of a new place in His Father's house. He said, "I go to prepare you a place". It was necessary for Him to pass out of this world through death in order that we might have a place of association with Him in the Father's love. Of course we shall not actually be in that blessed place until we are with and like Him in bodies of glory. But His going through death to the Father has prepared a place there for us. Hence in resurrection He could say "Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". What marvellous grace and love! He has secured companions for Himself in the chambers of His Father's house. Our place is there, and it is our privilege to be in spirit there already.

When the house was built, and the ark and holy vessels were brought up into it, "the cloud filled the house of Jehovah", 1 Kings 8:10, 11. And when we consider the Father's house of John 14 we find that glory dwells there. The Father's house is where the Son is, and He says, "Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world", John 17:24. That is the glory which fills the house. Of old,

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"the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud"; the glory absolutely excluded man in the flesh. But now we find a blessed company secured by divine love and in divine righteousness able to behold the glory without a veil. The glory that the Father has given to the Son is infinitely great. It is nothing less than the glory of giving effect to all the counsels of divine love. The accomplishment of all the unnumbered thoughts of blessing and grace that filled the heart of God before the foundation of the world, of all the holy counsels which originated in the Father, has been entrusted to the Son; and this is the distinctive glory of the Son given to Him by the Father who loved Him from eternity. It is the glory of the Son to bring out and establish the glory of the Father in the fulfilment of all the purposes of His love. That glory fills the abodes of the Father's house, and we are brought there to behold the Father glorified in the Son. Christ's brethren are the companions of His rejection and reproach in this world, but they are also His companions in the circle of ineffable rest and love where He is with the Father, and where His glory appears. I repeat, we are not there actually yet, but in spirit it is our privilege to taste the holy joy of being brought by the Son into the chambers of the Father's house.

Great is our privilege as called to be dwellers in God's house. We behold there the beauty (graciousness) of the Lord (Psalm 27:4), and we get the consciousness that His place is our place. We have not only a way of approach, but a home, a dwelling place. Christ's place with His Father is ours, the home of our hearts, the place of our rest. The house of God is a place of satisfied desire, of freedom from care, and of continual praise (see Psalm 84:1 - 4). 1 should like the thought to be deepened in our hearts that we have a place in God's house, in the circle where His love and glory are known, that we may be drawn more in spirit to

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dwell there, so as to be still praising Him.

This brings me to another thing in which the temple suggests more than the tabernacle. We read in 1 Chronicles 25:6 of many of the Levites who were under the hands of their fathers "for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, lutes and harps, for the service of the house of God, under the direction of the king". There was no song in connection with the tabernacle. The Levites had to carry the tabernacle and the holy vessels. What was typified in this still continues concurrently with the privileges of the house. That is, we have to bear the burden of the testimony of the Lord with all its afflictions in this world. If people think they can serve God without having some burden to carry they are mistaken. There is divine resource and power to carry what is of God in testimony through the world, but it is well rightly to estimate the seriousness of being God's servants here.

In 1 Chronicles 25 we find the three families of the Levites (Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun belonged to the three different families) no longer bearing the burden but raising the song. In figure we may say they had reached the favoured hour when their toil was over and they could happily and restfully raise their song in the house of Jehovah. No doubt this anticipates the day of glory, but there is a sense in which our hearts may know something of it even now. It is possible to retire from the pressure and contrariety of the wilderness, and even from the bearing of burdens in service and testimony here, and to reach a spot in spirit where we can sing as those who participate in the fatness, blessedness, and joy of God's house. If we come under the influence and into the rest of divine love there cannot fail to be a responsive song in our hearts. If the Lord says, "I will declare thy name to my brethren", He also says, "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises". According to God's name so is His praise (see

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Psalm 48:10).

No doubt there is a day coming when all this will be realised in a wonderful way, when the blessedness of God's house will be the joy of Israel and of the millennial earth. But there is even now what answers to it in a spiritual way. The kingdom of God has been established in Christ at the right hand of God, and in the power of the Spirit down here, and consequent upon this the house of God is here. May we be divinely instructed as to the blessed service and privilege of that house!

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 6 (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Kings 6:7 - 22

C.A.C. I think the consideration together of the material of which the house was built would give us to see the exalted character of what has come under the hand of Christ as the great Builder, and it would help us to apprehend the dignity of the service that belongs to such a house. I am thinking more particularly of the materials mentioned in this chapter -- the stone, the cedar-wood, the cypress, the olive wood and the gold -- all marked by excellence. When the tabernacle was finished it was all anointed, but in the house that Solomon built the materials were of such excellence that they did not need to be anointed. When we consider that the saints are the materials with which Christ builds it gives us an exalted thought of the place which they have in relation to Christ as the Builder and in relation to God as the One who dwells in the house when it is finished.

J. S. In that sense the material is worthy to compose the house. We need that view a little more perhaps?

C.A.C. Yes, I think we do. The material is all suitable for Christ as the Son of the Father's love to handle in His constructive operations. There is nothing mean or common about it. The material itself is of great importance. The stone is mentioned first because it is that which underlies the other materials although it was not to be seen (verse 18). What underlies and supports everything in the house of God is that which is not seen. It says distinctly that "there was no stone seen"; what was seen was cedar, but the stone was of basic importance, it was the strength

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and stability of the structure, though not coming under the eye of man.

W. G. What does the stone speak of?

C.A.C. My impression is that the stone represents what is solid and permanent; it regards the saints as the subjects of divine purpose and calling. The stones come from an elevated region, the mountains, which would answer to Romans 8:29, 30 and Ephesians 1:4.

V.G. Would that be indicated in the Lord's word to Peter, "Thou art Peter" (Matthew 16:18)?

C.A.C. That shews that the Lord was thinking of building material; when Simon came first into His presence He said to him: "Thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone)", John 1:42. It was not exactly what Peter was then actually, but what he was in divine purpose -- "Thou shalt be called Cephas".

Rem. So Peter has that in mind in his ministry, "To whom coming, a living stone ... yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house", 1 Peter 2:4, 5.

C.A.C. I thought so. When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16), the Lord said: "Thou art Peter". He had come to it constitutionally then. He was a stone in purpose in the first chapter of John -- "Thou shalt be called Cephas" -- he was material in the eye of the Lord for His building work, but when he came out as a confessor of Christ as the Son of the living God he was a stone constitutionally and in character so the Lord said, "Thou art Peter". It was not now simply what he was in purpose but what he had become as the subject of the Father's revelation, and this was a matter of sovereign divine work outside responsibility. It was what the Father had done; flesh and blood had not revealed it to Simon but the Father. Looking at the stone in the light of this it is exceedingly dignified material, and permanent, because

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nothing can undo what the Father has done.

Ques. Would you say a word as to the tool and the hammer not being heard in the house?

C.A.C. The point is evidently that the stone was "entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built". There is not only the thought of basic and permanent material in the stone, but a certain process of making ready is suggested, but all is done, as it were, behind the scenes.

Ques. Does it suggest God working?

C.A.C. The best illustration of it that I know is the company of 120 persons in the first chapter of Acts, who were suited material for the Lord to use in His building operations. He actually built the house, we might say, in the beginning of the second chapter of the Acts, but the material was all prepared before. The Lord in His ministry on earth was preparing the material in secret; that is, what He was doing did not exactly come under the eye of man at all but He was making the material ready. As it says here, it was "entirely made ready". It is interesting to consider that in the ministry of the Lord while here He did a great deal which was afterwards the work of the Spirit. Whatever one divine Person can do, Another can do.

V. G. Is what you say confirmed by the remarkable way in which these vessels functioned in the ten days before the descent of the Spirit?

C.A.C. I think so. They shewed that they were "entirely made ready", and it had been brought about by being in the company of the Lord in the days of His flesh and also in resurrection. So that when they had to select one to take the place of Judas, Peter laid it down as a condition that he must be one who had assembled with them "all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John

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until the day in which he was taken up from us" (Acts 1:21, 22); that is, he must be a man whose formation had been completed in the company of Christ.

Ques. Would that thought be included in the Lord's word "I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it", John 17:4?

C.A.C. I think so, because the work given Him to do certainly included the preparation of a company to be material for the house of God, for the temple. In connection with this it was not a question of what might be known to men, because they appealed to the Lord as knowing all hearts after they had appointed two men. They were not prepared to say which was the right one; they referred that to the Lord, "knower of the hearts of all". This matter of what we are as stones does not actually come under the eye of man; it comes under the eye of the Lord and He has His own way of selecting. The material is the Father's work, but it is the Lord's work to make it ready, and in the case of the apostles the work was brought to completion. When the day of Pentecost came the Spirit came down and filled the house, but the material was all prepared before. All this suggests a process which is necessary for us if we are to be as it says here, "entirely made ready". This process goes on as we are found in the company of the saints. I believe it is a great moment in the history of a soul when one begins to assemble with the saints, when one likes to be with them. Peter speaks of those who had "assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us". "All the time" -- it was a full-time man that was wanted, one that had not missed any impression that the Lord had given to His own when He came in and went out amongst them. As regards ourselves it is well to bear in mind that there is a company still where the Lord comes in and goes out, and so far as our responsibility enters into this matter it would lie in that, that we are

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found amongst those who assemble with the saints and who come under the personal influence of the Lord as coming in and going out amongst them. The making ready will go on then according to the plan, according to what is in the divine mind. We love to see souls drawn to the company of believers; it is one evidence that there is material there for the house; there is something of "stone" character there, and the Lord can see it before we can. He saw great possibilities in Simon before anybody else did.

Rem. So that on the day you mention they were all together in one place.

C.A.C. Is not that beautiful? It was the result of being made ready during the three-and-a-half years.

Rem. They had been attracted to Christ really?

C.A.C. Yes, quite so, and it is in being attracted to Him that we give evidence of being living stones. Peter speaks of Christ as a Living Stone, cast aside as worthless by men, but chosen of God and precious, and he says, "To whom coming". Those who come are living stones; they have vitality enough to come. The test is whether we have vitality enough to come to Christ as the One who is of no account in this world, but who is infinitely precious to God. It means leaving every other man and coming to Him. One is a living stone then; it takes the energy of life to come to Christ, because He is of no account in this world. People may build churches and large buildings but there is nothing living in that. But by living stones being found together a habitation is secured for God. There is material which Christ can make use of. It is a wonderful day when He becomes the one Object attracting the heart away from man's thoughts and doings and all his religious observances to the One chosen of God and precious. Then there is basic material for the house, something that the true Solomon can use in His building operations.

Ques. What is the difference between what the Lord is

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as a Stone and what the saints are as stones?

C.A.C. There is a certain difference, because as to His Person He is unique, but the saints are the same kind of material morally and that is why they appreciate Christ. No one can appreciate Christ without having something in common with Him; there is a kindred nature. It is instructive to see that in the house "all was cedar; there was no stone seen" (verse 18). What the saints are as "called according to purpose" (Romans 8:28) underlies everything but it does not come into view. What appears publicly is the cedar. The divine sovereign work in saints on the line of God's calling and purpose underlies all that we can see. We cannot see all that the saints are as wrought of God in view of His purpose. We are conscious that that mighty working is there, but what comes into evidence is the cedar. There is no stone seen.

Rem. Tell us a bit about the cedar.

C.A.C. It seems to me that in the cedar we get what is the product of divine planting and growth. Scripture speaks of the cedars of Lebanon which Jehovah hath planted (Psalm 104:16), and it is said of the righteous that "he shall grow like a cedar on Lebanon", Psalm 92:12. The result is something excellent that can be taken account of under the eye of men. The spouse in the Song of Songs, in describing the Bridegroom says, "His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars", Song of Songs 5:15. That refers to the public bearing of the Lord, and it seems to me that the cedar as seen in the house speaks of the excellence of those features of Christ which can be taken account of publicly. What cannot be seen is the basis of all; what the saints are by the purpose and calling of God underlies everything, and many scriptures speak of the saints from that point of view.

Rem. I was wondering whether we sometimes rest in the 'stone' character of things without being sufficiently

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exercised that there should be something seen.

C.A.C. Well, I believe the cedar represents these practical "ways in Christ" which are the product of divine planting and growth and which come into evidence amongst the brethren. Our ways in Christ are a public matter. There was not much cedar at Corinth; it was there potentially because the apostle addresses them as "babes in Christ", but he reminds them of the cedar as they had seen it in himself. He says, "I have sent to you Timotheus ... who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ, according as I teach everywhere in every assembly", 1 Corinthians 4:17. It is our ways in Christ that the brethren are to see and that is a very exalted character of things that constitutes material for the house.

Ques. You made the remark that in Solomon's building there was no anointing, but the apostle speaks to the Corinthians of the anointing, does he not?

C.A.C. He does, but I think we can understand that they were hardly up to the elevation of the scripture before us. We must bear in mind that in Solomon's temple there is no suggestion of deficiency or defect; every bit of it is perfect; the full mind of God is set before us that we may be exercised to come up to it. It is helpful to distinguish between Solomon as a builder and as an intercessory priest. When he builds, the material is all of surpassing excellence without any deficiency, but when he goes down on his knees to pray it is altogether different. On his knees he says over and over again, "Forgive ... forgive ... forgive". He is considering the people more from the Corinthian standpoint, if we may so say, when he prays.

Ques. Does Psalm 29 suggest anything about the cedars? It refers to the voice of Jehovah breaking the cedars, and in the next verse He makes them to skip.

C.A.C. I think the cedar is often used in Scripture as representing the greatness and excellence of man as in the

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flesh, and God is going to break that. The day of Jehovah will be "upon all the cedars of Lebanon", Isaiah 2:13. In that aspect the cedar-wood was cast into the burning of the red heifer in Numbers 19; all that belongs to man's greatness goes into the fire. But Solomon's cedar sets forth what is spiritually excellent. The ways of the saints in Christ develop as they grow. A young convert necessarily comes in as a babe in Christ and the saints delight in what they see in him of ways in Christ but that is a developing thing. Paul began by telling the Corinthians that they were babes in Christ but he did not finish without presenting to them the thought of a man in Christ.

Ques. What are the "ways ... in Christ"?

C.A.C. I think it is all that corresponds with the anointed Man.

Rem. "Righteousness, faith, love, peace".

C.A.C. Yes.

Ques. Would the cedar be seen in Peter when he says, "Look on us"?

C.A.C. Quite so. We ought to be much exercised as to what can be seen. I have heard people who were wrong say, 'The Lord knows my heart'; but what the brethren know is a very important matter. It is possible to cover up an unwholesome, unrighteous course by saying, 'The Lord knows my heart'. The saints do not know my heart but they know my ways and they are entitled to see that my ways are in Christ; they are entitled to see in me something of the excellent bearing of Christ. His bearing was always excellent; it always had the cedar character wherever it was looked at. Even as a Boy of twelve, how excellent was His bearing! And at every point, right through to the end there was the excellent bearing of the cedar. Now, that is to be seen, and it surely will be seen if the stone is underlying; the cedar will be put upon it.

Ques. As the temple is perfect and we are such creatures

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of failure, how do we fit the two thoughts together?

C.A.C. Divine thoughts are presented to us symbolically in the temple, and I believe what is set forth here corresponds with what Christ set up here in the power of the Spirit after His ascension. It was there in completeness initially but now that has passed from public view and we have to come back to learn the mind of God from Scripture. We get in Solomon's temple what gives us the true thought of the house as in the mind of God; so that when we have that view of it before our hearts and minds we do not accept anything less as the truth. If we get the divine thought and have pure and upright hearts we could not possibly accept anything different. We could not accept that any human substitute will do; we may have to repent often in dust and ashes that so little of the cedar is exhibited, but we are not going to accept that something inferior will do.

Rem. It is a question of apprehending what is suitable to God.

C.A.C. Quite so.

Ques. When Peter in his second epistle refers to what they heard when they were with Him on the holy mount, has he in mind what is excellent, in correspondence with the "excellent glory"?

C.A.C. Yes, and there is the potentiality of all this in every saint. It is not like something out of reach. If none of the ways in Christ are seen in a person, you would say he is an unconverted man.

Rem. Peter speaks of growing up to salvation by desiring the pure mental milk of the word.

C.A.C. That is it. We grow up to complete deliverance from the man after the flesh when our heart is attracted and filled with what Christ is, and the fact that we are attracted and filled with that shews that we are kindred with Him.

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Now we might have a word about the cypress or fir tree. It seems to me that the way the cypress or fir is spoken of in Scripture suggests the thought of grace abounding where sin has been. We read that "as for the stork, the fir trees are her house", Psalm 104:17. The stork being an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:19) would suggest that a house provided for her by God must be on the principle of grace. And we being what we are there can be no possibility of our being in happy relations with God, or having a place in His house, save on the ground of grace. We have, indeed, no claim or title to anything good save that which grace confers. We are justified freely by grace; we are saved by grace; whatever a saint is and whatever he does, it is by the grace of God. The conditions on our side are such that the element of grace is a necessity at all times. This is brought out in a striking way in the last chapter of the prophet Hosea. It begins, "O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips". And then in the eighth verse we read, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?", and Jehovah says, "I answer him, and I will observe him". Then Ephraim goes on to say, "I am like a green fir-tree"; then Jehovah says, "From me is thy fruit found". There is no more beautiful expression of grace in the Old Testament. Backsliding Israel, having learned their own character by a long course of shameful failure will eventually turn to God and say, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously", and He will do so, and then they will say, "I am like a green fir-tree". In the appreciation of grace they will become characterised by the freshness of life, and grace becomes fruitful in this way.

Rem. Looking at the figure of the two trees, the cedar I suppose would speak of stateliness and height and dignity,

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whereas the cypress would suggest greenness and freshness.

C.A.C. Yes, the thought of that freshness which the continued sense of grace preserves in the soul. The cedar and the cypress are often found together in Scripture. As we grow up in Christ there will always be a deepening sense of grace. Those who lose the sense of grace will surely get into darkness and bondage. It is noticeable that the folding-doors at the entrance of the temple were made of cypress-wood (1 Kings 6:34), intimating to us that access into privilege is a matter of grace. We may observe, too, that the floor of the holy place was overlaid with boards of cypress (1 Kings 6:15). In the most holy place the floor is cedar, but in the holy place it is cypress. It is not exactly new creation in the holy place but what we are according to grace; we are on that footing with God; we approach on the ground of infinite grace. God's favourableness to those personally unworthy is always an element in the constitution of the material with which Christ builds; He takes up persons imbued with the sense of grace; every one, as the parable puts it, has come in as an eleventh-hour man, and gets what he has on the footing of pure grace. We must always retain a sense of that. We come near to God on the ground of His own grace in Christ; we are on that ground with Him. There is nothing more practically important than that we should retain the sense of grace; indeed there has been enough failure in the history of every one of us to make us value grace.

Rem. We have spoken of other features in connection with Peter, and this one is especially seen with him in all he passed through with the Lord. Afterwards he said to others, "Grace to you and peace be multiplied", 1 Peter 1:2.

C.A.C. Yes, how beautiful! So in Luke's gospel the two who came back from Emmaus had been learning grace

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and they found the eleven gathered together and saying, "The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon". The great mark of resurrection in Luke was the grace of it, that He had appeared to Simon, to the one who had cursed and sworn and denied Him! Yes, He had appeared to Simon! That is grace and our souls need to be steeped in grace; we shall fall a prey to the enemy if our souls are not fully established with grace. So we read, "It is good that the heart be confirmed with grace", Hebrews 13:9.

We have only time for a brief word on the olive wood. It is apparent that the olive speaks of what is spiritual. Spirituality is a most important element in relation to the material for the house. The cherubim were of olive-wood (1 Kings 6:23) as were also the doors for the entrance of the oracle (verse 31), and the posts for the doorway of the temple (verse 33).

J.S. I am afraid we need help as to what spirituality represents, because we are liable to confuse it with sentimentality and a sort of unreal, restrained bearing among the saints.

C.A.C. I think spirituality would preserve us from everything of that character. Spirituality means that we have become characterised by the presence of the Spirit of God; this is in one sense greater than anything we have had before us yet. It is a very great and holy thought that saints, human beings, should be characterised by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God; to be characterised by His presence is spirituality.

It is not supposed in Scripture that the Spirit is a kind of deposit which one may receive without the whole person being affected. Scripture supposes, and indeed enjoins, that we are to be filled with the Spirit. Now, if we are filled with the Spirit we shall be spiritual. A man in whom the thought of spirituality is developed to its normal degree is a man filled with the Spirit. This is not a fanciful idea; it is

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just normal Christianity that we should be filled with the Spirit. What beautiful material for Christ to handle! And it is within the reach of each one of us! All these things are characteristic of saints viewed according to God; the stone and the cedar and the cypress and the olive wood are all characteristic of saints viewed as such and they constitute material which Christ can handle, so that there may be a house suitable for God to dwell in and where God can be served according to His pleasure.

Ques. Does spirituality preserve what is suitable to God?

C.A.C. Quite so, because spirituality is most sensitive. The dove is a scriptural symbol of the Spirit, and the dove is one of the most sensitive creatures. Nothing can be so sensitive as the Spirit of God, and we have to learn to distinguish between natural thoughts and feelings and emotions and those which are of the Spirit of God. It is a mark of spiritual maturity when we can thus distinguish, because we very often mistake our own feelings and sentiments for spirituality. But we have to learn to take on the character that rightly accompanies the presence of the Spirit. The Lord said to the disciples, "Ye know him" -- a wonderful thing! "The world ... does not see him nor know him; but ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you", John 14:17. Now, how far can we say we know the Spirit? We can perhaps all say we know the Lord, but it is important to know the Spirit and to take character from the Spirit.

Rem. In one sense the Spirit has taken the Lord's place here, alongside of us.

C.A.C. Quite so. The cherubim were made of olivewood, and that is a beautiful thought. It is evident that the cherubim in the temple were quite different from the cherubim in the tabernacle. In the tabernacle the cherubim were made of gold "out of the mercy-

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seat ... at the two ends thereof" (Exodus 37:8), shewing that the cherubim in the tabernacle were on the divine side, but the cherubim in the temple represent the saints as having a beautiful service for the protection and the safeguarding of the ark. We find that when the ark of the covenant was brought to its place it was "under the wings of the cherubim; for the cherubim stretched forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above", 1 Kings 8:6, 7. This supreme treasure of God was overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim, intimating that now it is not only true that God will protect and safeguard all that pertains to Christ, but that He has got men, spiritual men, under whose wings the ark can be placed with every confidence. Do we covet to be trustworthy persons to safeguard in holy affections all that belongs to Christ as the Ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat? What a wonderful thought it is! What spirituality is needed for that!

Finally, all was overlaid with gold, which I understand to convey that, as Psalm 29:9 says, "In his temple doth every one say, Glory!" or as the note reads, 'everything saith'. Every detail in the house is to carry some feature of divine glory. There is to be glory to God "in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages", Ephesians 3:21. The holy city, Jerusalem, will come down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God (Revelation 21:10). And the glory is to appear now in all service in the assembly. So we read, "If any one speak -- as oracles of God; if any one minister -- as of strength which God supplies; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages. Amen", 1 Peter 4:11. Whatever is brought about through Jesus Christ, whatever the saints are as in Christ, and whatever service is rendered in a spiritual way will always carry some expression of the

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glory of God. So that "the whole house he overlaid with gold" and there is added, as though to emphasise this, "the whole house entirely". The assembly is to be, now and eternally, the vessel of divine glory. So that we gladly sing:

'O Mind divine, so must it be
That glory all belongs to God!
O Love divine, that did decree
We should be part, through Jesus' blood'.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 6 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

1 Kings 6:5 - 10

In the previous reading we considered the house itself and, particularly, the materials used in its construction, suggestive of spiritual material which comes now under the hand of Christ, the true Solomon, and which is being built up a spiritual house. We referred to the stones, cedar, cypress and olive as representing symbolically various features of the work of God in His people, all combining together to form His house. We noticed that all was presented from the divine side, and presented as perfect; there are no figures of what is defective. What is in the mind of God is presented for our consideration, so that we might be exercised to come up to it by the work of God proceeding in our souls.

But there are many scriptures which give us light as to progress on our side in spiritual apprehension, and I understand that the "side-chambers" present this side of things in a striking way. They are not the house itself, but they stand in close relation to it. They are in three storeys, enlarging as they ascend. There is "the lowest floor", then the "middle one", and then "the third". I believe the consideration of this will be found helpful, for in the truth as set out in the New Testament, particularly in the epistles, we may see what answers to these three grades of elevation and enlargement. The chambers of each floor as they ascend are of larger dimensions, so that they indicate the thought of spiritual progress. The thoughts thus suggested are helpful not only in a general way but in regard of

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our service to God in the assembly.

The "lowest floor", I think we may say, is where baptism and the Lord's supper are. That is, it answers to the truth as set forth in Romans and 1 Corinthians. If we are not right on that floor we cannot expect to go higher. It is where our moral relations with God, and with the brethren, and with the world, are divinely adjusted. When we receive the gospel our moral relations with God are put right. On the ground of redemption we are justified so that we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by Him we have access by faith into the favour of God, and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This blessedness is unfolded in the epistle to the Romans, chapter 5; we also learn that the adjustment of our relations with God involves the adjustment of our relations with the world, and baptism has its place in this connection. We must accept a public position here which is in keeping with right relations with God. The public position is burial with Christ; baptism means that we go out by burial from the life of the world, "in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life", Romans 6:4. That is a new kind of life here on earth. As buried to the former life we yield ourselves to God as alive from among the dead and our members instruments of righteousness to God. That is a kind of life which the Spirit can support. Christ has now a footing in our hearts where He once had none, and if Christ is in us "the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness", Romans 8:10. The flesh has ceased to dominate: in result we can present our bodies a living sacrifice, so that God's will may be worked out in us in the way of service to the brethren (Romans 12). For we are members one of another to serve; we have many to serve us and we have many to serve, and in taking up this

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service in a practical way we find freedom from selfishness. Being in right relations thus with the brethren we are liberated for the service of God. We are "to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", Romans 15:5, 6. It is evident that this brings us into view of the service of the house, but it is, to use the language of the type, "the lowest floor".

The first epistle to the Corinthians runs parallel with Romans, and it develops our assembly relations. The truth of the fellowship to which we are called comes out in this epistle, as does the Lord's supper as the rallying point of the assembly. Believers come together in their different localities to remember the Lord Jesus in the place where He died, and to share in common the precious fruit of His body being given and His blood poured out. It is the privilege of the saints to come together locally as those who are in the conscious gain of the new covenant, both in the letter and in the spirit of it. We thus enjoy in a corporate way the place and portion which the death of Christ and the gift of the Spirit have brought us into. And as together we find an outlet for our praises to the Lord Jesus and also to the blessed God. We occupy a place in relation to the house of God which answers to the chambers of "the lowest floor".

The normal effect of being in the good of the Roman epistle and of taking up in a practical way the assembly order of 1 Corinthians is that we look for something further. The "lowest floor" truly occupied would ensure collective freedom and the spirit of sonship would give power to ascend. We read that "they went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third". And it is to be noticed that "the entrance to the side-chambers of the middle floor was in the right side of

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the house". The right side suggests the thought of power, as we find generally in Scripture. We can only go up to the middle or third floor as there is spiritual power to do so; we must always go up by "the right side". But in the spirit of sonship there is liberty and power to go up. It is to be observed in Romans 15 the power of the Holy Spirit leads to abounding in hope. It fills the soul with bright anticipation of something higher; the closing verses of the epistle would lead the Roman believers to see that there was much more in the apostle's mind than he had unfolded. They would see that there was a great deal more to be entered upon; they would have hope of things more elevated than what he had spoken of. They would recognise that there were "stairs" leading upward to a higher level!

And to the Corinthians also, though the greater part of the first epistle refers to "the lowest floor", the apostle does not end without leading their hearts upward. Chapter 15 is like "stairs" leading upward, for he speaks of Christ as risen being First-fruits of a risen company, and he says, "Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one", 1 Corinthians 15:48, 49. We may remember that the stairs for the house of Jehovah, and the balustrade were made of sandal-wood (2 Chronicles 9:11; 1 Kings 10:12). It was wood that came from a far-off clime; "There came no such sandal-wood, nor was there seen to this day". So I would suggest that the sandal-wood stairs represent what leads up in the direction of the heavenly.

We come together to break bread on "the lowest floor", but it is not the Lord's mind that we should remain on that level. He would have us to go up to the middle floor and also to the third. One feels sure that any christian in the good of Romans and 1 Corinthians would desire to go up, but going up is a question of power. And power for this lies

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largely in the affectionate apprehension of Christ as risen and as the heavenly One. The Lord's supper brings before us how He went down, but in the last chapters of the gospels He presented Himself to His disciples as risen.

What they saw in Himself was the way up. Those who saw the risen Christ, and with whom He assembled during forty days, were in flesh and blood condition, but they understood that all that was precious to them was now in resurrection, and that there was no distance between them and the risen One. They did not know as a matter of doctrine that they were risen with Christ; that was left to Paul to unfold; but they had the reality of it in spiritual experience. Everything that had caused distance had been removed by His death, so that we see no fear or trouble or unbelief on their part in Acts 1. The service He had rendered in verifying Himself to them in Luke 24 had been effective. They could be with the risen One, and not only hear Him, but speak to Him with confidence. It was true of them that they were risen "with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead", Colossians 2:12.

There were "holy and faithful brethren in Christ" in Colosse of whom it is said that they were "raised with him". They were men and women living in a city in Asia Minor, but they had been raised with Christ through faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead. This was clearly a faith position. Let us try to understand what this would mean to them. They would know that they could be with God as in company with Christ risen. They would know, in the light of what Epaphras had taught them and what Paul had written to them earlier in his letter, that Christ was "firstborn from among the dead", Colossians 1:18. That is, He was the pre-eminent One, the glorious Head of the company risen with Him. They would know that they were His body, to increase

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with the increase of God. What elevation and enlargement there is in this! It answers to the chambers on the middle floor, which are not only more elevated than the lowest floor but are of enlarged dimensions.

If we had never heard of these things before, and it was brought home to us in spiritual power that by faith of the working of God we were raised with Christ, I am sure it would make a great impression on us. We should understand that the great thing now for us is to hold fast the Head, to get suggestions from Christ as Head. He would not fail to minister to the body that it might increase with the increase of God. Christ as Head is the great Source of supply, and He makes use of "the joints and bands" to convey what is of Himself to the body. It is not, in the teaching of the Colossian epistle, the action of gifts, though of course their service is recognised as in Paul and Epaphras and others in chapter 4, but in the teaching of the epistle the Head is held fast as furnishing ministry through joints and bands so that "increase of God" is brought about. I understand "the word of the Christ" (Colossians 3:16) to be the word of the Head, which is to dwell richly in all the holy and faithful brethren in Christ, so that the teaching of the Head becomes available, and this issues in there being psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God. The thought is that the vast reservoir of wealth that is in the Head becomes available for the body so that God is praised as the great Source from which all has come. It is beautiful to see that ministry from the Head leads to "increase of God"; there is great wealth in the knowledge of God.

When we come together in assembly we begin on the lowest floor, but we should have in mind that there is a way up to another level. We should not forget the "stairs", but be prepared to go up step by step, remembering that power is needed at each step. We must remember, too,

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that the stairs are winding; it is impossible to see far ahead; we must be content to go up step by step as we have power in a way of spiritual leading. We cannot see all the way clear before us on any particular occasion. A note to Proverbs 2:9 in the Darby Translation is helpful in regard to "winding"; it says, 'God's path for the saint ... does not always lead where we expect, or so that we can see straight on in it'. This applies also to the steps by which we go up when we are together in assembly. If Christ has His place amongst us as the Mediator of the new covenant He will serve us so that we shall be empowered to go up, but not exactly in a formal way so that we can see all the way by which we are going. In a formal religious service everything goes on in a fixed order from which there is no deviation, but in the spiritual service of the assembly room must be left, surely, for Christ to have His place in the midst as Head, and who can tell beforehand what He will suggest on any particular occasion? He will surely lead upward, but exactly how the steps will go cannot be foreseen when we enter on the upward way. Of course every spiritual movement will be in accord with the truth as made known to us but in the movements of life in the assembly as convened we should expect to find something quite different from a formal order. Holding fast the Head will keep us in touch with infinite resource and variety in relation to the holy service of God. Any company of saints where Christ has His place as Head would look for a lead from Him. There would be joints and bands available through whom great spiritual thoughts would be conveyed which would determine our upward steps. If there is the "increase of God", there will assuredly be increase to God in the blessed service of praise.

I do not think that the spiritual leading on any occasion can go quite beyond the general state of those present; it would hardly be real if it did. That is why the meetings

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fluctuate. If there has been a careless walk through the week, if matters have not been what they should be in the household or in the business or the office, or if there has been a measure of slackness generally it is sure to affect the meetings. Even the spiritual elements present cannot rise freely; their upward movements are impeded. This is a great exercise for us all. We can be thankful to know that the Lord does often come in and raise the tone of a low meeting. He can use a spiritual man to do this, so that we often get a touch towards the end of a meeting that we could not have had at the beginning, because He is concerned that God should get His portion, and He gives much help in that direction even when things are low on our side. We get an uplift so that we may be prepared for suggestions from the Head that will lead up the stairs to a higher level.

I think we may see an example of this when He gave that wonderful message to Mary Magdalene, "Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God", John 20:17. He did not entrust this message to a great gift but to a woman who was a joint or band through whom He could minister. And in saying "I ascend", He was leading up all their thoughts and hearts to the chambers of the third storey. To be risen with Christ and to hold the Head are wonderful things, but they belong to the middle floor. Colossians prepares us to go higher than this when it calls upon us to "seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God", and to have our mind on those things. That is a leading up to another level. The epistle to the Ephesians gives us the "third storey", the highest spiritual level. We see there that there is a divine sense in which we can be said to be raised up to a very great elevation. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ "has raised us up together, and has made us sit down

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together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus", Ephesians 2:6. This is our full heavenly place as sons with Him who is above. The chambers on the third storey are "seven cubits broad"; that is, they suggest the perfection of the divine thoughts. As there we have come up to the full height of divine purpose and calling. We have come to the thoughts which were formed in Christ before the world's foundation and which are for the supreme satisfaction of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What capacity this would give for the service of God! It is there for access by the winding stairs, not only in an individual way, but as a matter of assembly movement when we are together. There is nothing beyond; it is the full height of the thoughts of divine love. Christ as the glorious Head cherishes those thoughts and loves to lead us up to them collectively when convened. If we give place to His leading it will surely be in this direction. But the winding stairs suggest that He would not have us to see all the way up when we begin the ascent. He would have us conscious that He is the Head, and that we must go up step by step as the spiritual leading may be on each occasion. He would have us to know this great service of His love according to which we are enriched and furnished in relation to the house of God.

The sandal-wood was used for the stairs and the balustrade and for harps and lutes for the singers. So that it seems to have special significance in relation to going up and to the service of praise. Being wood I think it suggests what is brought about in men by the work of God -- a suitability as heavenly ones to go up and to praise in a manner that harmonises with what is proper to heaven. It is to this elevation that God would have us brought, and He has furnished us with a Head who is able to bring us there. But on our side we come to it by successive stages of apprehension, each of which is accompanied by an

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appropriate service of praise. If Christ has His place as Head there will be spiritual activity; there will be a leading upward and a singing to God. This is something to be known experimentally and confirmed as we are together in assembly.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 8 (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Kings 8:31 - 66

Ques. We were interested to see that Solomon as king and priest was great enough to reach out and take in, in his prayer, a wider circle until the stranger is reached. Would he be a type of the Lord in a day that is to come?

C.A.C. Yes, surely; and you would not object to giving it a present application, would you? It seems to me that what is presented in chapters 7 and 8 very much answers to the two presentations of the assembly in the gospel of Matthew. In chapter 16 the Lord speaks of building His assembly, and the gates of hades cannot prevail against it. It is the assembly viewed in its abstract perfection, where all is of God, answering to the temple as built in chapter 7. The material is all spiritual. It is the saints viewed in their abstract perfection as subjects of the work of God and material which Christ can handle and put together so that there is that which stands for God in this world.

Peter is brought to the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. For the moment Peter is abstracted from all that he was in himself, and characterised by the Father's revelation, that is, he is a stone for the divine building. It is a comfort to view the saints from that standpoint. I thought, as I looked around yesterday on that company of sixteen hundred saints, of the substance that is here -- divinely wrought substance. You can look at them apart from what they are according to flesh and nature.

Then when you come to Solomon's prayer, you have chapter 18 of Matthew, the thought of the assembly as the

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vessel of the grace of heaven, and yet called upon to bring that grace into contact with many things that are not exactly pleasurable to God. You find that he says again and again, "Forgive". If you view the assembly abstractly as in Christ, there is nothing to forgive; if you think of the assembly as built by Christ upon this rock, it is invulnerable. Forgiveness does not come in at all there, but when you come to the prayer it is taking account of actual conditions, so that it is the assembly viewed according to Matthew 18, where one brother may sin against another; he has to be approached, but he is approached in the grace of heaven. Heaven is God's dwelling place, and in the actual conditions of the assembly down here, things have to be handled in the grace of heaven. We must never forget that. So this prayer is permeated with the grace of heaven. The fact that those are the only two references to the assembly which the Lord made during His life and ministry here on earth show how much they demand our attention. We should consider them very seriously.

If you think of the assembly as in Christ Jesus it is a universal and eternal thought. The assembly is going to be in Christ Jesus to all generations of the age of ages. But when you come to Matthew 18 it is the assembly locally; because you can tell things to the assembly and it is the local assembly that speaks. The universal assembly never speaks. It only says one word that I know of; that word is "Come" to Jesus. But the local assembly can speak if you bring a refractory brother before it, it can speak to him in all the grace of heaven.

Ques. The thought of the assembly in Corinth would be responsible and local?

C.A.C. That is right; and in the assembly viewed locally there are always matters that call for forgiveness. We shall never be in a state, as set here locally, when there will not be things that call for forgiveness. So that we are to

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meet everything that arises in the grace of heaven. I think you see Solomon here as a man imbued with the grace of heaven, so that he reflects in his prayer the thoughts and feelings and desires of heaven. It is most important for us locally, because it is locally that we are tried and tested. A man comes on the scene, locally, who sins against his brother; he will not listen to his brother when he goes to him about it, and when the brother takes two more, he will not listen to them; finally the assembly has to speak to him.

Ques. Does Peter give the idea of the local assembly in his epistles?

C.A.C. I think he has in view the abstract idea of the spiritual house. It is written to those who are scattered, and I think he presents the general thought of coming to Christ as the living Stone, and we also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. It is the universal thought. It is the holy priesthood, Godward, and the royal priesthood, manward. That is, Peter has in mind what we should speak of as the morning meeting and the gospel preaching.

Rem. Solomon was anticipating general failure.

C.A.C. Shewing that we can count upon God whatever the conditions may be. He goes over a number of conditions that may arise that call for forgiveness. How many times he says, 'Forgive!', 'Forgive!'. Everything that does not please God has to be forgiven. How much there is in the christian profession that does not please God; and how much there is in me that has not pleased God. All that calls for forgiveness. Now God is in the spirit of forgiveness, and heaven is in the spirit of forgiveness, and if we are not in the spirit of forgiveness we are not in God's assembly properly.

Ques. Is the basis of it all the death of Christ?

C.A.C. Yes, it all stands on that ground and therefore

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anything that is inconsistent with the death of Christ is a thing that has to be forgiven. Whatever Christ died to put away is really intolerable in the sight of God, and it ought to be intolerable to us. One earnestly desires that what is displeasing to God may be displeasing to me. Now the assembly is to be made up of people of that kind. Everyone has come in as a little child. Matthew 18 begins with that. You come into the assembly very small, and you keep small in that sense. And therefore everything has to be done by prayer. The great suggestion of this chapter is that all through the history of the people everything was to hang upon prayer. In Matthew 18 the Lord suggests that everything is done on the principle of prayer. He speaks about two of you agreeing to ask, shewing that the thing is effective if you are even reduced to two. It is not only the assembly in its abstract perfection, as in chapter 16, or even the assembly in its entirety, but things may be reduced to two. They have not yet been brought down to two here, but if they had, everything would be effective on the principle of prayer. I believe every word of it! I may fail in maintaining the character of it, but I believe every word of it that the Lord will stand by two. If there are only two left He will make the Third, and that makes the thing effective.

Everything is preserved in the local assembly consistently with the dispensation. Nothing will maintain things but the spirit of dependence. It is the dispensation of grace. The hymn rightly says, 'Grace is the sweetest sound that ever reach'd our ears'. The dispensation of grace is a wonderful thing, and all the spirit of it is enshrined in the assembly viewed locally, viewed responsibly and viewed as having to deal with assembly matters. If people do not surrender to that they are outlaws and have forfeited all title to the name of christian.

Rem. Solomon is bent on recovery and the assembly

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should be bent on recovery.

C.A.C. Quite so, and God has established all the conditions that will bring about recovery. We have to deal with much that God is not pleased with and which He has to forgive; and He does forgive us a great deal without saying anything about it. We all know that; how He has forgiven us when we expected to get a good thrashing.

Ques. As to verses 31 and 32.

C.A.C. That supposes that what is evil is dealt with.

We have to remember that whilst we speak of the assembly as the vessel of the grace of heaven, it is in harmony with the government of the Lord. And conditions arise when that state of things comes into view. That is, if we withdraw from a man it is on the line of the government of God.

It is a question of proving the right and truth of a matter, so that the wicked man is condemned and the righteous man is justified. That is government. But grace is ever supreme; we do not read about government reigning, but we do read about grace reigning. Grace is always supreme.

If the assembly speaks with authority there is a governmental element there which must not be disregarded. If a man disregards it he is an outlaw; you do not look upon him as a brother any longer. If a matter comes before the assembly and the assembly expresses a judgment and the man will not bow to it, you do not regard him as a christian any longer; the Lord says, "Let him be to thee as one of the nations and a tax-gatherer", Matthew 18:17. It is government, but it is because he has refused to listen to the voice of grace.

The government of God goes on even if things are forgiven. David sinned and the moment he confessed it he is told, "Jehovah has also put away thy sin", 2 Samuel 12:13. But look at the government; the government of God went on to the end of his days. He was forgiven on the spot but that did not restrain the action of

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divine government. But we have to remember that the moment we begin to go right, the government of God begins to act in our favour. So that the government of God which came upon David, and which followed him to his grave, when he really turned to God, began to act favourably toward him to prepare him to lay himself out for the house of God. The very action of the government became a help to him.

Rem. As to the coming in of Solomon.

C.A.C. That is the supremacy of grace! Grace is superior to every possible sin that there can be on the part of mankind. God knows all about the sin; but He has secured His own glory about all the sin that ever was and He has provided a Head for every man in pure grace. Christ is universal Head for man. There is only one Head for the human family -- Christ. And all that men have to do to be blest is to recognise the divinely appointed Head. Righteousness and love are there for every man in the Head. Romans 5 is wider than 1 Corinthians 11, because in Corinthians He is not the Head of every woman but according to Romans He is Head for every man, woman and child in the world.

Ques. Is there a difference between grace and righteousness?

C.A.C. Righteousness has come in on the principle of grace. It is remarkable, as we have all noticed, that in the first chapter of John it says grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ; it is a singular verb, showing that grace and truth are one thing, not two. There is no grace without truth and no truth without grace. It is a subsisting thing now in Christ; and that is why you get so little about grace in the gospels. I used to wonder why grace was not mentioned in the gospels more than it is. It is not mentioned in Matthew and Mark, hardly in Luke, and John only alludes to it at the beginning of his gospel, "The Word

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became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth;" and "grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ". You see, the evangelists did not need to use the word grace; the thing itself was there substantially in the Son of God. If you have the thing you do not want the word, do you?

You remember in Hebrews 9 it says that all these types were only given until the time of setting things right -- that is now. God is setting things right and what God sets right cannot be improved upon. So the great thing for us now is to be skilled in the word of righteousness because God has brought in in Christ everything that is right and it is available on the principle of grace for all men. So that righteousness and grace go together. Indeed, Mr. Raven used to say that in Romans 3 grace and righteousness are interchangeable.

Ques. What would you say as to righteousness reigning in the world to come?

C.A.C. When righteousness reigns in the coming day it will be on the principle of grace. Things are not put right publicly now but they are put right for faith. God has set things right and we come into it by faith; by and by they will come into it publicly on the principle of grace.

1 Kings 8 contemplates a dispensation set up in divine perfection according to chapter 7, but which quickly became marked by failure. So it has in view the christian profession and all the failure that has come into it. Kings particularly applies to the present time, Chronicles more to the world to come.

If a man sins he comes under the government of God and he has to reap the consequences of what he has done wrong, but then exercises begin with him and if he is a child of God he is the subject of the advocacy of Christ, showing that grace is predominant, and the man is brought to repent. The man may have to suffer all his life.

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Some sins are repented of in a few minutes, but the consequences remain through life; but the man who takes up the exercise of it is gaining something spiritually all the time. David is a great example of that. He was perhaps the most tender-hearted man that ever lived; his psalms bring out his great sensitiveness; he felt things and so he was like God. But then that made him feel intensely when he was brought under conviction of sin. He felt it far more deeply than an ordinary person and therefore the work of God developed wonderfully in him so that he speaks of preparing for the house in his affliction. A man afflicted under the government of God becomes wealthy toward the house.

It is very important for us to recognise the assembly in these two aspects. The assembly is the representative of heaven in judging evil; but then it is in the spirit of grace that it judges evil. I have been in a meeting where evil had to be judged and I think every brother wet the floor with his tears. Now that is the grace of heaven.

Rem. As to "when the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain".

C.A.C. There is a reason for the state of things in the christian profession -- all the worldliness and all the bad teaching is like mildew and canker-worm. Why is it? God's people have sinned; that is the reason. We have to get back to God and confess the sin, and count upon His grace. If two walk together in a sense of how the assembly has sinned those two can count upon the grace of heaven and all that corresponds with Solomon's prayer can be there.

Rem. As to Ezra and Nehemiah.

C.A.C. They are eating the sin offering of the people and taking it all on themselves and realising that the death of Christ is needed. Do we feel that when anything wrong happens, 'This needed the death of Christ; Christ had to

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die for that'? There is not a single thing displeasing to God that Christ did not taste death for.

Solomon is a priest upon his throne. The more God dominates us in a kingly way, the more competent we ought to be for what is priestly; the priest ought to have compassion on the ignorant and erring; it belongs to priesthood.

Ques. As to the "stranger".

C.A.C. Yes, it widens out to the gospel, because God is dwelling here. He has a Gentile habitation now -- "in whom ye also" (Gentiles) "are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit", Ephesians 2:22. He dwells there so that His grace can go out from there to all men. So that it is incumbent upon the saints as walking assembly-wise that the gospel should be maintained. The gospel preacher thinks of God.

The testimony in the Old Testament was what God looked for in man, but the testimony today is what man may look for in God. What Man can be for God is seen perfectly in Christ, but the testimony is what God is for man and we tell it out at the door of the house. The house of God is an extension to heaven -- another wing built on!

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 9 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 9:10 - 24

Hiram as a general type represents the Gentile as having a great place in relation to what Christ builds, and being largely contributory to it. But I think we see here a typical foreshadowing of the fact that the Gentile would not, in result, appreciate his assigned portion, or rightly value Solomon or the houses he built. Hiram evidently thought more of what he had done for Solomon than he did of Solomon himself and he despised a portion in the land. He represents the Gentile in a very privileged place, an honoured place, but failing to value what was put within his reach. I think the twenty cities would have given him a place in the heavenly land, typically, and a personal part in the house. He never came to Solomon or saw the house so far as we know, so he missed the best that was available at the time. Many are prepared to contribute: Hiram contributed largely, but he did not come himself to Solomon or to the house. One does not doubt that there is much contribution on the part of some who do not know the glory of the true Solomon. They contribute and serve at a distance, and despise what He most delights to give which is a part and portion with Himself in the heavenly land, for Solomon is typically the heavenly One. Solomon would not have been behind Hiram in giving, but Hiram lacked appreciation of what he had been given because he lacked appreciation of Solomon himself. It is the public result in the Gentile profession and "to this day".

Do the cedar, cypress and gold represent what the Gentiles contribute according to Paul's ministry? Every

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man presented perfect in Christ, the offering up of the nations acceptable, the fulness of the nations, according to ministry in Ephesians. That is what the nations contribute according to God. But then all this involves that they take heavenly ground as appreciating it. But if the nations do not continue in goodness they will miss all that has true value. My impression is that what Hiram brings afterwards is the wealth of the nations coming up to Christ as King in Jerusalem but in despising what Solomon gave, Hiram is pre-figuring the want of appreciation of the heavenly which has marked the Gentile profession. The seven assemblies in Asia represent the Gentile animus.

Five of them had left the divine position as counting it of no value. So if we look at the nations with God we see immense contribution: if we look at them as in their actual state they have thought the heavenly of no value.

Pharaoh's daughter represents what Christ gets for His own heart from the Gentiles. She brings as a dowry with her a Canaanitish city dispossessed and given to her. She does not despise a portion in the land.

Solomon makes the Canaanites subservient. He is able to bring all into service on the principle of a levy, but the children of Israel serve in the positions of trust. Pharaoh's daughter comes up to her own house. Then he builds Millo as the rampart or citadel. She was put in the city of David provisionally, just as we have come to Mount Zion now, though it is not exactly our own place. When Christ's building is finished the assembly will have her own place. I think in Kings she has a greater place than Zion: she comes up. In 2 Chronicles 8 it is rather that she is not to dwell in the house of David King of Israel because the place is holy to which the Ark of Jehovah has come. It has the kingdom in view. She is not to dwell in holy places. I think it thus is meant that the Gentiles take a place in the coming time as secondary to Israel as not having a part in the covenant.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 10 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 10:1 - 10

I believe it is right to say that every type of Christ in Scripture is unique; that is it expresses some feature that no other type sets forth in exactly the same way. There are no duplicates. Having this in mind would lead us to pay particular attention to each type so as to be able to distinguish it from all others and to discern the divine wisdom in so presenting that wondrous Person. Solomon is a very full and glorious type of the beloved Son brought to the highest exaltation in order to build the house and to complete its service. All that Scripture speaks of as to the house and its service connects with Christ as Solomon. But Christ is also the wisdom of God to solve all enigmas and to set up an order of things in which nothing can be improved upon because what is in divine wisdom cannot possibly be improved upon; it excels. It is evident that in contemplating such a Person and such an order of things we pass outside all that belongs to the fallen creature and come to what is wholly of God. It is very difficult for us to leave the area of human imperfection and come to what is purely of God unless we get from divine teaching an impression of Christ as the wisdom of God. Indeed it is impossible to get our enigmas solved in any other way. The enigmas all arise out of the knowledge of good and evil which is in every human heart, but in every subject of the work of God there is some conviction that there is a Man who can solve all enigmas. Everyone is welcome to come and prove Him. Every one who comes contributes to Him; every enigma has some corresponding treasure.

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The Lord has told us that the queen of the south "came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon", Matthew 12:42. Solomon's fame was in connection with the throne of Jehovah. We read that he "sat on the throne of Jehovah", 1 Chronicles 29:23. The queen represents those of the Gentiles who are divinely taught to come to Christ as the glorified One and to find in Him the wisdom of God. She came to prove him with enigmas manifesting her intelligence; how similar to what we have in the gospels and Acts, "Are ye also still without intelligence?" (Matthew 15:16), "Jesus, seeing that he had answered intelligently" (Mark 12:34) and "The proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man", Acts 13:7. Christ is the wisdom of God in application to all the complex difficulties that have arisen through the coming in of sin. If there was not a divine answer in Christ to all that has arisen He would not be the Christ of God. The queen came as ministering to Solomon, bringing her best to him. She also spoke to him of all that was in her heart and he explained all to her. She came as having great wealth, like the magi in Matthew 2, and to be an offerer. None come rightly to Christ save as recognising that He is worthy to receive all honours. "They gave themselves first to the Lord", 2 Corinthians 8:5.

The queen does not represent a sinner coming to Christ as the Saviour but typifies a divinely taught person drawn to Him by the Father as having an impression of how He surpasses all others and how He is the wisdom of God. At Corinth "Paul was pressed in respect of the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ", Acts 18:5. He preached Christ as God's power and God's wisdom. The queen was a prophetic indication that God would secure a Gentile company to appreciate Christ, "whom we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every

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man perfect in Christ", Colossians 1:28. The glad tidings have been proclaimed in the whole creation under heaven (Colossians 1:23).

We see here, in type, what Gentiles come to when they come to Christ glorified: they come to the truth of the assembly. Solomon's wisdom is the wisdom of Christ as Head of the body, the assembly, and as over the house as Son. She is holding fast the Head. The all-various wisdom of God is made known through the assembly (Ephesians 3:10).

It would be interesting to know some of the things that were in the queen's heart of which she spoke to Solomon. I think we may be sure that her questions were in relation to God and His ways with men and with His people. Solomon was, in a typical sense, the climax of these ways, just as Christ glorified is the actual climax of them. It is a wonderful thing to hear of the fame of a glorified Christ and to be assured that He can answer all questions. A true report of His affairs and of His wisdom has reached us. It has given us some sense of His greatness and worthiness to receive all that we can bring. We feel assured that the queen brought according to her estimate of Solomon's greatness. She is not an empty-handed sinner, but one with a wealthy estimate of the person she was coming to. She was thinking of what he was. The gospel is intended to give us a sense of the greatness of Christ (2 Corinthians 4) and that the most distant can come to Him with a deep appreciation of who He is and how God is expressed in Him. The enigmas and questions only serve to bring out the wealth of wisdom in Christ; He will tell us all things. He "told me all things I had ever done", John 4:29. He is the One into whose hand the Father has put everything and yet I find He has leisure to listen to all that I have in my heart. The extent of what I do not know is the God-given occasion for me to learn what is in Him. Enigmas and

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questions bring out His greatness as the Head. It is a matter of interest to Him that I have something in my heart that He alone can explain.

I think the things that the queen saw were connected with the house that he had built. She had such a view of it as we have in the earlier chapters. It depicts the assembly viewed as in relation to Christ glorified. Matthew 16 is not the house of God but Christ's assembly which cannot be prevailed against. The house of God is where He dwells in rest; it is not viewed as in conflict; Christ's assembly is subject to hostile attack but it is invulnerable. We get a view of a structure which is on earth at this moment and which has no human handiwork in it; it is all the work of Christ glorified. If we are in company with the queen of Sheba we shall get a view of that structure and we shall want to walk with our brethren in the truth of it.

She saw the food of his table. The food supply is a very distinguishing mark of a wisely ordered house. The Lord has amply provided for this in the faithful and prudent bondmen to give the measure of corn in season. In what Christ owns as His house there will always be food. His thought is to supply the needed food locally as well as by universal gifts. It would include all the ministry in connection with headship, the house, the assembly, the body, the wife and the bride; all is important as food for His saints whose satisfaction and strength depend on it.

The "deportment of his servants" could be translated 'dwelling' or 'habitation'. It refers to where they serve rather than how. The order of service is the ministry. The cupbearers are those that minister to His joy. Finally, "His ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah" suggests that the assembly may first be known as Solomon's house and then He leads up to the house of Jehovah.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 10 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 10:10 - 29

It strikes me that the sacrificial thought is not brought out in this chapter in what the queen and others brought to Solomon. It seems to typify what can come from Gentile hearts in the way of appreciation of Christ in His personal greatness and exaltation. The gold would represent here, as elsewhere, what is connected with Christ's deity, as in John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. The spices would refer to that which pertains to Him as Man: myrrh, aloes and cassia are His garments in Psalm 45; love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness all brought Him into the exercises of a Man here but all are brought through death to resurrection ground. The Head furnishes every grace to His members here. The precious stones would, perhaps, set forth the distinctive offices which He fills and the character of love which marks Him as Saviour, Shepherd, Friend, Prophet, Priest, Advocate, King and Head.

The queen is perhaps a special type of the assembly in her intelligent appreciation of Christ as in heaven; there were no other spices such as she brought, and no other type gives us this. She is not seen as the bride, the wife, but she has in type what no type of the bride had. What satisfaction Christ has in the assembly in this character! There are more than half-a-million church hymns, most of them addressed to Christ. I think the gold, spices and precious stones are these. We should lose a great deal if we left out the Queen of Sheba from the types. She takes in all that in which her glory appears. She represents the intelligent capacity in the assembly to take in the greatness and

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worth of the Lord Jesus Christ as glorified, and to express it to Him in an appropriate manner.

The sandal-wood comes in at this point, apparently in a parenthetical way, but in line with what the queen typifies. I think, as coming from a far-off clime, it represents saints as having ability to go up into the heavenly. Solomon makes stairs of it, balustrades and harps and lutes. I think the balustrade would be for the ascent, which needs power in a nature which belongs to heavenly ones.

If I am not mistaken the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2) represents the sons in the place of responsible witness in the Gentile world. They are viewed in this type in their public position in that world as set up in divine stability so as to stand against the hostile influences by which they are surrounded. Hence the prominence given to pillars in the description. James and Cephas and John were conspicuous as being pillars. The assembly is the "pillar and base of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15): "establishes us with you in Christ", 2 Corinthians 1:21.

The first thing here presented (1 Kings 10:16) is that targets and shields of beaten gold were there and a large number of them were made, 200 targets and 300 shields. This gives the idea of protection against hostile power. God said to Abraham, "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield", Genesis 15:1. Other references are, "The shield of thy help" (Deuteronomy 33:29) and "My shield, and the horn of my salvation", 2 Samuel 22:3.

Of the gold which came to Solomon he makes 200 targets and 300 shields. That is the king furnished a great deal of protection and these are put in the house of the forest of Lebanon which typifies where the saints are as needing protection and as where the porch of judgment is, and the throne. That is we are now in the kingdom side. It is where we are in contact with what is adverse, so we get

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many pillars in the house of the forest, speaking of stability, and shields for protection.

It was a solemn thing that in Rehoboam's day Shishak came up and even "took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made", 1 Kings 14:26. There is no defence against the enemy when the throne of judgment ceases to be there in a practical sense. 'Shield' is used 17 times (21 in the New Translation) in the Psalms. The shield of faith is quoted in Ephesians 6:16. The fact that Shishak took the shields would show that the house of the forest of Lebanon was in Jerusalem.

The great throne was there as I think may be gathered from 1 Kings 7:7. It is the throne viewed as the present place of Christ's judgment in the assembly as the house of the forest of Lebanon. It was of ivory, intimating that the basis of judgment is the death of Christ. It is overlaid with refined gold, the best kind of refined gold (see 1 Kings 10:18 and note). All must come to the test of that throne where there is the utmost possible degree of refinement in a moral sense. The refining process has not gone very far with us perhaps, but how do we think of Christ glorified judging? He is all-perfect so how could He have a lower standard for us? Our eternal Lover will not, we might say cannot, be satisfied with less than perfection in us.

The sons as within the house of the forest of Lebanon are seen as standing in relation to the porch of judgment, not as a failure but according to God's thoughts. If Christ is ministered to there will be shields for His saints. Philadelphia is an example of this. The enemy gets in through unfaithfulness.

"There are three things which have a stately step ... The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any", Proverbs 30:30. If Christ had not a perfect and divine standard of judgment we should all feel we had

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lost our Saviour.

And the great throne of ivory was there. It is the character of the administration of the Son of the Father's love, but contemplating judgment in the perfect discrimination of good and evil. Ivory being secured through death implies that the throne discriminates according to the standard of the death of Christ. What He died to resolve cannot be tolerated.

The throne had six steps. It is elevated with two lions on each step. Majestic power is there. "We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of the Christ, that each may receive" (2 Corinthians 5:10). But there is nothing but comfort in this if we are doing what is good and what is in accord with Solomon.

Then we are immediately turned to the thought of how He has reached the throne. It had six steps, and they are to be much considered. 'Who shall sing that path of worth, That led up to the throne?' The steps are how He went up.

He went up by way of obedience until He was perfected in resurrection. The way up is seen in Psalm 16. He speaks of being perfected on the third day. Then the twelve lions on the six steps show what victorious power was there against all evil. There was a sign of power on each step. The lions speak of overcoming (Revelation 3:21). The overcomer's path will correspond with His. He is morally entitled to sit on the throne of judgment because He has overcome every form of evil Himself. I think the two lions standing beside the arms of the throne are a witness that the One who sits there has been Himself an overcomer. He is in rest now but it is in virtue of overcoming. The house of the forest of Lebanon represents the saints as in the place where overcoming is needed and where Christ judges everything in the life and responsible services here.

Fourteen lions in all show how perfectly the power of overcoming has been worked out in Him, and He judges

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according to that.

Then all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold. Would not each of us like to be one of the drinking vessels ministering personal pleasure to Him? All the vessels here are vessels unto honour. That is not what we are as accepted in the Beloved but what we are as overcoming here in a scene of testing and difficulty. The thought conveyed in this type is of the highest possible value. Silver here is not a type of redemption but of something which is, we might say, of second quality. Are any of us content to be second quality saints? We see here that what is not the best is of small account in the days of Solomon. That is, it is a time of superlative excellence, not of things of not much account. It is like the contrast between Philadelphia and Laodicea. He wants Laodicea to have the best. Why should we not have the best?

Does the top of the throne being rounded behind convey that everything in connection with Christ is finished off without any rough corners? There is no thought of any addition being needed to complete what is there.

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1 KINGS CHAPTERS 10 AND 11

THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Kings 10:23 - 29; 1 Kings 11:1 - 8

C.A.C. Solomon is regarded as a type of Christ up to the end of chapter 10. After that he becomes an exemplification of sorrowful departure. As having wisdom put in his heart by God he is a type of Christ as Head: we see him here as pre-eminent, "greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom".

Ques. Have you any thought why riches are put first -- "riches and in wisdom"?

C.A.C. I suppose the thought of riches is specially connected with the Head. We read of "the unsearchable riches of the Christ", Ephesians 3:8. All the wealth of the Head is available. To the Corinthians Paul could say, "In everything ye have been enriched in him, in all word of doctrine, and all knowledge", 1 Corinthians 1:5. They had not known how to utilise it but it was there for them -- the infinite riches of the Head. And this is true for us all: the riches of the Head are for us, and in a sense for all men.

Ques. Is wisdom connected with the use of the riches? This scripture has, of course, application to Christ personally, but wisdom is necessary for us if we are to make a wise and just use of what riches we have.

C.A.C. And do you suggest that we need to hold the Head in order to have wisdom in the handling of all spiritual wealth? Of some we read that they had departed altogether from the truth and one is warned not to be

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"vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast the head" (Colossians 2:18, 19) as though to suggest that departure from the truth is the result of not holding the Head. If such were holding the Head they would be characterised by the wisdom of the Head and would not fall a prey to the puffing up which is so natural to the fleshly mind. I think we see here that as Christ is known as Head every one who comes under His influence becomes a contributor. It says, "All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his present". Is there a practical suggestion here which would help us in the service of the assembly? That is, as coming into subjection to and with reverent affection for Christ as Head we should become inevitably contributors: "they brought every man his present".

Ques. It is interesting to see that the things enumerated as brought were completed things -- many of them things which had been made -- necessitating work.

C.A.C. Things serviceable to Solomon; that is very interesting.

Ques. We read that Christ Jesus "has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption", 1 Corinthians 1:30. How can we acquire this wisdom practically?

C.A.C. The epistle to the Corinthians would help us greatly in this, the cross shutting out the wisdom of the natural man which is all brought to the place of the skull, that is, the cross. There is the end of all the plannings and thinkings and devisings of the natural man. Then there is the bringing in of what is of the Spirit of God. Would not that make room practically for holding the Head? The positive side came in with the Spirit. If I am self-judged in the light of the cross and giving place to the Spirit there is nothing to hinder development. Holding the Head needs

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development but these are the conditions for it: that is, the cross shutting out man after the flesh and the Spirit bringing in what is of God.

In Corinthians the apostle is really presenting to them the Head: He is for all men: "All the earth sought", it says here, and in the great epistle of headship Paul speaks of the glad tidings having "been proclaimed in the whole creation which is under heaven" (Colossians 1:23) and he speaks of "admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ" (Colossians 1:28), but the assembly alone comes into the good of Headship.

Ques. 1 Corinthians 11 speaks of His headship, does it not?

C.A.C. But there is a further thought there. He is Head to every man, not to every woman: man is woman's head. But He is Head of every man. J.N.D. said you could go to any man in the street and tell him that Christ was his Head.

Rem. The type suggests that the wisdom was resident in Solomon and that the benefit was only obtainable by coming to Solomon. Wisdom is never said to be resident in us: it is a question of being in His presence to obtain this wisdom.

C.A.C. With us it is a matter of holding the Head. This is a most important exercise for us in relation to qualification for assembly service. Our poverty and lack of intelligence and competency for spiritual service would all be met if we held fast the Head.

Ques. I am not sure what the term "holding" means. Will you tell us what is the idea of holding fast?

C.A.C. It seems to suggest an energy of soul. Holding fast the Head lies at the root of a great deal. We were speaking last week of Solomon in connection with the great throne of ivory, a type of Christ as Lord, sitting on

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the throne of judgment in the porch of judgment, passing scrutiny on everything and giving judgment upon it. That is one side of the truth, which would correct lawlessness, but headship brings in the more positive side of things from God. Think of Christ as being the wisdom of God! What an immensity is in that! Nothing is going to be able to baffle that! Each one who came to Solomon to hear his wisdom derived from his greatness but each became a contributor of something serviceable to Solomon. We are all, I trust, desirous of being qualified to become contributors of something serviceable to Christ. We can scarcely imagine the spiritual quality and moral beauty which would result from holding the Head. There would be increase with the increase of God. That is not a matter of right doctrine and correct procedure but something vital -- of God. The increase of God is a marvellous conception.

Rem. The universe will be subjugated by the influence of the Head more than by a display of power as we think of it.

C.A.C. Hymn 199 is one of the best hymns we have on headship:

'Great source of wisdom, power and food,
All riches from Thee flow'.

Holding fast the Head is a beautiful thought. You hold a Person, a Person who is divine but in manhood, One in whom everything is substantiated for the pleasure of God. There is infinite wealth there.

Ques. Is it an attitude of soul?

C.A.C. It is a spiritual condition at which we have to arrive. Many christians have had very little exercise about it. Many have never heard in any practical sense of the headship of Christ. It is said of some "not holding fast the head", as if that accounted for all the defects and erroneous views, their superstitions and their professing great knowledge of unseen things.

Ques. Does it not involve affection for Christ?

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C.A.C. It must be so. One gets some idea of it in thinking of Christ looking up to His Head, "holding" His Head, God. See how every moment of His life on earth He was looking up with reverent affection to God! Not merely did He do the will of God, but He received every impulse from God. Now in the assembly every impulse should come from the Head. After the breaking of the bread, for instance, there should be the holding fast the Head in a particular way, so that an influence would come from Him on each one, to make each a contributor.

Ques. Is Psalm 16 the perfect Man looking up to His Head? "I have set Jehovah continually before me" (verse 8).

C.A.C. Yes. That is much more than obedience. Each would become a contributor; so that in the teaching of Colossians, "From whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God", Colossians 2:19. All the body becomes serviceable. We should have before us that the body does not remain dormant at any point in its history, so that in result we would get "teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God", Colossians 3:16. There is a result for God.

Rem. This increase affects every saint, all the members, not merely gifts.

C.A.C. The same thought is in Ephesians, "we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ", Ephesians 4:15. As we move on lines of self-judgment and giving place to the Spirit, "the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love", Ephesians 4:16. Each one part becomes a contributor.

Rem. These contributions are not to be spasmodic in character. Verse 25 says, "a rate year by year".

C.A.C. We can see what freshness then would be maintained

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in the service of the assembly. These verses are like a further development of the beginning of the chapter where the queen of Sheba is said to bring precious things to Solomon.

Ques. Does verse 24 imply that we are to seek, that is, I take it, to go after Christ in glory?

C.A.C. Yes, it is a matter we should all be concerned about -- to know Christ as Head, not only as Saviour or as Lord. And this holding Him as Head is to be a daily experience with us, getting fresh new impressions from Him continually. We all have the light of it, but Paul could refer to Timothy as having "fully followed up", 1 Timothy 4:6. If we do not do this we shall not know what it is to take firm hold of Christ as Head.

Ques. Is not headship properly a collective thought rather than individual?

C.A.C. Yes, it is to work out in the assembly. This would bring continual freshness into all assembly service. There is to be no mere repetition about it.

Rem. Intelligence is required.

C.A.C. It is there for us, but we need much exercise. We have not got the full gain of it yet.

Rem. I am glad you say 'no mere repetition', for repetition is sometimes right. You get it in Scripture.

C.A.C. Quite so. I am glad you call attention to that. We may use the same word, perhaps, but if there is impulse from the Head there will be an expansion every time. The question is, What do the words we use mean to us? If we are going on with God, the same words will mean more to us each time we use them. What a breath of life that brings into the assembly!

Ques. Is there an element of originality suggested here in the variety of presents brought? There is different handiwork in each, even the animals being the product of training and care? The spices, too, a certain amount of

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work was represented in them.

Ques. All the result of exercise?

Rem. A measure of completeness, too, was arrived at before anything was presented. Many of our contributions are immature or incomplete, but there is a certain finish about the things mentioned here.

C.A.C. Is not that the practical result of impressions from the Head? There is nothing immature about those!

Rem. As the reality of things and the majesty of Christ come home to us our present would take on the greater finish.

Rem. It is of note that the word is "his present", not 'a present'; it is what the contributor had made his own.

Rem. There is the idea of a minimum, too -- "a rate year by year".

Rem. Under Lordship contributions are prescribed, but great results flow from impressions from the Head.

C.A.C. The Lord's supper belongs to the sphere of commandment. Another sphere, connected with headship, requires nearness. "Holding fast" supposes the Person near and as the assembly is characterised by that we can move in a spiritual order not under commandment.

Rem. The result of hearing wisdom from the Head must be that some divine impression is made.

C.A.C. A military thought comes in, in verse 26. Solomon had military resources.

Ques. For what, when there was no enemy or evil occurrent?

C.A.C. They are there in case of need. It is peculiar that a man of peace should have such a display of military strength.

Ques. Does it not remind one of the Lord's words, "Hades' gates shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18)?

C.A.C. Yes. In the spiritual sphere connected with the headship of Christ we are not immune from attacks of the

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enemy. Even in such an epistle as that to the Ephesians there is the armour mentioned. This is one of those hints which show that the type does not apply to millennial conditions but to a time when what is adverse has to be considered.

Rem. The Lord would cherish movement towards Himself on these lines. He would take care of it.

C.A.C. That goes along with the shields and targets. They suggest protection. Chariots and horsemen are more aggressive.

Ques. "He placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem". Are the chariot-cities for aggression, on the outskirts, so to speak, to enlarge the kingdom? Do they refer to gospel activities?

C.A.C. Perhaps gospel activities are rather suggested in the king's merchants. They carry on commerce with the world for the king's advantage.

Ques. What do you say about the injunction in Deuteronomy that the people were not to multiply horses?

C.A.C. I think that would work out if we were considering Solomon only as king of Israel. If we look at him as a type of Christ we must seek to find the spiritual import of this as connected with Christ. They are part of the commerce carried on by the merchants for the king's advantage. My impression is that these things are not presented as future but in relation to Christ as Head. There is a certain commerce going on with the world by the assembly through the evangelists who are the King's merchants.

Rem. And we have all been drawn from the world.

C.A.C. This is a kind of intercourse with the world which is legitimate. If we are only seeking to bring out from the world what will be advantageous to our Solomon, that is right.

Rem. That is not going into the world to help them.

C.A.C. The merchants have no business in Egypt,

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except to do the Kings business.

Rem. For the greatness of Solomon.

C.A.C. If every preacher of the gospel realised, 'I am one of the King's merchants doing business for the King', how good that would be!

The horse is generally a figure of natural strength; "He delighteth not in the strength of the horse", Psalm 147:10. Chariots, I believe, are generally figurative of human contrivances. "Some make mention of chariots, and some of horses, but we of the name of Jehovah our God", Psalm 20:7. Generally they have that aspect, but the types have to be understood according to their setting.

Rem. Chariots are associated with the saints in the Song of Solomon.

C.A.C. And, of course, horses are not always figurative of natural strength. The Lord comes out of heaven sitting on a white horse. If we do not distinguish between the settings of the types we shall get into strange confusion. For instance, a lion is sometimes the devil, but a lion in some scriptures is representative of the Lord. Solomon as typical of Christ finishes up with this commerce.

Rem. The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 carries on commerce.

C.A.C. Yes, for her husband. This is a great presentation of the Headship of Christ and the different ways in which it works out, first in the assembly, then in this commerce with Egypt.

Ques. Is holding fast the Head the result of the Supper, or prior to that?

C.A.C. Actually it is the privilege of each, but it works out in a collective way in the assembly. What will go on after the breaking of bread? Are we going to allow Christ to suggest and indicate what is to go on? If we do, we shall not be so casual and haphazard and so up and down!

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1 KINGS CHAPTERS 11 TO 13 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 11:1 to 13: 32

God will not maintain public conditions if the moral state is wrong, so He gives ten tribes to Jeroboam (chapter 11: 31). Outward unity ceases to be of value to God when idolatry comes in. True unity was broken by the idolatry and departure from Jehovah's ways. So that God broke up the unity by giving ten tribes to Jeroboam. Then we find that this was brought about by the discontent of the people with the grievous yoke, "grievous servitude" and "heavy yoke" of Solomon (chapter 12: 4). What a change from chapter 4 verse 20! Departure from God always results in what is burdensome to men. As soon as the church became great in the world it imitated the world and became idolatrous. But this led to exactions and burdensome impositions upon men, penances and payments of sundry kinds and work insisted on to gain heaven.

The people seek some lightening of these burdens and Rehoboam refuses. Men act foolishly and breaches occur, but God is behind this.

We see the prophetic word through seven prophets, Ahijah (chapter 11: 29), Shemaiah (chapter 12: 24), the man of God (chapter 13: 2), the old prophet (chapter 13: 32), Jehu, the son of Hanani (chapter 16: 1 - 4), Elijah and Elisha.

The people in following Jeroboam were departing from the house of David and from the temple and from the true service of God. But their departure was a clear call to self-judgment all round. It was from Jehovah. What an exercise it was when all sought their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ, when all in Asia turned away

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from Paul. No man stood with him. That was thus a leaving of first love: the name of the Lord was no longer truly called upon. The true function of the candlestick existed no longer. But it could not be put back to what it was before.

But Jeroboam was not concerned about all this. The prophetic word was disregarded by him. So now he deliberately plans to divert the people from the service in the house of Jehovah. So he makes two calves of gold and it became a sin (chapter 12: 28 - 30). He is continually referred to as the one who made Israel to sin. (I think this answers to the way the sacraments became regarded as means of salvation. The whole fabric of the church as departed from God is built up on an idolatrous perversion of the sacraments.) The priests were not of the sons of Levi (chapter 12: 31) and a feast was held in the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, that of the tabernacles. Like Christmas.

All this becomes the occasion of prophetic testimony. In chapter 13 "the man of God" is referred to fifteen times.

Nothing else would do in a day of departure but the man of God. The altar was not judged finally for a long time -- 300 to 400 years. God would not allow Jeroboam to touch the faithful prophet and there was a solemn sign given. The altar rent and the ashes poured out indicate that the power of what is idolatrous is broken by prophetic testimony.

But a certain old prophet was there who, unfaithful himself in being there, was used to ensnare the man of God. The prophetic word required that he should eat no bread nor drink water in Bethel. But the old prophet had a bad conscience in being there and he wanted to get some justification of his own position by getting the man of God to eat bread with him. He lied. How many will tell us that they have the Lord with them, although they are not in separation from iniquity. "I am a prophet also as thou

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art". Old prophets are more dangerous than positive idolaters. True christians do more to draw men of God away from the path of separation than empty professors. Persons who have light from God must be careful to walk in it. There is always an inward tendency with us to give up separation, not to be true to the principles which are of God. So when some outside influence, and especially what seems a pious influence, lends its weight to help that tendency we are apt to fall a prey to what is really Satan. "A lion met him". Our adversary the devil is always ready to take advantage of our unfaithfulness. It is a solemn thing to have light from God and not act upon it. The lion slaying one would today be that one loses one's place in the testimony of God.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 14 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 14:1 - 31

God secured something for Himself even in the house of Jeroboam. There was a testimony there in a young life in which was found something good toward Jehovah the God of Israel. This was another way by which God spoke to Jeroboam. First by the prophetic testimony of the man of God (Ahaziah the son of Ahab sent to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron: 2 Kings 1:2) from Judah, and now through the moral exercises of his own son. But this one who is the only living link with Jehovah in Jeroboam's house falls sick and it proves to be unto death. There was nothing in Jeroboam's house or ways to keep him alive, and God takes him away, it would appear, in mercy. Jeroboam has evidently a feeling that God has something to say in the matter, but his conscience tells him that he has departed from God and that he has no right to apply to the prophet. His wife must not be known as such. How often the conscience is speaking when the will is unsubdued! Jeroboam no doubt knew that Abijah was the only one in his house who feared Jehovah. In Abijah's sickness God was speaking to a heart and he felt it, and was assured that Jehovah was interested in the lad and that His prophet would tell what should become of him. But the message sent to Jeroboam by the prophet was hard. It was a message of judgment upon his house, and indeed upon all Israel for their idolatry. The only point of good was Abijah. It is the good that was taken away so that unsparing judgment may come on all the rest. It was definitely made known that all Israel would be given up on account of

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Jeroboam's sins. Those who have been a testimony perhaps in weakness, taken away. There could not morally be a good king in Tirzah; we never read of one. They waxed worse and worse until carried away "beyond the river".

God had given Jeroboam great opportunities, but he made very bad use of them. God had also testified by the man of God against his idolatry and had shown at the same time by healing his hand (1 Kings 13:6) that He would act in grace to him if he took the place of dependence and need. But all was of no avail: he persisted in his evil course. In conditions of departure God is pleased to put men in places of responsibility and give them opportunity, which, if wrongly used, become an occasion of judgment: God speaks to popes and bishops and kings and in principle to us all. We are all tested by the position God puts us in in His government or providence. But if nothing results for God in it judgment is inevitable.

But people with whom God has had dealings cannot forget it, and the conscience and the heart act even when there is no change in the will. This accounts for inconsistence in the conduct of people who seem sometimes as if they feared God and yet their general course is such as to greatly displease Him. To have a responsibility in relation to God is one thing, and it may be to feel it at times, but to be subject to God so that one is practically controlled by His will is quite another.

So Jeroboam, when concerned about his son, thinks of the prophet. He has no personal access to God, and he would not have it known that he was owning the God of Israel. There is no straightforwardness or transparency about him. And his sending to the prophet only brought condemnation on himself and his house and ultimately on all Israel.

The general state of the people was represented in

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Jeroboam, but in his son Abijah -'My Father is Jah' -- we see that God had one even in Jeroboam's house in whom good was found towards Jehovah the God of Israel. There was a remnant there who were not subject to the judgment pronounced. Indeed Abijah had to be taken away before the house of Jeroboam was cut off. So that Abijah represents a faithful remnant when hearts think of God and of Christ in a day of prevalent evil. Abijah is a great encouragement to those who are the only ones in their family who think of what is due to God. In his coming to the grave there is the thought that He would have no place in the idolatrous system, but he would have a place in God's world of resurrection. In the darkest time of departure God has reserved for Himself and for His world a remnant who are removed from the scene of judgment before the judgment comes.

Then we find that idolatry was rampant in Judah also, so that the world comes up and takes away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and of the king's house; "he even took away all", even all the shields of gold. Twice it is said that Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonitess. Solomon's unholy links with the strange women bore its fruit in their offspring: they were not "wholly a right seed", Jeremiah 2:21.

God definitely pronounced judgment upon Jeroboam, Baasha and Ahab. Each represented the state of the last days, which skew evil come to a head. This shews that the moral character of the last few days may re-appear in successive periods of church history as in Israel's. John speaks of the last hour (1 John 2:18). It was so morally though a prolonged period had still to run its course. I think when the apostles' teaching was departed from, the whole character of the last few days was present, the mystery of lawlessness working all the time but God holding things in check in view o£ His own purposes and testimony. So we can understand the long history of

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things, bringing out the patience and faithfulness of God at the same time as it brought out the evil in God's people and the certainty of His judgment upon it.

I believe the features of the last days have always been present since idolatry was set up, and all the principles of the place where God sets His name departed from, that is the principles of the assembly.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 15 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 15:1 - 24

Abijam follows his father's evil course and "his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God". But he obtains favour on account of what David had been (verse 4). Jehovah had spoken to Jeroboam of David having a lamp always before Him in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 11:36 and 2 Kings 8:19). God remembers past faithfulness and His ways have regard to it for a long time, down to Jehoram's time, the son of Jehoshaphat: I do not doubt that we have benefited in the ways of God by the faithfulness of devoted men who have preceded us. What we have in the way of divine favour is not the fruit of our own faithfulness but of that of others who have gone before.

Asa's reign is of much interest because in it we see the first movements of recovery. There was the unsparing judgment of evil and what was idolatrous. He did not follow his father or his grandmother but goes back in principle to David, so that we get dedicated things brought into the house of Jehovah, silver, gold and vessels. The silver speaks of redemption as that which is brought back to God in the value of the death of Christ.

Gold, being a new-creation thought, speaks of all things of God. Vessels suggest persons dedicated so that God has His portion in them.

Baasha comes up to restrict Asa's liberty, showing a movement against what was going on for God. Lamentably Asa does not count on God to preserve his liberty but looks to the king of Syria. He expends the silver and gold in the treasures to secure the help of the world. He becomes a contributor to the world out of what should

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have been kept as divine wealth. It is like christians taking part in politics to secure liberty for themselves.

They got what they wanted. The device seemed to succeed. All Judah was summoned to carry off the spoil. Certainly advantages can be secured by buying the help of the world, but they come back on the people of God. We are not told here how Jehovah regarded it but we are in 2 Chronicles 16. We get the public history more in Kings, but the moral conditions in Chronicles.

The reformers fell into this snare. They dealt with much that was idolatrous and secured something that should have had a result in dedication to God. But they thought they must have the help of the world to secure their liberty. So they gave the treasures to the world: they made the church contributory to the world powers to secure their protection from Rome. All the reformed churches have done so. They have entered into political association for their protection so that the precious things are alienated from their true place in the house of God and are made part of the wealth of the world. The church has lost much more than it gained. What is gained in the way of public plenty involves a far greater loss spiritually. Syria was a power that God would have given to the house of Asa but by making a league with Ben-Hadad he lost the chance of overcoming him. It was in the 36th year of his reign that this happened; it was getting on to the end of the reign. It is very exercising to see so many break down at the end. In his old age he was diseased in his feet (verse 23).

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1 KINGS CHAPTERS 16 AND 17 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 16:34 to 17: 7

It would seem that Ephesus (Revelation 2) answers to the latter part of Solomon's reign, Jeroboam and his successors to Pergamos dwelling where Satan's throne was, and Ahab to Thyatira.

"He that has the sharp two-edged sword" (Revelation 2:12) is like the prophets that came to Israel all through this time.

Just then Jericho was rebuilt. All that had been overthrown by the ministry of the apostles is set up again in bold defiance of God's curse. The world is looked at as the seat of spiritual powers that are opposed to God. They would be idolatry, philosophy, judaism, strongholds, reasonings, high things that lift themselves up against the knowledge of God. All these powers stood in the way of the gospel when it came into the world. Paul anticipates that the gospel would be met by what pretended to be a gospel, and he pronounces a curse on those who announced it (Galatians 1:8). The Virgin, the merits of the saints, and all that is opposed to God has taken a christian form. But it is all really self-destructive: "and her children will I kill with death" (Revelation 2:23).

It is just in that state of things that Elijah appears, "a man of like passions to us", James 5:17. That is a man who felt things intensely. God loves a man with deep feeling.

We ought to feel all that is opposed to the knowledge of God. Something terrible is the only thing that will do. The time had not come for God to give up Israel. Elijah knew Him as the God of Israel, and he was thoroughly identified

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with Jehovah and standing before Him.

But the servant who has the mind of God has to go through testing experiences; he has to prove God for himself. God has His own secret resources, the torrent Cherith and the ravens, "before the Jordan". He has to prove that death is on the resources of nature. This is a new experience in Israel which could never have been known in normal conditions. We may prove God today in special ways. There are resources reserved for Ahab's day which were not known in David's or Solomon's reigns. Elijah got bread and flesh. For us this would be spiritual food, Christ as come down from heaven and as having come into death. A new kind of humanity must be the food of our hearts. We are to retire -- "hide thyself". I think the torrent represents what is providential in relation to spiritual refreshment. It is providentially ordered that we can come together and that we have ministry -- spoken and printed -- which is refreshing. But the torrent was not permanent; I suppose all that is outward is only provisional. The thing is to make the best of it while we can. I think the ravens would show that God will use what we do not expect: we must not limit God. He may use a brother you think little of to bring you bread and flesh. What an entire severance from the life of the world it is to feed on Christ! The bread of God is One who is not of the world. Nothing is more blessed than to feel that you can feed on Christ, that He is satisfying. But the flesh is needed also. I understand that to be an intimation that He must come into death that we may pass out from all that we are by the appropriation of His death, to feel that I ought to die; but I can die affectionately in the One who has given His flesh for men. His flesh in John 6 is not that His death meets my conscience and relieves me of sin; it is a way out of all that is spiritually death. I think this is a deep exercise. I find things in me, and things come out of me that are mixed. A great deal

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may not exactly be flesh in the Roman sense, but is not the life of the heavenly Man. One longs to know experimentally more of that beautiful life which is hidden by the torrent before Jordan.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 17 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 17:1 - 24

In the closing chapters of 1 Kings and the early part of 2 Kings we see how God maintains a witness to Himself at a time of great departure, answering to Thyatira in church history. It is not in Judah but amongst the ten tribes, so that it is the testimony as having in view the worst form of evil that has place amongst His people. It is from that aspect that things are considered here.

Chapter 17 is a private experience which goes on, known only to faith, but which stands in relation to the general and public corruption; that is, Elijah and the widow are instructed in divine resources at a time when famine conditions prevail generally. First, Elijah has to learn what it is to be personally sustained at the torrent Cherith, which seems to speak of divine resources as they may be known by the individual. But then, that is not intended to be all; it is followed by what is collective set forth in the widow who has a house. God commands certain spiritual resources for us individually, but He purposely orders that such resources do not suffice for us permanently. They have to give place to another order of things. We have to learn what God has commanded for us in house conditions.

But in such times as those of Ahab and Jezebel we must not expect to have experience of what is collective in a very great way outwardly. It would not suit the time that it should be so. It is a time when sovereignty will select its own means of working. A widow, who did not even live in Israel, one who would have been regarded as having no

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place or rights at all in Israel, is the one selected to be the representative of the household of faith. Things are small with her but they are in order. There is no carelessness, the meal is in a barrel, the oil in a cruse, and she has a vessel for the water. The Lord has great regard for order. 1 Corinthians is largely setting in order and Paul intimates that the whole order was not there: "But the other things, whenever I come, I will set in order", 1 Corinthians 11:34. To the Colossians he says, "Rejoicing and seeing your order", Colossians 2:5. Faith will be marked by a return to divine order. It is not only that Christ and the Spirit are available but They are available in the way of divine order. There is often piety and zeal without regard for divine order and things waste and fail. It is when the meal is in the barrel and the oil is in the cruse that they do not fail. Comparatively few today think that divine order is of importance, but those who are negligent as to order lose what is spiritual.

But "after these things" there is a further exercise because, having things in order and a permanent food supply that would reach to the end of the time of drought was not all that was in the mind of God. So death came in on the widow's son; her one hope was cut off. It is remarkable that it is said, "There was no breath left in him". I do not know that this is said of any other. It is an exercise which brings home to us the need of breath. It is not now a question of things being maintained unfailingly but of life being brought in where death was. I do not think the life question is touched upon in 1 Corinthians until chapter 15: 22, "Thus also in the Christ all shall be made alive". This is followed by "The Spirit quickens" (2 Corinthians 3:6), "The Lord is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17), "So that death works in us, but life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:12), "He who has raised the Lord Jesus shall raise us also with Jesus" (verse 14), "That what is mortal may be swallowed up by

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life" (2 Corinthians 5:4) and "That they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised" (verse 15). This is outside flesh condition; even Christ after the flesh is known no more. This leads on to Colossians.

Death in the widow's house must have been more exercising than anywhere else, most surprising, even to Elijah but he took up the exercise. He carried him up to the upper chamber where he abode. The upper room suggests what is above the level of things here. The Lord had this in mind in the large upper room. Dorcas is put in the upper chamber (Acts 9:37). Elijah was before God; he lived at a higher level than the widow and her son. But they were to know the power of where he lived. He took the son up and laid him on his own bed. He is, I think, in this a representative of Christ as we all ought to be. He stretched himself upon the child three times. God has the resurrection platform in His mind and that we should know it in a living way. It is something now brought about by the power of God that is unmistakably of God. The widow had faith before but now she knows that Elijah is a man of God. One may go on with things without the power of God and then sickness comes in and there is no breath left. Life is brought in through the exercises of the minister in 2 Corinthians. It is the power of God in vital expression.

Three successive experiences of Elijah in 1 Kings 17 were hidden from Israel but he was learning divine resources in secret before coming out in public witness. Is the education of the servant in private like this now in view of all the conditions which have to be met publicly today? The first is purely personal, the second brings in house conditions but in great weakness, the third the question of life out of death.

The conditions in christian profession react with us and we have to learn first to count upon God for personal

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sustenance so that we find a sufficiency as hidden from what is of man. God says, as it were, I only mean that to carry you a certain time. Elijah was to be maintained by a widow woman who had been learning to trust in God; she had resources in suitable vessels. It was a question of the extension of what she had.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 18 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 18:1 - 46

The private exercises of the faithful remnant in a time of great departure are recorded in 1 Kings 17; in this chapter we see God's movements in public, having in view the recovery of His people to Himself and the judgment of what has ensnared them, so that rain may come upon the earth. Elijah is to show himself to Ahab so that the testimony is no longer hidden in obscurity but is made public.

Even in Ahab's house there was one who greatly feared Jehovah and who was to some extent in line with the hidden character of the testimony. He had been favourable to Jehovah's prophets during the time of Jezebel's enmity against them. That was another means which Jehovah used to maintain His prophets, as He did with the ravens and the widow. It shows how diversified are the means God uses. He has His eye on all that is of Himself wherever it is.

Ahab has some concern for the preservation of life; he thinks of the horses and mules; that was so far good, and if there is any movement for good, God takes advantage of it in whomsoever it may be. The fact that Ahab had such a man as Obadiah near him was a means of God approaching him. There was a sympathetic element in Obadiah and God could approach Ahab better through him than without him. God values persons who are sympathetic even if they are in associations which are very unsuitable. The remnant in Thyatira illustrates this. It is good to remember that God has more prophets than we know of

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and He has His own way of maintaining them. Though they suffer from being where they are they are God's prophets even if not bold in the testimony or quite clear of idolatrous associations.

Obadiah was afraid to announce that Elijah was there. He was not in the secret of Jehovah, showing that a faithful man in wrong associations does not discern divine movements. Jehovah was just about to turn the hearts of His people back again to Himself in a remarkable way and to send rain upon the earth; but Obadiah did not discern it. He was all wrong in his thoughts. Very often people think that divine movements of blessing are likely to harm them in some way. Those who walk in the truth may often be suspected of wishing to do harm.

God would use Ahab as the responsible head in such a movement as this. God has used emperors and church councils to bring about a public witness to the truth. This was so in the fourth century and at other times. I think we should see that in this chapter it is a question of public witness. Elijah knew exactly what had to be met; he seemed to know, therefore, how many prophets Baal and the Asherah had, and how many Jehovah had.

It seems to be Baal who is mainly in view. There may be different forms of evil around but there is generally some outstanding one. The outstanding matter now is a false church, the Babylon of the Revelation, having every feature that is contrary to that of the bride, the Lamb's wife.

It is remarkable that the test is sacrifice. Elijah goes back to the beginning to Leviticus 9, the tabernacle, to David, 1 Chronicles 21, and to Solomon, 2 Chronicles 7. Things will be all brought to the test of what they are from the beginning. How did the service of God go on at the beginning? Did they all know the power of the Spirit of God? Now this is a public test (1 Corinthians 14).

It was a question here of an answer by fire: that is, it was

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an evidence that could not be imitated. The question is as at all times, Have we a real God or an imitation one? The simple truth is that God is with His faithful servants and knows how to give witness to Himself. The powerlessness of the servants of Baal is pitiable; it provoked the scorn of Elijah. God has borne witness to His own prophetic testimony; it has had credentials from heaven. Whatever has turned back the hearts of His people to Himself has been of this character.

The order of events is to be noted. The altar of Jehovah which had been broken down is now rebuilt with twelve stones. It is to show how things stand in relation to the worship of God. This is a burnt-offering for all Israel; and he does it according to the original order, the wood, the bullock cut in pieces and laid on the wood, and then something special, the four pitchers three times filled with water. That is something which indicates that what is of flesh and nature shall all be brought under death. When this order is observed I think we may count on God giving evidence that He is with us -- Emmanuel -- God with us; Spirit-wise now, as seen in 1 Corinthians 14. But, alas, we are more in 1 Kings 19 now!

Here, the prophets of Baal are taken. Then rain comes, but it comes through prayer.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 19 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 19:1 - 21

The famine in Ahab's time would correspond with the idolatrous period in church history when the Scriptures and the gospel were withheld from the people. No doubt there was man's wickedness, but it was also God's judgment on a state of things allowed which was extremely offensive to Him. The dealings of God with Israel no doubt prepared the people for what Elijah proposed at Carmel (chapter 18); so God has prepared the way in His governmental dealings for movements of the Spirit. There have been movements of God which all have had to take account of. There were movements before the Reformation and at the Reformation and since, and what people call revivals which have for a time affected many in a public way, and have caused certain glaring evils to be judged. This would answer to the killing of Baal's prophets.

Then when evils are judged God gives rain; but this requires prayer. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and bowed down and put his face between his knees. This is his praying again according to James. Seven times expresses a perfect period of exercises. Then a cloud small as a man's hand, indicating that attention is called to a Man and his hand. "The Lord's hand was with them", Acts 11:21. "The Lord's hand is upon thee", Acts 13:11. "Abundance of rain". It is a time like that now.

In chapter 19 Elijah is tested as to his personal faith. A servant who is largely used has to find his own measure. It is a solemn thing to get away from the sense of God's

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power and think of himself. If Elijah could so fail, what about ourselves? But he came to Beer-sheba -- the well of the oath. He sits under a broom-bush and requests that he might die. James might truly say he was a man of like passions. But we see the faithfulness of God! An angel touched him. How often we find God moving at times we should least expect! "Arise, eat". That is what we need when we get under the broom-bush. "Feed on faithfulness", Psalm 37:3. There was at his head a cake and a cruse of water. God has His people as one whole before Him, and is thinking of them in relation to Christ. We need that side of things very much as food. It is a cruse of water; not now oil but water because it is the Spirit as personal reviving and refreshing. It is the Spirit introduced, as it seems to me, in a limited way, but as available. What would the Spirit do for me? The cake had been subject to the action of fire mediately, not directly. It would seem to suggest that we shall only reach God's thoughts as judgment is applied to ourselves. Not exactly as at the cross where it was the direct action of fire but as having had the heat of that applied to ourselves. The stones have been in the fire. Elijah was going through experience of his own nothingness, that he belonged to a hopeless race.

Then we see that it is the divine intent that he should take a journey which was only possible as divinely strengthened. These 40 days to Horeb are sent of God as a spiritual journey to bring him back to the presence of God, as He was made known to Moses. He pleads with God against Israel, Romans 11:2. God answers him by a great and strong wind, then an earthquake, then a fire -- all speaking of judgment; but God is not in any of them. God is in the soft, gentle voice. In God's electing love He had reserved seven thousand. God had reserved seven thousand on the principle of the soft, gentle voice.

The distinctive commission is to anoint Elisha. Elijah

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thinks first of the prophetic word being continued. Elisha was ploughing with the twelve yokes before him and he with the twelfth. Here was a man who was taking full advantage of the rain. James says the earth caused its fruit to spring forth, but it would not have done so without ploughing. So that Elisha was in full accord with the present actings of God.

Elijah is not presented in this chapter as being there; he is a warning rather than an example. The twelve yokes would be a full answer in administrative activity to the pour of rain. He is the man for the crisis. Elijah cast his mantle on him. Elijah's mantle is an important subject in itself. It seems to speak of that in a servant which can be passed on -- a testimony which has marked one but which can be passed on to another. It supposes a spirituality in the other so it is very exercising. "The things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses", 2 Timothy 2:2. Timotheus is left to carry Paul's cloak. How could Timothy or anyone else do that save as in the spirit of sacrifice? It is here sacrifice to benefit the people.

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1 KINGS CHAPTER 21 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Kings 21:1 - 16

Naboth was one who, in a time of great departure, valued the inheritance of his fathers. The enemy's object was to take it away, not now using Ben-Hadad, as in chapter 20 -- the world as such -- but Ahab, the responsible head of Israel. This is typical of how the christian profession, or its leaders, would like to divert the inheritance from its proper heirs so that they might have it for their own advantage. It is like the clergy claiming to have all spiritual matters under their jurisdiction but using their authority to dispossess the children of God of their inheritance in Christ.

Naboth would not recognise that his God-given portion was a matter with which Ahab had any right to interfere. It was divinely conferred and was a birthright held in immediate relation to Jehovah. To give it up was to give up his personal link with God according to the original calling. For us, the Father's love has been given to us that we should be called the children of God, and children involves heirship, joint heirship with Christ whom God has established Heir of all things.

The proposal to Naboth was that he should part with his possession and give up the advantage to another for what Ahab calls "a better vineyard" or its value in money. It was said to one in my hearing, 'You have given up all your spiritual prestige amongst the saints for two shillings a week!' Ahab set no spiritual value on the inheritance; it was not to him a link with God; it was in his mind something to add to his pleasure away from God. When one is

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away from God oneself, spiritual things even have no spiritual value. We all know that if our interests are on other things we have no real enjoyment of spiritual things. We complain of the saints and of the meetings and do not think that it is ourselves who are wrong -- we have fallen into idolatry.

Naboth was in conscious possession of his inheritance. That is a great thing. The best way for me to help others is to be in enjoyment myself. God has given us brethren so that we may enjoy the inheritance with them. The effect of the breakdown that obtains today is to take away the inheritance from the saints, and if this is resisted persecution follows from it in real annoyance.

Jezebel represents corrupting influence which is purely Satanic, urging on the responsible leaders to do what they would not do otherwise. Jezebel urges on the leaders to accuse Naboth of blasphemy; he was condemned as a blasphemer.

Note the great patience and forbearance of God!

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AN OUTLINE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 2 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 2:1 - 14

In suggesting this Scripture it is in mind that it is God's way of bringing out His thoughts in greater fulness in a day of departure. The book of Joshua gives typically the beginning of our dispensation, a people going into the land as risen with Christ, able to overcome all their enemies by the power of God and take possession of their inheritance. That was verified in the early days of the assembly, in the apostles at any rate. But God reserved for a very dark day the bringing out of His great thought to take up a Man into the heavens, and to have His man represented here by those who have a double portion of His Spirit. And with that in view He would shew that the power by which the Jordan could be crossed was still amongst His people.

This gives Elijah a most important place in the ways of God. No other man in the Old Testament times was ever taken into heaven. Of Enoch the account in Genesis is that "he was not, for God took him", and the comment of the Spirit in the New Testament is that he "was translated that he should not see death", Hebrews 11:5. God's victory over death was set forth in him; as I understand it, he sets forth the truth of eternal life rather than the thought of being taken to heaven. But Elijah is distinctly a pattern of Christ as taken into heaven, and known there in a day of apostasy, while Elisha sets forth that there is a vessel of testimony here with a double portion of His Spirit. "And it came to pass when Jehovah would take up Elijah into the heavens". So that Elijah is more than a type of Christ; he is a pattern, for he was actually taken into the heavens, the

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only such man in the Old Testament. There are Scriptures which speak prophetically of Christ as ascended and at the right hand of God, and types of Him as the heavenly One, such as Melchisedec, Isaac and, to a certain extent, Aaron, but the only man actually taken into the heavens in the Old Testament is Elijah.

This took place in a very dark day, for it was soon after the death of Ahab, and Jezebel was still alive, so that it distinctly refers to what may be known in a day of great departure; it indicates precious light reserved in the mind of God for a day of apostasy. However dark the day, God is not diverted from what is before Him and His desire is that we should not be diverted.

It is to be noted that the first verse of this chapter tells us that Elijah went with Elisha, intimating to us that Elisha's spiritual education is the great point in this chapter, and this makes it very distinctly applicable to ourselves. God would shew in that dark period of Israel's history that the power in which the Jordan was crossed was still available for His people, and God would impress us in our day that all the power that was evidenced in the resurrection and ascension of Christ is available to be known in spiritual reality by the saints today in spite of the apostasy around. It shews how Christ is to be learned today, so that it is very cheering.

Luke 9:51 says, "And it came to pass when the days of his receiving up were fulfilled". Those days had not yet come actually, but they had come in the mind of the Spirit. God would have the gospel history to be viewed as standing in relation to the One who was to be received up and we must ever bear in mind that it is as Christ was received up into heaven that we know the One in whom is all our blessing. Exercises as to this are to go on continually, for every saint in this dispensation has to learn Christ as He is in heaven, and the Spirit here, for himself, if he is to be in

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the enjoyment of the mind of God. It is most important that we should learn the Christ thus, and be instructed in Him. Paul's great desire was "to know him". We must know Him in heaven, and then as having a double portion of His Spirit we become competent to represent the heavenly Man down here. This is the great divine instruction for a dark day like the present. Someone has said that nothing will do for the darkest day but the brightest light.

Our spiritual education in view of knowing Christ in heaven proceeds on the lines suggested by the four places visited by Elijah and Elisha. The starting-point of this journey was Gilgal, the place of circumcision, where the flesh is seen to be absolutely cut off. However feeble we may be in our apprehension of it, the circumcision of the Christ is a great divine reality; it is what was effected in His death. So that it is viewed in Colossians as a completed thing; in Christ we are circumcised; it is, as Paul says, the putting off of the body of the flesh. This has been effected in the death of Christ, and it is applied to us by a divine operation -- "circumcision not done by hand". Circumcision, as is often noticed, comes in Colossians before baptism, which seems to suggest that, in this connection, what is inward precedes what is outward. Circumcision takes place in the heart and spirit.

Elisha was tested at every stage of the journey and in the Lord's way with us we are all tested as to how far we are prepared to go with Christ. Elisha here is representative of those who in remnant conditions come to know Christ as in heaven, and to have a double portion of the Spirit here. It is evident that Elisha got something which was unknown in Israel generally, not even known personally by the sons of the prophets though they had some light as to it. There are those today who have descended from men who had light from God, but they are now unbelieving as to Christ in heaven, and the christian profession generally

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is about as dark as Israel was in Elisha's day. I trust we have spiritual desire to have something which will distinguish us from what surrounds us. If we love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption we shall be prepared to go all the way but we may expect to be tested. As the work of God proceeds in us we are prepared to go from stage to stage; we would like to go all the way as Elisha did. God would stir up any heart that has become slack to go in heartily for the knowledge of Christ in heaven, and the full virtue of a double portion of His Spirit here. These things have to be gone in for. The sons of the prophets did not go in for them.

If we have learned the lesson of Gilgal then we can go on to Bethel. When man after the flesh is shut out God comes in, and He delights to come in wherever there is room for Him. Bethel would suggest to a spiritual mind the thought of divine faithfulness. God pledged Himself there not to leave Jacob until He had done that of which He had spoken to him. It was there that Jacob had his name Israel confirmed, and there Jehovah talked with him. At the present time God's house is the assembly of the living God; He is active there, and He speaks. The inner shrine of the temple was called the oracle; the great thought was that God spoke there. See Genesis 35:10 - 15. How often the words are repeated, "talked with him"! Bethel was the place where divine communications were made. God dwells in His house so as to communicate His mind. So Bethel has a most important place in relation to our knowing Christ in heaven. If God talks to us now it will be about a risen and heavenly Christ, and the assembly as standing in relation to Him. I trust we know something of this, notwithstanding the state of things around us.

The great substance of the New Testament is God talking with us. Think of the ministry of the Lord Himself! What a favour it is to be allowed to read the Gospels --

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to accompany the Lord, as it were, in His pathway here and hear Him bringing out the wonderful things that are in the mind of God! It all has its place now in the house of God. In the ministry of Paul and Peter and John we have divine communications too, such as really belong to the house of God and make known His mind.

The greatest things in the assembly are what God says to us. We are apt to think that worship is the greatest thing, but surely what God is pleased to say to us is greater than what we can say to Him. If we listen to His speaking we shall be detached from human thoughts and sentiments; we shall be filled with what is of God and this will produce worship. In all our meetings we should be exercised to hear what God is saying in His house. Any saint is truly glorified if he becomes the vessel through whom God communicates. 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of a member being glorified and all the members rejoicing with it. It is a great glory to be a vessel suited for divine communications in the house of God.

Then they go on to Jericho which answers, I suppose, to the gates of hades in the New Testament; it was where the great power of the enemy was overthrown. God would remind us that the gates of hades cannot hinder Him; He will deal with every power that obstructs His way of blessing. Jericho represents the world on the intellectual side as marked by reasonings and high things that lift themselves up against the knowledge of God. The overthrow of Jericho means that the world is judged in all its dark thoughts of God. In John's gospel and in Colossians we move with Christ as to all this. Then we prove that there is power resident in Christ to overthrow in our souls every element of the world that would obstruct spiritual prosperity and progress.

In moving from Bethel to Jericho there is deepening instruction. It is when we have learned something of the

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great thoughts of God in His house that we become aware of the power that is hostile. But the falling of Jericho's walls shews that we need not be afraid of going in wholeheartedly for what God speaks to us about. But we do not get the gain of His power if we lose our interest in those blessed things, if we lose sight of Christ in heaven.

Peter and John in the early chapters of the Acts shew that greater power was with them than with their adversaries. It did no good to shut them up in prison. And the chapter we are considering would encourage us to believe that the same power is active in support of the testimony in remnant times, and in the darkest day. It may not be manifested outwardly in the same way but great things will be effected spiritually.

Finally, they came to Jordan. Death has to be learned in all the intensity of its power, and that can only be learned in the death of Christ. This is, perhaps, the deepest lesson of all. It is death viewed as bringing out all the power that is inherent in Christ so that He may have His own in association with Himself. The Lord, at the end of the Gospels, led His own to Jordan. He was risen, and they could be risen with Him. What a sense they must have had of the power of life in Him by which He could bring them over Jordan with Him. They had not the doctrine of it as yet, but they experienced the reality of it, and when they had the Spirit, and learned Christ as in heaven, they could interpret their experience. The great lesson for us now is to learn Christ as in heaven. All the preciousness of what there is in Christ in heaven is for us to learn now. He knows how far we are prepared to go in for this line. He would have us all to move together in continuous exercise on this line. These movements cover the ground of spiritual education in a day of apostasy, the result being that we are qualified to represent Christ here as having a double portion of His Spirit.

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Elisha stands by the bank of Jordan when Elijah has gone up, and he rent his own garments in two pieces; he had done with all that formerly marked and adorned him. In type he had got the double portion of the Spirit of the One in heaven. Elijah's saying, "Thou hast asked a hard thing" is to emphasise to us the greatness of having a double portion of the Spirit of Christ in heaven. A double portion conveys the idea of a distinguished portion, for the double portion distinguished the firstborn from the rest of the family. It brings out the great distinction that attaches to the saints of the present period. Would to God we understood how God has distinguished us! There never was, and there never will be, such a company on earth as the saints of the assembly. I do not think any other company of saints will have a double portion of the Spirit.

The great truth of the moment is that Christ is in heaven and the assembly as the vessel of testimony is here, having this great qualification, a double portion of the Spirit. This chapter is intended to teach us what we may have in times of apostasy, and the consideration of it would help us to keep apart from the current ways of men. We ought to covet a distinct vision of Christ as having gone up; it is characteristic of the saints that they see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. Nothing less than a double portion of the Spirit will qualify us to represent Christ here. That does not mean of course that we have twice as much of the Spirit as He has, but that we have the Spirit in a very distinguishing way. We are always being tested as to whether we really desire this. God is working with us continually that we may know the One who has been taken up into heaven and that we may be qualified to represent Him here in testimony.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 2 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 2:1 - 25

This scripture is such, in its spiritual import, as to call for our most earnest attention. It shows how the disciples were brought to know Christ as ascended at the beginning of the present period. But I believe that in the mind of the Spirit there is special instruction here for the last days. It seems to me that from Jeroboam onward days of departure are in view; indeed, the departure became evident even in Solomon's time. But it was seen in a public and general way when the ten tribes revolted and idolatry was set up. So that in the different men of God raised up, and in their prophetic testimony, we see how God works in a day of abounding evil. In Elijah the testimony is gathered up in a remarkable way. We see the great truths of accepted sacrifice at Carmel, the burnt-offering for all Israel, so that God is known in that light by the seven thousand. If this truth is not fundamental in our souls we could never take up the lessons of 2 Kings 2. Of course, in the antitype it is Christ's own offering of Himself securing acceptance for all the people of God. But then, Elijah was taken up into the heavens, bringing something into view altogether outside the ruined state of things in Israel. He is to be, typically, the ascended Christ; but before Elijah went up he took this wonderful journey with Elisha which leads to the point of translation.

Elisha was to continue as having a double portion of Elijah's spirit, but he was to continue as having known the power of ascension. Now that is the great lesson for us. The disciples learned it at the beginning; we have to learn

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it in a spiritual way at the end of the assembly period. We shall only be true witnesses to the One in heaven as we know the power that took Him there and that will take us there. So that the journey of the two prophets represents a journey in the last days. These places -- Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan -- were historically ancient things, but they had to be taken up experimentally hundreds of years after they appeared in the Scriptures or in the ways of God. They show how Christ would go with us and have us go with Him so that we may be prepared for translation, that is, prepared for it in our souls. It may be said that as believers having the Spirit we are ready for translation, but we may be sure that none of us are prepared for translation in a true spiritual sense save as we take this journey from Gilgal. We start from the place of circumcision which is a very personal matter because it is in the heart and spirit. It is a distinct operation of God upon the saints as in Christ, bringing them to know as a spiritual reality the circumcision aspect of the death of Christ.

Now the great value of this is that it makes way for the house of God. We begin to think of a place for God -- the assembly. So that 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy take a great place with us. Many christians appear not to have these scriptures in their Bibles. They usually say that God has a house here where everything is to be in order according to His mind. But saints as gathered in local assemblies get the Lord's mind (see Revelation 22:16). We do not come to Bethel save as walking in the truth in local assemblies. And we are not really prepared for the rapture if we are not in assembly order. The Lord set His saints in local assemblies at the beginning to await His coming, and this is the divine order. He has now recovered the truth of the house of God, and saints gather in assemblies where it is being worked out through exercises in all parts of the world. Then next, the journey is to Jericho which represents

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the world in its opposition to all that is in the mind of God for His people, particularly all that is on the heavenly side. Philosophy and vain deceit, traditions, philanthropy, world improvement, all come down by the power of God as we see the world's judgment for its rejection of Christ. Jordan represents death as the power of Satan.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 2

THE IMPORTANCE OF A VITAL LINK WITH THE ASCENDED CHRIST (NOTES OF A READING)

2 Kings 2:15 - 25

C.A.C. On the moral road marked out in the early part of the chapter there was one who was prepared to go all the way. It suggests that in days of darkness and idolatry and apostasy the Lord will work and is working that there may be in us a readiness not to stop short of the divine end; but that requires that we are preserved in true exercise of heart, that we do not come to be numbered among the sons of the prophets. They were numerically the larger company; Elisha was one and the sons of the prophets many. They represent people who have come into things in a successional way, those whose fathers have had communications from God and have had, according to their measure, the mind of God. The sons of the prophets had a certain distinction in being their successors, but not having acquired things for themselves from God, one feels that they have a particular place in the exercises these chapters suggest to us. They are repeatedly mentioned. We ought to be exercised by what is said of them, for in a certain way we are in their position now. We have all benefited by the prophets who have been raised up, particularly during the last century, and the question arises whether we have come into these precious things through personal exercise and travail of soul and desire of heart or

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in a successional way. A hundred years ago the thought of the coming of the Lord became very precious and powerfully laid hold of many hearts. Now we have easily come into the truth of it; we can get it from books, that is, in a successional way; and this applies to all truth.

Rem. The sons of the prophets stood afar off, verse 7 says, not "by the Jordan" as Elijah and Elisha did.

C.A.C. Yes, we do not want to be mere lookers-on, do we? The sons of the prophets have a measure of light, a good deal that looks like piety and divine light, but they are not moving with it. They are not those who have taken the journey from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, from Jericho to Jordan. That is the spiritual journey which the Lord intends us to take so that we may arrive at the truth of Christ in ascension. Those who have really reached Christ as ascended are ready for His coming: no one else is. None of us need remain merely sons of the prophets. Why were they not prophets themselves? Why not come near to God themselves? That is what He desires for us all. We are all encouraged to desire to prophesy, that is, to have the knowledge of the mind of God and of what is suitable to the moment. All that is now connected with Christ gone into heaven; that is the truth of the moment.

The teachers and leaders of the religious world have lost sight of that truth; they have followed after those who had light from God in former days. I suppose some of the sects began by the work of God in the consciences of some saints desiring to be pleasing to God, but the sons are giving up what the fathers suffered for. I doubt if there is much preaching anywhere of Christ ascended up and glorified, but that is the distinctive truth concerning Christ at the present moment. We hear Christ spoken of in a personal way as dying, and even as risen to give assurance to the believer but the distinctive truth of the moment is Christ ascended and in heaven. We ought to preach that more

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than we do. The whole truth of the present time hangs upon it, the gift of the Spirit and all He would bring us into. There is no gift of the Spirit from a risen Christ but from an ascended Christ. It should be prominently set forth. There is great infidelity as to it in the christian profession. I believe thousands of believers are exceedingly vague as to the present position of Christ, and what result can be expected other than was seen in Israel when they said, "For this Moses ... we do not know what is become of him!" A great many believers do not think of Him at all as an ascended Man, but rather as having gone back into Deity.

Rem. There are many extensive 'Advent movements' today.

C.A.C. Yes, but they leave those who take them up perfectly free to remain identified with what is iniquity; they are not movements of separation. If we are not practically a heavenly people there is not much in our speaking about the coming of the Lord.

Rem. In Philippians a good deal is said about the calling on high, and in contrast, of those who mind earthly things. In christendom generally the ascension is accepted as a doctrine but the import of it is not attended to.

C.A.C. O yes! People observe Ascension Day just as we all hold precious truths, but the question is whether we have been affected spiritually by them, or are we, like the sons of the prophets, merely taking them up as what has come down to us?

Ques. The sons of the prophets came and bowed themselves to the ground before Elisha. What is the bearing of that?

C.A.C. They had a form of piety but they were virtually denying the power of it.

Rem. Elisha went back over the whole ground that he had trodden with his master, with the double portion of

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his spirit upon him. It is significant that as they two stood by Jordan, the sons of the prophets had stood afar off.

C.A.C. The fifty were out of it; they had neither part nor lot in it.

Ques. Is it not strange that Elisha did not endeavour to help the sons of the prophets to a better understanding? He offers no help.

C.A.C. We get the divine help in the section from verse 19. It is very important that we should be available for the service of God in relation to the conditions that are present. The way that works out we find in verses 19 - 22. Here are men who are in genuine exercise as to the prevailing conditions. They are much more in the spiritual line than the sons of the prophets; they were truly concerned about the condition of death and barrenness that was there.

Ques. They are men of the city. Does this suggest to us an exercise about conditions in our several localities?

C.A.C. Yes, it is an important question for us how we can help locally. The Lord has set us where He has so that we may be a blessing there.

Ques. What are the moral conditions suggested in verse 19? Lifelessness, fruitlessness?

C.A.C. Yes. It is suggestive that these men understood that the situation was good, but that it was the water which was bad and the land that was barren.

Ques. Was that the result of the curse?

C.A.C. I daresay it was, but in this section we are not reminded of that. In its application to ourselves it is that we understand that in virtue of the burnt-offering accepted and Christ in heaven there are acceptable conditions even in what lies under the curse.

Rem. All that cannot be understood apart from the assembly. The thoughts of God never came into effect until Christ had gone into heaven.

C.A.C. The position was that the burnt-offering had

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been accepted for all Israel and in this chapter typically Christ had gone into heaven, so that there was favour for what was under the curse. The world is at present in a favoured position but its springs of satisfaction are defective. Elisha understood the divine remedy for the condition.

Rem. And he goes to the source of the defect.

Ques. What is the thought of the new cruse of salt?

C.A.C. I think it indicates the divine thought of a vessel which is able to contain a preservative element. The new cruse containing salt is the divine way of meeting death and barrenness. God would show men His way of counteracting the impoverished condition by the bringing in of this new vessel. It is a very important part of God's ways with the world. It has an important bearing on His attitude towards men.

Rem. The epistle to Timothy tells us that there is a vessel here which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

C.A.C. Yes, it takes the character of salt.

Rem. It reminds one of "Ye are the salt of the earth", Matthew 5:13.

C.A.C. Yes, the Lord said that. In principle the Lord introduced in His disciples this preservative principle which preserves in an incorruptible way all that is of God.

Rem. The exercise of these men brings to light the way of divine healing.

C.A.C. They represent a work of God in man which looks for divine healing, life and fruitfulness instead of death and barrenness. There are those around us in whom God has so worked. The question for us is what can we show them, not what can we preach to them. Can we show them elements which God has introduced which are able to counteract all the death and barrenness of this world? We can if we have reached Christ as ascended.

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Ques. What is the source of the waters (verse 21)?

C.A.C. Is not that exactly what has to be reached with every one of us? Did not the Lord go to the source of the waters with the woman in John 4? She had been drinking of water that was bad, but He got down to the source and put a new spring there so that the men of the city got an entirely new impression from the woman, different from anything they had had before. In the same way with Nicodemus the Lord traces things back to their source: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness ..." John 3:14. That was the source of the trouble, the poison of the serpent.

There is a new vessel on earth which can contain all the influences which are preservative so that the things of God can be preserved in their true value.

Rem. And the things which are preserved in the assembly are going to extend and extend till all the universe is filled with what is for the pleasure of God. The epistle to the Ephesians tells us that principalities and authorities in the heavenlies are to learn in the assembly the all-various wisdom of God.

C.A.C. We get a wonderful thought of the assembly if we look at it from the divine side. It is profitable to look at God's thought in introducing the assembly -- a company of persons filled with divine satisfaction, not admitting anything of corruption. What an influence in a world of evil!

God does not give up His thought. Having introduced the assembly He does not change His mind: He does not allow things to be corrupted: that is His side; our side is to have this principle of salt. The church as a public witness has failed to have this character of the new cruse of salt but it is for us to return in mind and practice to what is of God.

Rem. There is a beautiful picture in Ezekiel 47 of the life-bringing stream beginning at the house of God and increasing steadily in volume as it flows; but the assembly,

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the house of God, is the starting point for God.

C.A.C. And is there anything which is going to affect people in the world to come which is not in the assembly now?

Rem. Elisha does not credit himself with this act of healing. He says, "Thus saith Jehovah: I have healed these waters".

C.A.C. Yes, it was a divine operation. The assembly as the new cruse is entirely the work of God, really a new creation.

Rem. Elisha says, "Bring me a new cruse". I wondered if it suggested a subjective state, not merely something passive.

C.A.C. Yes, in considering all this we are to see that what is suggested to us typically is something very different from what the sons of the prophets were going on with. They were infidel to the operations of God, and the closing verses are a solemn warning of what will be the result. That principle produces a generation who mock and that generation is rapidly increasing; it is a generation which will be the just subjects of cursing. The teaching which is current now by those who are in the position of the sons of the prophets is bringing evil influences to bear so that a generation is rising up prepared to scoff at everything connected with the revelation of God.

Elisha had been with Elijah at both Jericho and Bethel and he knew how to act at both places. To have a correct understanding of a position we need to have been with the Lord there so as to know how to act under different circumstances. We need to view all from the point of view of His ascension.

Rem. Coming from Bethel these children should have known better. They were the more responsible.

C.A.C. So it is today. A christendom full of bibles is a serious place in which to live.

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Rem. Peter tells us that in the last days shall come scoffers. It is the moral result of things being taken up in a successional way without faith and without exercise.

Ques. What have you to say about the prophet returning to Samaria?

C.A.C. I suppose it shows that God had not altogether given up Samaria. It is striking that God is patiently going on with so much that is abhorrent to Him, continuing His testimony through His prophet; and that not in Judah, but in Israel even in that part of it which had departed from Him; but He had not yet departed from them. The prophetic testimony was still being continued in apostate conditions. It very much answers to the present time. God is bearing testimony to His own thoughts in presence of all that is idolatrous and apostate.

Ques. I suppose we must see that even in a dispensation of grace curse has place under certain circumstances? "If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha", 1 Corinthians 16:22.

C.A.C. The brightest light casts the darkest shadow. We have here a picture of the doom of apostasy, a generation only fit to be cursed. If people mock at all that is of God, at all that is connected with translation or ascension, it is the climax of evil. No people that ever lived on the earth have ever had such an opportunity before of being so wicked as they have today. One can hardly conceive of anything more horrible than to scoff against Christ as ascended. There is nothing so wicked as to make that a subject of scoffing. It will bring down the deserved judgment of God. Apostasy is departure from what is known; that is what makes it so terrible.

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2 KINGS CHAPTERS 2 TO 4 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 2:1 to 4: 8

The Spirit is seen first as the Spirit of sonship as set forth in the double portion of Elijah's spirit. Then as the power to overcome the flesh which is seen in Moab as that which corrupts the people of God. The first is the Spirit of the ascended Man so that it is the Spirit of sonship in the fullest sense.

Moab represents the flesh as lifting itself up against the great thoughts of God, as seen in Galatians, which is really met by giving place to the Spirit and the crucifixion of the flesh.

No mercy is to be shown to the flesh, and when it is met in the power of the Spirit it comes out in its true character as devilish. The antichrist is the great climax of this; he has horns like a lamb but he speaks like a dragon.

When we come to chapter 4 it is a question of poverty so that debts cannot be paid. There has been a history of piety but death has come in on all that was a support. Many go on a long time on the line of piety; there is fear of God and prayer such as an Old Testament saint might have had. This widow, in type, had the Spirit but she did not know what she had in the Spirit. I believe that many people have the Spirit for a long time before they know how to use Him. This woman cannot pay her debts. She would do what she knows she ought to do. It may be there is something just now which we know we ought to do but we feel quite unable to do it. She cried to Elisha; she was dependent on the Lord, as we should say, but he turned her attention to what she had in the house. It was a

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question of private resources.

It is to be noted that the neighbours supply the vessels. It seems to suggest that our contact with our neighbours supplies opportunity for the resources we have in the Spirit to come into evidence. "All thy neighbours" (verse 3), "All those vessels" (verse 4).

What strikes one in this is the abnormal state; the widow here is not in her first estate. She has lost her husband, she has not her original resources. She is poor in Israel; she cannot stand up to her obligations; but she represents a God-fearing condition. It is an exercise for a day of weakness, and I think it has to do with how we take up our relations with the brethren locally in that we shall be able to meet all that is due from us, even though we are poor and destitute and our children are likely to be in bondage. Christianity did not begin like this. It is a question of finding out what remains when things are brought to the lowest point. It is not weakness; it is how divine resources can be experienced at the end of the dispensation when what is responsible to maintain things is unable to do so in spite of piety. Can we maintain things locally though in great weakness? A feeble company but with power to do all that they ought to do, and living; "ye also shall live", John 14:19. Our apostle speaks of reigning in life. In the scene where we were so poor and dependent we are strengthened. In result, we are able to entertain the Lord.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 3 (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Kings 3:1 - 27

The circumstances of 2 Kings 3 are peculiar and, therefore, contain special instruction which one would, by the Lord's favour, like to gain.

Jehoram wrought evil, but not like his father and mother. The king of Moab rebelled against him. Moab had been subdued by David and had been tributary for a long time to Israel. But in a day of great departure they rebelled. They had been a snare to Solomon (1 Kings 11:7) and were under judgment from God. How often is that the case, things which apparently have been subdued exercise a corrupting influence and eventually show their true character. They then become the subject of judgment.

It would seem that it was right for Moab to be smitten, but it was an unholy partnership for Jehoshaphat to enter into. One would have thought that his previous experience would have warned him; he had proved God's care so that when he cried out he was helped and his life was spared. Here Jehovah brought severe discipline on the three kings and their armies, but it was to bring out, in the result, the abounding of His grace. God is seen here as considering for what is faithful even when it is found in evil associations. It brings out that grace predominates in the ways of God, and we should never forget this. The more the truth opens out to us the more is grace magnified in our thoughts, from Romans to Ephesians. The burnt offering and the ascension are the measure of grace. Grace takes account of all that is good in the christian profession. We

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see the character of it in Acts, chapters 2, 3 and 4. But it is grace such as it shows itself to be in a day of great departure.

But the prophet needs a minstrel here as bringing out the special character of the occasion. I take it that the thought of the minstrel is that the prophet wished to have brought before himself the character of grace as outside and above all circumstances here. I take it that the hymn book is our minstrel. When you have not known what to do, have you ever thought of the hymn book? "Singing with grace in your hearts to God", Colossians 3:16. Grace flows in the channels we make for it; that is, as we make room for God He comes in. There is as much of the Spirit available as we make room for, more particularly here for inward satisfaction. The meeting of the inward state is the first thing; we all know that it is so. Whatever need there is, whatever enemy has to be faced, the inward state must be met first. Then there is power to deal with Moab. It is seen here as something to be utterly destroyed in its strength and its resources. It was to be a snare no more. It has proved to be rebellious though it had been tributary.

In time of conflict God would make us think first of our own state. He would produce thirst so that His supply may be known. "In the morning, when the oblation was offered up, ... there came water" (verse 20). It is as Christ gets His place in our hearts as before God that the water comes. Most abnormal conditions are seen here but God is supplying all that is needed so that the enemy may be defeated and his power destroyed.

The object of this chapter is to bring out what was available in the ministry of Elisha notwithstanding the most abnormal conditions. There was a testimony of resource in Jehovah. I think Moab may represent features of the flesh which may be held in check for a long time but eventually they break out in their true character. "All seek

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their own things" (Philippians 2:21) is a very great feature of the flesh -- lovers of self, pride. The pride of the flesh may be checked for a long time and then break out in a rebellious form. But in conditions of departure there is no power to deal with such an outbreak.

Water came by the way of Edom. The divine supply does not come through any accredited channel. The great truth of the presence of the Spirit has not been ministered by those looked up to by christians generally. It has come through those who would be looked down upon as belonging to an inferior order of man. In the day when Christ has His place with His people, the flesh is held in check and may seem to be tributary. We are apt to trust the flesh when it seems to contribute.

They are brought into such a state that the need of a prophet of Jehovah is felt. "The word of Jehovah is with him". It is the word of Jehovah in grace at a time when all seems to be hopeless. Inward satisfaction comes first then power over the Moabites.

The offering of the king's eldest son would seem to be an idolatrous offering to demons, and the Moabites were utterly unsubdued in spirit. "There was great wrath against Israel" (verse 27).

Ditches would indicate how we lay ourselves out for what is of the Spirit by getting to all the meetings, reading the ministry and keeping company with those who speak of the Lord's things. Among these things we know that the Spirit will flow in.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 4

THE FOOD SUPPLY (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 4:38 - 44

The question is raised here of the food supply in a time of famine. At such a time it is the concern of Christ that there should be food, but there was a lack of discernment in one who went out to gather herbs and brought what was wild, it was unwittingly shred into the pot. This was not an enemy's work but a mistake by one who intended to help; such mistakes have been a frequent source of trouble in the church. I think it sets forth the working of the human mind in the things of God. There may be a good intention without spiritual discernment. There has been an immense amount of teaching which was meant to do good but which has been really harmful to the people of God. But we see here how the Lord would use such an occasion to bring out His own resources in neutralising what is of the enemy, though introduced by friends.

I believe the ministry of the Spirit during the last century has been largely a casting of meal into the pot. I have no doubt that the Lord is by the Spirit bringing in what will counteract the working of what is wrong. I believe the meal is the truth as ministered by the Spirit in contrast with what has been ministered by the mind of man. There is divine substance in it which is corrective. It is not exactly emptying the pot and starting afresh, but the Spirit giving a divine setting forth of the truth to correct a merely

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natural apprehension of it. All that we know of divine things we have either taken up by the Spirit or in our natural minds; there is no vital power in the latter. One can understand that in connection with all that is spiritual the natural mind can only grasp the shell. Ministry in the Spirit is the only thing that will really feed the saints but it must be spiritually received if it is to profit us. A thought that is not of the Spirit may be a lifelong hindrance to the apprehension of the truth. The action of the Spirit seen here in type is a most important one in a day of departure and particularly in relation to the ministry of divine things.

But then we must not think that this corrective action of the Spirit is all that He does. There is something positive and satisfying that comes from the heavenly land. The man from Baal-shalishah represents one who in a time of famine can bring the very best. This man has been reaping his fields while others have been in famine; he has been gathering in a fresh harvest. He brought bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of corn in his sack. It is not here the old corn of the land, or stored corn, but firstfruits; he has just reaped it in a fresh harvest.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 5

GOD'S WORK (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 5:1 - 19

We see in this chapter how God will work for His own name's sake even when things are in a sorrowful state amongst His people. God cannot be other than what He is, whatever His people may be. If it is a question of God acting because of what He is, and no one deserving blessing more than another, the Syrian can be blessed on the same ground as Israel. One can understand the Lord having pleasure in referring to this incident in Luke 4. The little captive maid is an example of what God would use in such circumstances. She was one who had a distinct link with God, a true knowledge of Him apart from any experience, for she had never seen or heard of a leper being cured. But her thought of the prophet that was in Samaria was a divinely given thought. Elisha was the expression, in the midst of departure, of what God was in grace, a blessed type of Christ as the salvation of God. And the little maid was imbued with that grace herself, for she desired the good of her captor.

If the people of God come into captivity to the world power in any way we may be sure that it is in some way to serve the divine testimony. In accepting conditions of captivity our exercise should be that it may turn to testimony (see Luke 21:13). What weight Jehovah gave to the testimony of the little maid! It affected Naaman and it

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affected the king, but we see that when men are affected by the testimony they do not take it up rightly. Naaman and the king and the king of Israel all had to come into line, with the little maid. Each one of us should be a model of what people have to come to to get blessing.

A leper represents one in whom is the working of sin in the flesh, not in bad actions but sin in the flesh coming out, as it did, in thinking that he knew better than the prophet. Cleansing is provided for us in the death of Christ, but we have to take advantage of it.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 7

THE GRACE OF GOD (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 7:1 - 20

This chapter contains one of the most remarkable settings forth of grace that the Old Testament presents. It serves to bring out that God cannot deny Himself; if we believe not He abides faithful. The whole city of Samaria, from the king downwards, was brought to the point of death, and the only one with whom was salvation had been condemned to death (chapter 6, verse 31). But just then the gospel came to the city by Elisha's word. What comes out in Elisha as the salvation of God has the whole world in view. If death is on man what is the difference between the Jew and the Gentile? We come to the ground of Romans 5:12 - 21. It is not a question of law, or of promise to Abraham, but of Adam and of what came in by him. So Samaria here represents the world as under death, but not abandoned by God, for Elisha is there. He is here typical of Christ in His universal headship. God has in mind to bring in life for men. The fine flour and the barley speak of Christ in His perfect humanity and His resurrection. He is morally entitled to be Head as being exempt from sin and death, and He is entitled, too, as having gone into death for men and come out in resurrection. We have to preach Christ in the great place which He holds on God's part for all men. Adam is not the divinely appointed head for men but Christ. The great question is, will men believe on the

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divinely appointed Head? Men are like the captain on whose hand the king leaned; they scoff at the glad tidings. The four leprous men represent those who learn they are under death and commit themselves to God. The Syrians here represent those agencies by which God brings home to men that they are under death, that is, under conviction of sin. When men give themselves over to conviction of sin they find that God has dealt with the whole matter. There is nothing to fear, but abundance of spoil. God has acted in His own almighty power with a view to life being brought in for men. Romans 5 shows how He has done it. The reign of death is a challenge to God: has He no remedy? If men would only face the reality of the position they would find there is nothing to fear. Everything that man fears has brought to light what God is in grace, so that through the headship of Christ not an enemy is left in view. We have only to take the spoil, and to let others know about it.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 13 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 13:1 - 25

It is in the reign of Jehoash that we have the first mention of the repair of the breaches of the house, about 150 years after it was built (see 2 Kings 12:5) but the hallowed things and gold were given to Hazael to buy him off from coming to Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, began to reign in Samaria just as the house was being repaired in Jerusalem, in the twenty-third year of Joash.

We see no recovery in Israel, save the brief moment at Carmel under Elijah's ministry. But even that did not bring the people back to the service of Jehovah. But Jehovah had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens (2 Kings 14:27). He had not yet given them up. So that when Jehoahaz besought Jehovah under great pressure He hearkened unto him. This goes on still in the christian profession. God answers every genuine exercise even though there is no true desire to get back to His true service. That is why we hear of movements of blessing and success in service here and there. If there is any capacity to feel the results of His government He comes in and gives a measure of deliverance. The influences of the world answer to the Syrians who enfeebled the people and made them like dust (2 Kings 13:7).

But Elisha is still alive though near his end, and Joash came down to him and got a sense, or professed to get a sense, that "the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" were there. Elisha had said this when he saw

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Elijah taken up to heaven and received a double portion of his spirit. This was to be his power for witness in Israel just as now the apprehension of Christ as having been taken up into heaven and the Spirit given is the power for witness in the midst of all the departure here. But with Joash there is a taking up of the words by one who knew little of their meaning. It seems like the wide-spread speaking of the Holy Spirit and His divine power without the conditions that were suitable. I think we can see in Elisha how the chariot of Israel moved in healing and life-giving power, but in Joash there was a limited and partial result; a result not worthy of the divine power that was available.

I suppose we all have got some experience of the power available through the exaltation of Christ and the gift of the Spirit, but how much faith have we to use it?

Elisha puts Joash to the test. "Take bow and arrows". It is a question of victory over the world, but we have to put our hand to it. Elisha puts his hands on the king's hands. That is the divine power which is in Elisha's heart is the measure of what is possible. So that when Joash shoots it is an arrow of Jehovah's deliverance in the fullest sense. But then it remained to be found how far Joash was ready to use the power; so he had to take the arrows and smite on the ground, indicative of self-judgment. It is a question how far we are prepared to go in the use of divine power. Joash was not ready to make full use of the power. He smote thrice and stayed. That is a very common thing. God gives some expression of the power available but we do not give ourselves energetically to it. There is only a partial victory over the world instead of a complete one. I do not believe that any complete victory over the world is possible apart from worshipping where Jehovah has set His name. Israel really had a rival system of worship and never judged it nationally whatever might be true of the godly remnant. It is in the life which is in Christ Jesus that

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there is complete victory. Elisha stands for this so far as I see. God would call attention to Elisha as His man for the moment who is able to meet every situation that arises with divine resource and sufficiency. The remarkable incident of the man cast into the sepulchre seems to bring out the power of life even in his bones. It is what will meet 2 Timothy conditions, life in Christ Jesus. The man who has a double portion of the Spirit of the Man who has been taken up is the only one really in life. But the instruction here seems to be that even if a dead man comes into contact with that he will revive. Paul is like our Elisha or John. Every christian in the power of life in Christ Jesus is a sign that God has not yet cast away His people from His presence (verse 23).

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 14 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 14:1 - 29

There was that in Amaziah which was commendable and God helped him against Edom, but his heart was apparently lifted up and he entered on a conflict in which God was not with him. The result was that the testimony of God was weakened; the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the vessels of service were carried away. He had not the mind of God in going to war with Israel, for God was not against Israel at this time; He was sending prophetic ministry amongst them by Jonah. Indeed, it was a time when God was favourable to the world, and very ready to accept any evidence of repentance, as in the case of Nineveh just at this time.

There was a very great deal in Israel that was not right, and Amaziah might have thought that this justified going to war with Jehoash. But he had not God with him, and the result was that the testimony suffered and the service of God suffered. People in our time have entered into conflict without having God with them, and it has ended in a breach in the testimony, and vessels have been lost that should have been retained for the service of God. We see in Psalm 51 that if self-judgment has place with us the walls of Jerusalem will be built. The test of things is not how they appear at the time, but what they result in.

In Jeroboam we see a remarkable acting of God in relation to Israel, notwithstanding an evil condition. It was a time of long-suffering, which went on until chapter 17. And generally this characterises His attitude to the christian profession today: the time of spewing out has not

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yet come, though it is now imminent. God in His mercy and sovereignty used a man who was idolatrous to save His people, so that there was a measure of restoration and recovery of what had been lost. The prophetic word was there, and wherever the prophetic word is there is the presence of a power to restore and recover. The great evidence that God has not abandoned His people is that the prophetic word is not withdrawn from them.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 15 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 15:1 - 38

Azariah's history is passed over briefly in Kings, which gives the public position; Chronicles gives what may be called the moral history. God takes account of what goes on publicly amongst brethren, and He visits certain conditions with marks of displeasure. But He also keeps chronicles, which are written in heaven at the present time, and in His chronicles He records the inward history of things. That is what we should desire to be acquainted with. There are people who can write books about the brethren and tell of divisions and controversies and troubles, but who do not know anything about God's chronicles; they do not know the inward history at all.

In this chapter we see that God is having His way governmentally in relation to what is public all the time. Jehu, though a very unspiritual man, had carried out God's mind in the judgment of the house of Ahab and in extirpating Baal from Israel and God recompensed him by promising that his sons should sit upon the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. A person may be used by God in His government, and even recompensed for faithfulness, without having any true blessing from Him. He used Jeroboam to restore the border of Israel (2 Kings 14:25); He used King Henry VIII in this country and liberty was later secured for worship of God.

This chapter also records that Pul the king of Assyria came against the land and later Tiglath-Pileser also a king of Assyria.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 16

HOLINESS IN THE SERVICE OF GOD (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 16:1 - 20

This portion of Scripture is very important in its instruction for us because we get now for the first time something introduced into the service of God at Jerusalem which was idolatrous and corrupting. Ahaz may have been encouraged in this by what his father had done, who in a general way did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, but we are told in chapter 15: 35 that Jotham "built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah". Evidently in doing this he thought he could improve on the original plan which had been given to David by the Spirit, and carried out by Solomon. I do not doubt that there was true piety in those who, in the early days of the church, thought they could improve upon the original order of service in the house of God. They thought they could devise a better means of approach to God than was known to the apostles.

Not many years after the death of the apostles it became almost universal to have a liturgy, a fixed form of service. It was thought that this would provide for things being done in a more orderly manner but it really indicated a great decline in spirituality. It was worship by a fixed rule, which could be carried on whether there was the power of the Holy Spirit in it or not. There was no longer liberty for the holy brethren to voice what was living in their hearts. Indeed, the living spring must already have been lacking,

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or such an innovation could never have been tolerated. It was an attempt to make up in a human way for something which was felt to be lacking. We know, alas! how widely the principle of a humanly ordered service obtains today. It is supposed to be an improvement on the liberty of the Spirit. But we must beware of human improvement on divine order. It is well for us all -- and for younger ones particularly -- to take note of how the corruption of christendom came in through setting aside the original order. We may, perhaps, admit that it was done with good intent, but it opened the way for positive corruptions to come in, just as what Jotham did made it easier for Ahaz to go much farther and corrupt the whole character of the service of God. Jotham did not exactly corrupt the service, but he introduced an innovation which probably opened the way for his son to corrupt the service altogether by bringing in what was idolatrous.

This first departure was in connection with a new way of approach to God. It was, no doubt, thought to be a better way than Solomon's for it is called "the upper gate", but it was an innovation. In the present dispensation there was no suggestion of any service that could go on without living movements of the Spirit of God in the hearts of the saints. But forms of service were soon introduced, under plea of being helpful but they very soon led to many corrupting things having place in what was supposed to be the service of God. We may be sure that God's original plan is superior to anything that men can introduce, because what is of God must be superior to what is of man. I trust we are seeking, through grace, to find our way out of what man has introduced, and to come back to what God ordained. God has favoured us, and is favouring us, by giving us spiritual light to set us free from what is idolatrous, and from what exalts man. He would bring us back to His original thought, and teach us how to worship

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Him in liberty in the spirit of sonship, a liberty which no liturgy could ever give.

One of God's intents is that our true spiritual measure should come to light in our approach to Him. If I go to church and listen to the service, and it may be a good preaching by a godly man, my spiritual measure never comes to light. But when we leave human innovations and corruptions and come together as brethren in the Lord to take part in the service of God according to the grace given to us, our spiritual measure comes to light. If we are small spiritually it becomes apparent, and this is a real benefit for it awakens exercise. If I am small, and I take it to heart, there is no divine reason why I should continue small.

If we have weak meetings the reality of our spiritual measure is coming to light, and it is a benefit that it should. If we have a poor meeting does it not lead us to our knees that we may not have a poor meeting when we come together again? We should never get these exercises if we were submerged under a religious order that hides the true condition from view. If I have only five words, that is my measure; let it come into service. Brethren often do not take part because they are afraid of their true measure coming to light! Well, why should not my measure come to light? Why want the brethren to think I am bigger than I am? What I can contribute spiritually has value in the assembly, even though my measure be small. The assembly convened is a place of great liberty, for no one normally wants to be thought bigger than he is. What is of the Spirit and of the work of God in our souls, is to come into view. I would rather be in a weak meeting where something that God has wrought in the souls of His people comes to light than in the grandest cathedral service that ever was. I am sure that every brother and sister here would endorse that. 1 Corinthians supposes that every one has something by the Spirit; otherwise he could hardly be

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regarded as of the body at all. If we have something by the Spirit it is for service according to God's original plan; it is to be available for the service of God. We need not be afraid of weakness; the thing to beware of is the fancied power of the flesh.

As we were saying, what Jotham did probably gave Ahaz an excuse to bring in elements that Jotham never thought of. Ahaz would not trust God, though God shewed him very special favour and would have given him any sign that he liked to ask for (see Isaiah 7), but he made friends with the king of Assyria and went to Damascus and saw an altar there which he thought superior to the altar at Jerusalem. We are told in 2 Chronicles 28:23 that he said, "Since the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me". Here in verse 10 we are told that he "saw the altar that was at Damascus". It raises the question of what sort of eyes we have got. If this man had had a spiritual eye the altar he saw would not have appealed to him at all, for it was an idolatrous altar; but he looked at it with a carnal eye and saw it as superior to the divine altar at Jerusalem. He had not the vision of the Spirit of God at all. If he had he would never have thought that what was of God could be improved upon.

The history of Ahaz has a solemn voice to us for he appears as a man who had no thought of the holiness of God in His service. The altar stands in a special way for the holiness of God. It is called "most holy" in Exodus 29:37, literally, 'Holiness of holinesses'; the same word is used of the altar as is used of the holiest. And in the temple the altar was the exact measurement of the holiest. So that the altar represented publicly the same intense character of holiness as was set forth inwardly in the holy of holies. The full measure of this holiness was seen when Jesus as the forsaken One upon the cross bore the judgment due to sin; He justified the One who had forsaken Him by saying,

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"And thou art holy", Psalm 22:3.

The brazen altar, we are told here in verse 14, was "before Jehovah"; it fully met, typically, all His requirements. It spoke of Christ as the means of approach to God according to God's holiness, involving the thought of His capability to sustain all the sacrificial requirements of God. All that the altar spoke of was found in perfection in Christ. We read that "there went out fire from before Jehovah, and consumed on the altar the burnt-offering, and the pieces of fat", Leviticus 9:24. The blood of the sin-offering was put on the horns of the altar, and the fat of the sin-offering was burnt upon it. So that the altar ever witnessed that God had been glorified by the judgment of sin being borne. It is noticeable in the Scripture before us that Ahaz brought no sin-offering. He kept up a round of things in a traditional way, but he had no sin-offering.

There is nothing we need more than a deep sense of the holiness of God; it is very lacking with christians generally. In the epistle to the Hebrews, which largely takes up the question of approach to God, the death of Christ is seen in sin-offering character almost all through. This matter of divine holiness is most important. A man said to me the other day, 'We want more love', but I replied, 'For that we must have more holiness'.

It is sad to see how Urijah the priest lent himself to Ahaz's work of desecration; he did everything that Ahaz wanted. Religious leaders quickly fall in with what is wanted by man's corrupt tastes. If people want ritualism they let them have it; if they want rationalism they can have it; but where is the holiness of God in all this? What about Christ as forsaken sustaining the judgment of God? The divine altar is really displaced. It was not that Ahaz did away with the brazen altar altogether, but he put it aside so that it became secondary to his altar. In Christendom Christ is not yet altogether disowned, but He is made

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secondary to what is of man or of Satan. Ahaz says, "The brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by". People cannot get rid of the sense that Christ should have some place, but if He has not the place that God gives Him He has no place really. When what is of man is brought into the service of God the whole divine thought is lost.

Ahaz represents a state most common today -- the giving up all true sense of the holiness of God. It is only as Christ and His offering for sin have their place with us that there is any right sense of the holiness of God. But Ahaz not only displaced the altar, but he "cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the lavers from off them". The lavers were to wash in, and in them they rinsed what they prepared for the burnt-offering (2 Chronicles 4:6). The question of holiness in the saints is raised in connection with the lavers and the sea. If we give up the holiness of God we necessarily give up holiness in the saints. My exercise as to personal holiness will be measured by my sense of the holiness of God. "Be ye holy, for I am holy". In cutting off the panels and removing the lavers Ahaz was interfering with the means of purification, and thus with the holiness of the service of God. Nothing is more striking in the temple built by Solomon than the abundant provision for purifying (see 1 Kings 7). A great quantity of water was provided in the ten lavers and in the sea. It stressed the need for holy conditions in the service of God. It reminds us of the Lord's word, "Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me", John 13:8.

If Satan can take away from us the true thought of the lavers and the sea he will succeed in robbing us of influences that would make us holy and make our service holy; if our service is not holy it will not be acceptable. The lavers need to be used in view of every Lord's day morning. I do not mean that we are occupied in the use of them when we are together, but we should come to the meeting

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as having experienced their action and value. Everything prepared for the burnt-offering had to go through the lavers; there was no acceptable offering to God except what had been rinsed: "Let a man prove himself", 1 Corinthians 11:28. There is the possibility of fleshly elements entering in to what we sing or say to the blessed God. How important that every offering should be "rinsed"!

It is noticeable how much is said in 1 Kings 7 of the bases and panels on which the lavers stood. On the panels were "lions, oxen and cherubim" (verse 29), and again "cherubim, lions and palm-trees" (verse 36). I think that these symbolical creatures are intended to represent the power of holiness in the saints. The priests must wash, and every offering must go through the lavers. But the washing must be accompanied by what is set forth symbolically on the panels; that is, overcoming power in a holy priesthood. Satan would like the thought of offering to be disconnected from spiritual overcoming on the part of the saints. He would like us to break bread and to take part in the service of God, without being overcomers. He would like to cut off from our minds the thoughts of the "lions, oxen and cherubim" and of the "palm-trees" for they all speak of overcoming power. If this is not present with us there will not be holiness in the service of God. I think we must all realise that there cannot be a pure offering apart from the feature of overcoming in the saints.

The Lord would remind us that we have power to overcome. If we are carnal the Lord would say to us, 'I have given you the power to be spiritual; why do you not use it?' It is in using the divinely given power that conditions of holiness are brought about so that our offerings become acceptable. Every offering is rinsed. All is brought in holiness under the purifying action of the word. We should all be more exercised about holiness in connection with the service of God. The hour we spend

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together in assembly is the most important part of our lives, for it is the time when God is served in His assembly, and He can only be served in holiness. It should be a great object with us to maintain holiness throughout the week in view of coming together in assembly.

It is to be noted, according to 1 Kings 7:30, 33, that the lavers were upon wheels. We have been taught that the wheels as seen in Ezekiel 1 refer symbolically to God's movements in government in the world. But the wheels of the lavers were in the court of the temple and they refer to purifying movements which go on so that the service of God may be carried on in holiness. All the movements of God amongst His people have this in view. That by which God acts upon us, and upon our service, for purifying is always on wheels; it is marked by movement. All spiritual ministry of the word is a divine movement: indeed, "a word spoken in season" (Proverbs 25:11) is literally 'spoken upon his wheels'. Every divine speaking calls for some corresponding movement in us: it is thus that purification is effected in relation to the service of God.

Ahaz apparently got rid of the wheels of the lavers. Satan would like us to lose sight of divine movements in the meetings and in the ministry of the word; he would like to bring all down to the level of man. If what we hear or read in ministry does not purify us it has not come to us as a divine movement. If we do not move on with light which God gives, particularly as to how He would be served in His assembly, we are not getting the good of the lavers upon wheels. Purification for service is a continuous thing; it is a question of "perfecting holiness". What is offered to God must be "rinsed" in the lavers so as to be suitable to Him in holiness. The great effort of Satan, as set forth in the action of Ahaz, is to lower or corrupt the divine thought.

Then Ahaz "took down the sea from off the brazen oxen

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that were under it, and put it upon a stone pavement". The "sea" like the lavers, had much to say of holiness on the part of those who approach God. It spoke of immense means of purification, for it held two thousand baths according to 1 Kings 7:26, and it sets forth the great volume of purifying influence which is available in the word. But the twelve oxen supporting the sea remind us that it is only as the word is accompanied by the patient, persistent service of Christ that it is really effective for purifying. The twelve oxen speak of the unwearying service of Christ in love to sanctify and cleanse the saints by the washing of water by the word. They look north, west, south and east, speaking of a precious service of love which is available universally. If the word is separated from the service of Christ it loses its efficacy. We read Scripture sometimes without being purified. Ahaz taking down the sea from the brazen oxen shows how Satan would seek to separate the word from the living service of Christ, and thus nullify it.

I trust we all read the Scriptures daily, but I dare say most of us would confess that they have not been so productive of holiness as they should be. I believe the reason is that in reading the Bible we do not look enough for the personal service of Christ to make good in our souls what we read. It is the same in listening to the ministry of the word; Christ alone can make it good to us in purifying power. To have the sea without the oxen is to lose the whole divine thought. Much ministry of the word produces little result in holiness because the people of God do not realise the necessity for the personal service of Christ to make it effective. The sea without the oxen under it is like the word unapplied by the service of Christ. The Lord said to Peter, "Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me", John 13:8. And Paul, in desiring Timothy to think of what he says, adds "for the Lord will give thee under

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standing in all things", 2 Timothy 2:7. It is Christ who sanctifies and purifies the assembly by the washing of water by the word. These Scriptures shew clearly how essential the personal service of Christ is: if Satan can induce us to go on without it he has gained his point.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 17 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 17:1 - 41

This is a sorrowful chapter for it shows Israel finally carried away into Assyria because of their idolatry. They went away from everything that was their true glory and the glory of their dispensation. God had given them a knowledge of Himself such as He gave to no other people, beginning with deliverance out of Egypt and the overthrow of the nations of Canaan. But they followed vanity and became vain. We all become what we follow, so that what we are shows what we are following. If we follow Christ we become like Christ; if we follow Paul we become like him.

How soon was there a following of vanity in the christian profession! "For all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ", "All who are in Asia ... have turned away from me". They might think they had not turned away from the Lord, but they had. "Be not ... ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner". If the Lord was standing by Paul, to leave Paul was to leave the Lord. How soon the Lord had to say that the assembly in Ephesus had left its first love! First love is the only love that counts with the Lord, for if it is not there, and there is no repentance, He says, "I will remove thy lamp out of its place". This would correspond with Israel being carried off to Assyria. Those who are lukewarm He will spue out of His mouth. The Gentiles who do not abide in God's goodness will be cut away.

Idolatry takes the form now of turning away from the teaching of Christ and of the apostles. If any one turns now

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to the law as a means of righteousness it is idolatry. The Galatians were turning again to idolatry in turning to Jewish observances. "This is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent", John 17:3. John's writings are to preserve us from idolatry. To turn from the Father and the Son now is idolatry.

Those who were brought to Samaria in the place of Israel were utterly corrupt in their worship. No wonder the Lord said to them, "Ye worship ye know not what; we worship what we know". What transcendent grace that Jesus should go through Samaria, and that He should speak there of living water, and of the Father, and of worship in spirit and truth. He would purge Samaria of all elements of idolatry. Christendom has become like Samaria today, but the great Prophet is going through it still to set up in hearts the worship of the Father, and thus to displace every form of idolatry.

The king of Assyria in sending a priest (verse 27) to teach them the manner of the god of the land was pretty much like the way people are made christians today. They take up certain things outwardly without the slightest change inwardly, so that they go on with all their old idols. But the Lord proposes to give living water which springs up into eternal life, and when it does we seek the company of those in whom it is also springing up, and so the company of worshippers comes into evidence.

Hezekiah (chapter 18) is a beautiful example of one who hated what was idolatrous. He shows that in a very dark day God can give a gleam of wonderful light and faithfulness. There was remarkable power in Hezekiah to act for God in a dark day. The overcomers in the last days of Jewish history are very encouraging for us -- Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra and Nehemiah. They show how God can recover and restore after the greatest failure.

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2 KINGS CHAPTERS 18 AND 19 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 18:13 - 25, 37; 2 Kings 19:1 - 7

It would seem if we are to get a right bearing of these scriptures that we must go back to the prophetic word given to Ahaz, Hezekiah's father as recorded in Isaiah 7:3, "Jehovah said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, thou and thy son Shear-jashub" and "If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established", Isaiah 7:9. Jehovah was still waiting on the house of David with a view to their recovery and with a view to there being a remnant. The name of the prophet's son, Shear-jashub means, 'A remnant shall return'. I suggest that that word is the key to Hezekiah's history and the key to the ways of God occurrent today. God's thought and work is that there shall be a remnant that shall return to full confidence in Him. As we know, Ahaz had no faith. I suppose that no man ever had a better opportunity to have faith: God sent him this special message and told him to ask for a sign "in the deep, or in the height above". Ahaz was so unbelieving that he would not take advantage of God's wonderful offer but what the father missed the son, Hezekiah, got. It is very interesting to see that just at this juncture such wonderful prophecies concerning Christ were brought in. These prophecies are among the most precious of any in the Old Testament, and they are brought in at this time as though God would encourage by any means the faith of the remnant. All these prophetic words in Isaiah 7, 9, 11 and so on were to encourage the faith of the remnant. If God was going to do such things by Christ that is the measure He will do for His people. The remnant are not to be afraid of what is going

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on however great their pressure may be. We do not always obtain what we start with. Hezekiah gave great place to the prophetic word; we are told at the beginning of the chapter that he trusted in Jehovah, his heart was set to carry out what was right in the sight of Jehovah. He had paid attention to the prophetic word through Isaiah and understood that a remnant would return but after fourteen years he was not so bright. Fourteen years of prosperity weakened the power of the prophetic word in his soul; that is like us. How many of us here tonight are at the top point of our spiritual history? Is this the brightest spot in my spiritual history this minute? How many of us could say, Thank God it is? After fourteen years of prosperity Hezekiah lost his confidence in God. He was one of the best kings of Judah but he lost his confidence; he had not kept near the pool and highway and fuller's field. It was there that the prophet met him. There is a suggestion in these things of cleansing and purifying influences; it was a spot selected by Jehovah. He says, Meet king Ahaz there at "the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field", Isaiah 7:3. It speaks of purifying and cleansing; that is how the remnant returns. If that does not go on, our confidence goes down; we cannot keep confidence in God without purifying influences in the soul. We find that Hezekiah is not so bright after those fourteen years and when the king of Assyria comes up he does not think of God. How solemn! He does not pray or send to Isaiah or go to the house of Jehovah. He falls back on his own plans. He has lost the remnant character and this history shows how he recovered it. God brought tremendous pressure on him, and that was to produce true remnant character. God brings pressure on the remnant; God has a rod and His great thought is the return of the remnant. If we get to the counsels of heaven, we shall find out what God has in view in what He permits in the world, and that it is the remnant

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which has the first place in God's thoughts. The great prophetic word summed up is, 'A remnant shall return' -- Shear-jashub. Isaiah was to take him with him. If Ahaz did not return, God saw to it that a remnant did return. He sees to it today that a remnant shall return. God is with us. The important decree that went out from Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1) was ordered of God because it had bearing on what was happening at Bethlehem. It was important that there should be a remnant at Bethlehem at the right time. In all the pressure that is coming on Europe at the present time, God's thought is that there should be a remnant. We need pressure. See what Hezekiah came to; he started so well, but in fourteen years he had so wandered that he had lost all confidence in God. That is like you and me. What else is worth thinking of apart from relations with God and with Christ which are the great thing? If I lost everything in this world and my link with God and with Christ was strengthened, I have made a good exchange. I hope it is the holy ambition of each one of us to be in the remnant who had to return.

I believe the virgin daughter of Zion is found in two men, Isaiah and Hezekiah. They gave up all confidence in schemes of their own and had full confidence in God. They can laugh the Assyrian to scorn. The virgin character is to mark every local company of saints. The upper pool suggests purifying influences of an elevated character. If we are not prepared to abide by the pool and the fuller's field where our garments are made white we shall never form part of the remnant or be able to laugh the Assyrian to scorn. The fuller's field is where the garments are made white. What good are we for testimony if our garments are not purified in the fuller's field? The world will always try and overcome us; if it does not succeed one way it tries another. We find here in the early part of the chapter that Hezekiah was not thinking of God.

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His soul had gone down. He proposes to buy off the Assyrian and takes the treasures from the house of God to do it. This shows that if we compromise with the powers of the world it involves the surrender of what is due to God. God is working to get rid of the element of laxity; He takes account of us as we are. If we have loose principles and surrender what is due to God He will see to it and bring enough pressure on us to crush it out of us if we are to have place in the remnant. It is a peculiar test today as to what our confidence is. Are we on the same lines as the world around us or is every saint shining like a star amid the blackness around? Amid the blackness of this world's night every saint should shine like a star.

A beautiful word had been uttered before this time in Isaiah 10:20, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again rely upon him that smote them; but they shall rely upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God". What a character! The remnant is relying on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel in truth. Our spiritual value is measured by how much we rely on the blessed God.

We find in chapter 19 how beautifully the remnant does return. When the message is brought to Hezekiah, he rent his garments and went into the house of Jehovah. He sends the men mentioned to Isaiah and calls on him to pray for the remnant that is left. It is beautiful the way he received the letter: he "went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah". He is a fully restored man. The remnant has no resource save to pray, but we must not forget that these are weapons more powerful than anything the world knows about. The enemy is often surprised when he has observed our decline perhaps for fourteen years and thinks we shall be easy prey, he forgets

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the work of God can quickly restore one who has been going down for that time. The king of Assyria thought that Hezekiah had destroyed the worship of Jehovah. Satan does not know everything; the simplest saint knows much more than Satan about moral things. Satan understands the man after the flesh thoroughly but he knows nothing about the new man. If I walk in the new man, the creation of God, Satan does not know the least about me. He says to God, Touch job "and see if he will not curse thee to thy face!" Job 2:5. Satan does not know anything about a saint. As soon as I move on natural lines I come within the knowledge of Satan at once; he had no knowledge of the Son of God or he would never have suggested such things to Him as he did at the temptation; he would have known it was hopeless. No doubt he observed the Holy Child growing up for thirty years and watched His ways, yet he did not know Him one bit or he would never have suggested what he did.

It is beautiful to see Hezekiah cover himself with sackcloth, showing that the prophetic word was in his heart. Now in the time of distress he turns to Isaiah. Great pressure may come on the world, and we may have to live through scenes little thought of; what is going to be our resource, what are we going to live on? Only one thing, the prophetic word God has sent us in His Son is as substantial in the darkest day as in the brightest day. What is of God and worthy of Himself cannot be obscured by anything that happens.

One of the worst things about decline is that the heart is so slow to admit to itself that it has declined. People who have gone down in their souls do not know it and will not admit it; they think they are all right; that is the hardening influence of departure. Hebrews speaks of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. If we are away from the Lord we are in sin. Purifying influences are always there, the

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great influence is the word and to be among the brethren is purifying. We come out of the atmosphere of the world in coming together. It is a dreadful thing when saints forsake the assembling of themselves together; they are on the road to destruction. We know how purifying it is to get among the saints when the word of God leaves its mark on every heart. In the poorest meeting we were ever in we have heard something about God and about Christ and about His Spirit, holy influences are there. We need to learn the value of what is holy. It is most important that we should not neglect the prayer meeting; you are encouraged there by those who have more faith than yourself. It is a question of faith and nothing else will do. God will see to it if conditions come about that nothing but faith will go through. The moment the remnant returns we shall all be concerned about return. None of us will dare to say there is no need for me to return. We all need in some measure to return. The result is the greatest triumph. Nowhere in Scripture is there such a note of triumph as here, "The virgin-daughter of Zion despiseth thee, laugheth thee to scorn".

Hezekiah is a wonderful picture for us, he not only returns so that he can laugh at the Assyrian but in the next chapter there is a greater exercise. He is sick to death, he learns something about himself that is worse than the Assyrian. It is something if the world is brought to recognise that there are persons who are overcomers. It is a wonderful favour from God that the government of this country has had to recognise there are certain persons living in Great Britain who are different from others and that their exercises and convictions command respect. It is beautiful to see that God has this great thought, the remnant shall return. It is a sovereign thought in the ways of God today, "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ

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Jesus with eternal glory", 2 Timothy 2:10. That is the remnant. God made use of the Assyrian to bring a little true remnant character in Hezekiah and Isaiah and others so that the virgin daughter came to light.

We can rely on an immediate answer if it is requisite and if we are in the position that we must have an answer this minute, but if it will do next week we may have to wait until then for it. It "shall be given you in that hour" the Lord says (Mark 13:11). We cannot imagine the blessed God being behind time.

It is beautiful to see Hezekiah's self-judgment in his sackcloth. He had gone through something to get to sackcloth; he had to pass through fourteen years decline; and then he got to fellowship in Isaiah. It is most encouraging in a day of pressure. When God put this word of triumph into the mouth of the virgin daughter He had gained a great point and soon dealt with the Assyrian.

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2 KINGS CHAPTERS 18 AND 19

'A REMNANT SHALL RETURN' (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Kings 18:1 - 37; 2 Kings 19:1 - 37

Ahaz, when pressed by Pekah and Rezin, had sent to the king of Assyria to say, "I am thy servant and thy son: come up and, save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel", 2 Kings 16:7. This was after Jehovah had sent a special message to him by Isaiah and Shear-jashub, as we learn from Isaiah 7. Jehovah was still waiting on the house of David with a view to a remnant being recovered. Shear-jashub means 'A remnant shall return', and this is the key to Hezekiah's history, and also to the ways of God with His people today. God is working that there may be a remnant that shall return to full confidence in Him.

Ahaz had been specially favoured of God, for God would have given him any sign that he liked to ask for to establish his confidence. The message was delivered to him "at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field", Isaiah 7:3. The place was selected to intimate that Jehovah was waiting to bring about cleansing and restoration, for the aqueduct, the pool and the fuller's field all suggest places of purifying influences. But they were only available to faith, and Ahaz had no faith, though no man ever had a more wonderful opportunity to trust God. He was so unbelieving that he would not take advantage of God's offer to give him a sign, and it

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was because of this unbelief that God said that He would bring the king of Assyria upon Ahaz and his father's house. Ahaz did not value the prophetic word; he preferred to give his confidence and his treasure to the king of Assyria.

It is very interesting to see that just at this juncture God brought in most wonderful prophecies concerning Christ. The prophecies found in Isaiah 7 to 11 are among the most precious of any in the Old Testament. They were brought in to encourage the faith of the remnant. Christ, and all that God brings in by Christ, is the measure of what He will do for His people, so that the remnant need not be afraid whatever pressure may come upon them.

It would appear that Hezekiah had judged the unbelief that came out in his father; his ear had been open to the word of Jehovah, for "he trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel ... and he clave to Jehovah, and did not turn aside from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses". And we are told that he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. But he did not maintain this confidence, and we all have to learn that we cannot always maintain the faith that we began with. The testings that come upon us bring out our weaknesses. Fourteen years of prosperity seem to have weakened in his soul the power of the prophetic word. Isaiah 10:20 had, no doubt, been spoken at this time.

God always speaks to comfort and encourage faith, but if the purifying power of the pool and the fuller's field is not kept up faith loses its vigour, and then the king of Assyria seems to be more formidable than he did previously.

I wonder how many of us here tonight are at the highest point of our spiritual history? Hezekiah had been the best king of Judah, but he did not keep in the freshness of the prophetic word, or in the purifying influence of the pool and the fuller's field. We cannot maintain confidence in

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God if purifying influences are not going on in activity in our souls. After fourteen years Hezekiah was not so bright as we might have expected. It is sorrowful to see that at this point we do not read that he prayed, or that he sent to Isaiah, or that he went into the house of Jehovah. He fell back upon plans of his own, and gave all the silver in the house, and the gold of the doors and posts to the king of Assyria. When we lose confidence in God, and use means to deliver ourselves, it always implies some surrender of what is really due to God. God will always see to it that schemes of unbelief fail, even when adopted by such a man as Hezekiah.

The Assyrians came on, and they took up their place just where Isaiah had stood in Ahaz's day. As though God would remind Hezekiah, and all Jerusalem, of the prophetic word spoken there, and of the thought of a remnant returning (Isaiah 10:21). The pressure was, indeed, used by God to cause that a remnant did return, and we see this beautifully set out in chapter 19. Hezekiah had for the time lost true remnant character, but this history shows how he was recovered to it. God's great thought is that "the remnant shall return". If we understood the counsels of heaven we should see that the remnant has the first place in the thoughts of God, and all that He permits to happen in the world has in view the return of the remnant to its normal confidence in Him, and in His precious words concerning Christ. God will see to it today that a remnant shall return. All that is happening in Europe has this in view. Our relations with God and with Christ are the great things. May it be a holy desire with each one of us to be of the remnant that returns!

The features of the virgin daughter of Zion came out beautifully in the two men Hezekiah and Isaiah. They had both gone through deep exercises, and had had to learn to judge themselves in the presence of God. The fuller's field

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is where our garments are made white. God is working with us to get rid of all elements of laxity and unfaithfulness; He would have us to shine like stars amid the darkness of this world.

When Hezekiah heard the words of Rab-shakeh "he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah". He sent to request Isaiah to "lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left". All self-confidence has now gone. Afterwards when Rabshakeh's letter came he "went up into the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah". God had said, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again rely upon him that smote them; but they shall rely upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God", Isaiah 10:20, 21. Our spiritual value is measured by how much we rely on the blessed God. Prayer is more powerful than the strength that the world possesses. The enemy sometimes thinks when he has observed our decline over a period of years that he can easily prevail against us, but God can quickly restore His people, and uses the pressure of the enemy to bring this about.

One of the worst things about decline is that the heart is so slow to admit to itself that it has declined. Scripture speaks of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. But purifying influences are found amongst the brethren. Hezekiah turned to the most spiritual man that he knew in turning to Isaiah, and it is good to cleave to the holy brethren. We then get out of the atmosphere of the world, and under purifying influences. It is a dreadful thing to get away from the company of the saints; it is getting away from all that which is cleansing and restoring. It is, indeed, the road to destruction. If we find that we get

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nothing amongst the brethren, or in the meetings, it is a most alarming symptom. For in the poorest meeting of saints there ever was there was something of God and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, and these are holy and restoring influences. If there is decline with us let us not neglect the meeting for prayer; there is encouragement and help in being with those who have faith in God. In some sense we all need to return to more full confidence in God. In the conditions of the last days nothing but faith will go through in triumph. There is hardly anywhere in Scripture such a note of triumph as we get in 2 Kings 19:21. God used the pressure of the Assyrian to cause the remnant to return in true virgin character and in overcoming power. When God had secured the return of the remnant He soon dealt with the Assyrian. The sackcloth showed that Hezekiah had not passed lightly over the period of his decline; he had had it all out with God. Then God could righteously accredit him with the features of the virgin daughter of Zion. If the saints are faithful God will see to it that there is something about them which even the world has to respect. It is a great mercy and favour from God when the world recognises that the convictions of His people deserve respect.

God is weighing all things, and He comes in for His people just at the right time. If an immediate answer is needed we get it, but if the development of His ways requires it the pressure may continue, but its duration is always divinely measured.

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2 KINGS CHAPTERS 19 AND 20 (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Kings 19:1 - 37; 2 Kings 20:1 - 21

The king of Assyria was an external and blasphemous power which God used as the rod of His governmental dealings so that the remnant of His people might be exercised and humbled, and might return to Him in true self-judgment and confidence in Him. When the humbling was accepted God looked after the remnant that escaped of the house of Judah that it might take root downward and bear fruit upward. That is what God has in view in all pressure that is allowed to come upon His people. The tendency with us all is to be superficial and not well rooted. By self-judgment our roots get deeper down. God always has in view a deepening of things in the souls of His people, for bearing fruit upward is largely dependent on taking root downward. Bearing fruit upward is bearing fruit to God. It is well to remember that the governmental ways of God help this; we get, as it were, a fresh start with God as things are deepened with us. As we judge ourselves our roots go deeper down into His love and goodness, and in result there is more for Him. They had some root at Corinth, but they were not well rooted. It is evident from 2 Corinthians 7:9 - 11 that there had been distinct deepening with them, and we have all observed that as saints come under chastening there is more fruit from them for God. The measure of how spiritual things are prospering with us is the measure of fruit that God gets.

In the third year there had to be diligence in sowing and reaping and planting vineyards; the first two years

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Jehovah would give in sovereign goodness, but in the third year there must be diligence on the part of the people. In the first place with all of us God gives in His sovereignty, but He looks that this shall be followed by diligence on our side to secure fruitfulness. Then the remnant takes on its true character and comes out definitely for God. Fruitfulness ensures a supply of good food, and as we get good food we "know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good" (Isaiah 7:15, 21, 22). I gather from this that if we nourish what is of God, even though it may appear to be very small, it will nourish us. But this is the result of care and diligence on our side. It is not like the first two years when things grew of themselves; in the third year things have to be diligently and intelligently cultivated. We are all conscious that God has ministered a great deal to us on sovereign lines; He has given us much food in sovereign love and mercy; but He looks now that we should take up the exercise of the food supply ourselves. We are not to be merely passive receivers of things. Isaiah 7 has remnant conditions in view. It is having good food that enables us to take up the exercises of 2 Timothy.

But the government of God goes on with us all, and it is intended to have a great effect on us. He brought up the Assyrian upon His people, and he reached to the neck; it was nearly a submerging of everything. But the result was that the remnant returned to God in self-judgment and true confidence. The time of pressure resulted in this for God. The Assyrian represents any external pressure which may come upon the people of God. When it has produced its proper effect God can easily deal with any instrument which He has used in His disciplinary ways.

But in chapter 20 Hezekiah has to go through a deeper lesson. It is not now external pressure, but the direct dealing of God with him, bringing in death upon him. It would help us if we keep in mind that this history has in

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view the future when the Assyrian will come up in the last days, and God will intervene on behalf of His people. But then they will have to learn, too, that death is on them selves, which is a more serious matter than the Assyrian. It is part of God's disciplinary ways with us that we should learn that death is on us. This is essential if we are to come out in true remnant character.

We shall hardly realise that we have life in Another if we are not brought to the consciousness that death is upon us.

Paul had learned this great lesson, for he said, "But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not have our trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead", 2 Corinthians 1:9. If I am really as good as dead in my own thought of myself there is nothing for me but to trust in God who raises the dead. But this was not merely an inward conviction with Paul; he was put through circumstances which made death a very great reality to him experimentally: "We were excessively pressed beyond our power, so as to despair even of living". But at that point he proved the delivering power of God, "who has delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in whom we confide that he will also yet deliver", 2 Corinthians 1:10. God allowed such a persecution to come upon Paul that there seemed to be no escape from death but this was discipline for him that his service might be carried on more purely in the power of God who raises the dead. So he could say, "For we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; so that death works in us, but life in you", 2 Corinthians 4:11, 12. Death as a discipline was always on Paul, but it was that life might work in those whom he served, so that it was really a spiritual gain.

John in Revelation 1 had the experience of death: "And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead". He had never had such an experience before but it gave occasion for the right

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hand of the Son of man to be laid upon him, and for that glorious One to say, "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living one: and I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades", Revelation 1:17, 18. If John was as dead there was One who was the living One, and by the strength of His right hand His bondman could serve Him. There was great spiritual gain through the experience, reducing as it was. The family at Bethany went through the sorrow and discipline of death in a very real way, but it prepared them to know the Son of God as the Resurrection and the Life.

God brought the weight of death on Hezekiah's spirit, but it was really that he might learn how God could intervene in the power of resurrection so that he might go up on the third day to the house of Jehovah. But before going up there must be the application of the "cake of figs". It is clear from Scripture that the characteristic of the fig is sweetness; see Judges 9:11. So that I understand the "cake of figs" to be a symbol of the sweetness of divine intervention where all was apparently hopeless. Hezekiah wrote after he had recovered, "But thou hast in love delivered my soul from the pit of destruction", and, "Jehovah was purposed to save me", Isaiah 38:17, 20. He learned the love of God at the low point to which he was brought. It is terrible to us naturally to realise that death is upon us as before God, but it is just there that the love of God comes into contact with us. "For we being still without strength, in the due time Christ has died for the ungodly. For scarcely for the just man will one die, for perhaps for the good man some one might also dare to die; but God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us", Romans 5:6 - 8. The thought prominent in this Scripture is not that the claims of God have been met; that aspect of the truth comes out in the blood as put upon the mercy-seat. But here it is that

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God's love has been expressed in Christ having died for us, and this love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. The love of God is thus applied to us as the cake of figs was applied to Hezekiah. How wonderfully sweet it is to find that Christ has been into death to give expression to the love of God, and this is made a personal reality to each one who has the Spirit.

Many believers have never definitely faced the fact that death is upon them; such have a very vague idea of what life is according to God. Hezekiah could say, "Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; and thou hast recovered me, and made me to live ... The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I this day", Isaiah 38:16, 19. It was not simply that he recovered in a natural way, but his spirit was made to live as knowing the intervention of God for him as under death. So that he lived Godward in praise. Those who live by the Spirit in relation to God, as having God's love shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, know that it is in death that that love has reached them. "Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ... but death reigned from Adam until Moses ... death reigned by the one ... sin has reigned in the power of death", Romans 5:12, 14, 17, 21. It is as the full weight of this comes on our spirits that we are prepared to appreciate that this dreadful thing, death, has become in the death of Christ the expression to us of the love of God. And the Holy Spirit delights to apply that love to us by shedding it abroad in our hearts. The death of Christ thus becomes to us peculiarly full of sweetness. It is not simply that we believe that God loves us, but His love is shed abroad in our hearts, and it becomes a power of life there. We are then amongst "the living" who can praise God for His love known through the death of Christ. The assembly is made up of such living persons. Normally one who has the Spirit

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is occupied with God and with Christ and with the death of Christ. Of course if we grieve the Spirit by some allowance of the flesh we may be as unhappy as if we had not the Spirit at all.

But there is something more: "On the third day thou shalt go up to the house of Jehovah". That implies the power of resurrection. The sign of it was that Jehovah "brought the shadow back on the degrees by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward". It needed God to reverse the whole natural course of things. This was the wonder which was done in the land. I think the fact that the shadow went ten degrees backward intimates that death is removed in the power of resurrection in a way that is known to faith before the time when death will be publicly swallowed up in victory. While we are still here in the responsible life, where death is still manifestly upon all men, and, as to what is seen publicly, upon us too, we may know the power of Christ's resurrection, and we may be risen with Him by the faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead. Going up on the third day implies the truth that is brought out in the epistle to the Colossians. Saints can be risen with Christ before they are actually risen. Every one of us should apprehend this as a divine possibility. Going up to the house of Jehovah would be for us entering into the privileges of the assembly. The youngest of us should understand that we come together in assembly first of all to think of the great witness of divine love in the death of Christ. Then it is our privilege to magnify Christ in every aspect of His Person and glory, and in all that He is to the assembly as her glorious Head. Even the youngest and feeblest believer can say 'Amen' to every utterance which praises and magnifies Christ. And this would prepare us in a very blessed way to go up into conscious association with Him as risen with Him, and to know that even as ascended to the Father

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He owns us as His brethren. It is well to ask ourselves whether all this is known to us as a spiritual reality. How could any lover of Christ keep away from the assembly if he realised that such precious things could be known there and enjoyed experimentally? It is sorrowful to think that any believer could willingly remain away from the Lord's supper, for it is the Lord's own personal appeal of love intended to rally all His own. But He would not have us to think that His supper is everything; He would have us to know something of what "the third day" speaks of, and of going up. "And we will play upon my stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah", Isaiah 38:20. As we go up in association with Christ as His brethren there is an answer to God's great thought, and He is praised in the same way that Christ praises Him as having come up out of death. "Stringed instruments" suggest that a great variety of notes can be sounded, and that spiritual skill is evidenced by those who play upon them. The musical services that are carried on in the christian profession are an imitation in a material way of the true spiritual service; they do not require spiritual skill, for those who do not know God can take part in them. But those who have come up out of death by divine quickening can praise with Christ. He is the Chief Musician, for as having glorified God in death and sin-bearing He can utter in resurrection every note of praise that is due to God. The praises of the assembly take character from the praises of Christ, for He hymns God in the midst of the assembly, and who would think of raising a divergent note? If we have known the pressure of death, and how divine love has reached us there, it is in view of our being free to go up in company with Christ to praise God whom He has made known to us in such a wondrous way.

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2 KINGS CHAPTER 20 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Kings 20:7 - 21

The cake of figs provides a rather important instruction for us because it was divinely appointed. It seems that it is intended to be a token of divine intervention on Hezekiah's behalf, a token of what was in the heart of God. We are told in the writing of Hezekiah, "Thou hast in love delivered my soul from the pit of destruction" (Isaiah 38:17) and "Jehovah was purposed to save me" (Isaiah 38:20). I gather from that that the cake of figs was a symbol of the intervention of God in love according to purpose; it was applied to the boil and Hezekiah recovered. Bethany was connected with figs. It was a wonderful place and brought out the weakness of man and the intervention of God in the presence of death. God intervenes in love according to His purpose. The thought of sweetness is connected with figs; we get in it the aspect of the death of Christ which is peculiarly full of sweetness, not the thought of atonement. It is not a question of meeting the claims of God -- we get that at the mercy-seat -- but it is the love of God in relation to the power of death being efficacious as applied to our souls. I thought it was much like Romans 5 from verse 5 to the end. It is not a question of making atonement for sin but a question of the application of the love of God in the death of Christ to the soul of the believer. It is a question here in 2 Kings 20 of the application and that is the point in Romans 5 where the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The love of God as applied that way is definitely brought in to heal; it is the love of God as made known in the death

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of Christ and so in Romans 5 we see in verses 6 to 8 the commendation of God's love by His death.

This exercise might arise in the soul of the believer after he has been converted thirty or forty years. With Hezekiah there was an exercise which needed to be met; he had never been brought face to face with death. Many believers have never been brought face to face with death; they have never realised that death was upon them. Just at that point God gives the application of the love of God to the soul; it is not simply believing that God is love but there is a pouring out of that love into the heart by the Spirit. That is the answer in the New Testament to the cake of figs.

If we want to understand the anatomy of the boil we must read what Hezekiah wrote when he had recovered and see that it was a very deep-seated boil. He went through tremendous exercise although he had been a devoted saint for long years. He had to face this exercise. A boil represents exercise of soul; leprosy is always self-will. There cannot be self-will in the presence of death; death is the annihilation of self-will.

We see in this chapter the bitterness and anguish of this man's soul; then there is divine intervention and it is a living reality that makes his soul live: "The living, the living, he shall praise thee". Until we have this application of God by the Spirit we are not amongst the living. No one ought to break bread who has not the Spirit; many are breaking bread without the Spirit but they ought not to be. We have a very vague idea of what life is. The result of the application of the cake of figs was that Hezekiah lived. It is those who live by the Spirit in relation to God, as having the testimony of God's love in their hearts by the Spirit, that can praise God. The assembly is made up of those persons. Normally if a man has the Spirit he is occupied with God; if we grieve the Spirit we can be as

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miserable as not having the Spirit at all. But normally one who has the Spirit is occupied with God and with Christ. "God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us", Romans 5:8. I was thinking there are two sides to the application. The cake of figs and then the sign that Hezekiah should go up. These two outstanding spiritual lessons are for us in this scripture. Going up on the third day implies resurrection; we move upwards. Death comes in under the government of God and that may happen to any of us.

Strictly speaking, Hezekiah is a type of what will happen to Israel in another day. They will be brought down to death in their exercises and then brought up out of death to praise God as a living people. There is a present application of it; the ten degrees give it a present application. There is a moral exercise which has always to be gone through. The shadow going back ten degrees indicates it is something known by faith before the shadow of death is actually removed from a groaning creation. It is something that can be known whilst we are still in responsible life. The shadow going back ten degrees was a reversal of the whole course of nature. The report of it went far and wide. It was a wonder in the land that the shadow rolled back by divine power. All depends on the resurrection of Christ and His going up; He came up the third day out of death. Having had the witness of the love of God applied by the Spirit like the cake of figs, it is not difficult to go up in the faith of Christ risen. Going up implies the truth brought out in Colossians and Ephesians; that is the line of going up. Going up on the third day is Colossian ground. It is wonderful that there can be a people risen by faith, before they are actually risen and while they are still in responsibility. We can go up by faith to resurrection; it is a simple thing yet a divine possibility. Romans is more newness of life, not quite the sphere of resurrection. It was experimental

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with Hezekiah, not doctrine. He had the love of God applied to him at the lowest point and now he is able to move upward so that he can speak of going upward to the house of Jehovah on the third day which to us clearly implies that we go up as risen with Christ.

John presents the thing in keeping with Paul and he says, "Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God ... that we might live through him", 1 John 4:9. That is the love of God applied to us in our sinful condition. It is important to see that the love of God comes to us at our worst point; in spite of our being sinners the love of God not only comes out to us but is applied to us by the Spirit. Having reached that point it is not difficult to consider going up as risen with Christ. We are liberated from sins and the scene of death so that we may be free to go up. There is a wonderful liberation indicated which makes the sweetness of it very suggestive. What marks the fig is sweetness -- "Should I leave my sweetness", Judges 9:11. It is the death of Christ in this peculiarly sweet way which brings the love of God to us, poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful liberating power and now we can think of going up.

In connection with the cup we get the thought of drinking; we should never forget that the Lord said, "Drink ye all of it". In the drinking of the cup we drink afresh of divine love expressed in the death of Christ. The word in 1 Corinthians 12:13 fits in, "We ... have all been given to drink of one Spirit". That is an allusion to the cup. Being baptised by one Spirit into one body is an allusion to the loaf, and being made to drink of one Spirit is an allusion to the cup. It is not now a question of atonement but the witness of divine love, the death of Christ as the witness of the love of God to us. If I am assured by the Spirit of the love of God I am liberated. One cannot think of any person, who was assured by the Spirit that God loved him,

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not being free. Then there is a going up. We have to go through the history of this in the assembly each time we come together; we go over it afresh in the loaf and the cup which speak of the Lord's death not on the sacrificial side but on the witness side -- the witness of the love of God. The Lord would intimate to us to begin afresh every time, to begin our history afresh. Then having broken the bread and drunk the cup, that is the level on which we are in responsibility, we are prepared to go up to the sphere of being risen with Christ. When we come to the assembly we go further than going up on the third day, we go on to ascension. Hezekiah did not come to that.

It is a good exercise for us all to be perfectly free to go up to the sphere of resurrection with Christ who is out of death. We think of Him in death in the emblems and now He is out of death. In John where they made him a supper, they were all sitting down on resurrection ground.

Romans 6 is the new way of living on the old footing. As we go about our business all is done on a new basis; it is the same life but we move in it in newness of life. People should recognise there is something different about us. The reproach of Egypt was never rolled away until the Jordan was crossed and that warns us that to be risen with Christ is the only safe place from the world.

The house of the Lord for us is the assembly. The youngest of us should feel when we come together that we are first of all to think of the great witness of divine love in the death of Christ; then we move up to the sphere of being risen and associated with Christ; we are going to know what it is to be brethren of the One who has ascended to His Father and our Father, and to His God and our God. We should touch all this in spiritual reality. Fancy anyone keeping away from the assembly if they could touch these things! To remain away from the breaking of bread is the greatest insult that can be given to divine love. It is a

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solemn thing for anyone to stay away without a thought. A person who did not keep the passover in Israel was cut off, there was no mercy (Numbers 9:13). If the Lord thought so much of the passover what does He think of His supper?

After the breaking of bread we are apt to go too fast; we should praise the Lord as the anointed One and let our hearts go on that line before we come to the thought of association with Him. Christ is the Person magnified in the assembly and every heart can say 'Amen' to that, even the youngest and feeblest believer. This is like an instructive picture of how we may go up to the house of God in full christian privilege. If we do the enemy will take note of it and go to work with some subtle snare to cast us down from our excellence.

We find in this chapter that the king of Babylon sent to Hezekiah with enquiries. He was concerned about the wonder done in the land and his flattering attentions were sufficient to carry Hezekiah away from all the blessedness, showing what poor things we are. Even after high privilege we answer to a tiny bit of flattery from the world. There must have been something unjudged in this blessed man of God for Jehovah left him to try him to know what was in his heart. He responded to a bit of religious flattery. The king of Babylon sent to enquire of the wonder done in the land; he plans to flatter Hezekiah with a letter and a present. Hezekiah should have told him about the wonder done in the land and of his own writing and the effect on his spirit and they would have gone back with something to think about but instead he shows them all his nice things. This highly favoured man of God answers to Babylon showing there was Babylon in his heart; he shows them all in his house.

The result is, instead of having a son to carry on the testimony, he has the vilest man in Manasseh, who was born after this wonderful experience. This is very solemn

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and reminds us that we are still in responsibility, the place of testing. The most spiritual may fall before some subtle snare of the enemy. Hezekiah was the best king that reigned in Judah so it is not for nothing that we are warned in this way. The Lord has much to say to us in connection with it. It was not the Lord's things that Hezekiah showed these men. There is nothing to hinder us showing the Lord's things to anybody but if we make a show of our own things it ends in Babylon. It is important to keep the place of those who are under death and who are only safe as the love of God reaches and blesses us there so that we are free to go on to praise and worship.

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2 KINGS CHAPTERS 21 AND 22 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Kings 21:1 - 12; 2 Kings 22:1 - 9

As saints we do not dwell on what is evil, but we are not ignorant of it. God knows good and evil and so do men, but the saints know good and evil as God does; that is, they refuse the evil and choose the good. But the fact that refusing the evil is put first would show that this is the order of moral exercise in creatures who have once been in evil and have had to learn to refuse it.

There is one very solemn thing in 2 Kings 21, which is, I believe, prophetic of what is happening and will happen in christendom; that is, that Manasseh "did evil ... like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed". He led Judah astray to do greater evil and more idolatry (verses 9 - 11). I have no doubt that as christianity is given up there will be more evil in christendom than there was in the heathen world before light from God came in.

But it is very beautiful to see that Jehovah was pleased to give a wonderful movement of recovery before bringing in the judgment. Josiah (meaning 'Jehovah heals') is the last king of Judah to show any devotion to Jehovah or any faithfulness in his ways. And he began young to do what was right in the sight of Jehovah.

There are great possibilities before the young and I believe the Lord is looking to the young in a special way to carry on His work and testimony and to see to the service of God. Consider how He is calling young saints now to be His confessors before the world! He has put these in the front rank in the testimony! I do not think it is going too far to say that the real strength of the testimony is in the

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young. "The dew of thy youth" refers to young men. Those brought up in the truth have a great advantage because they are not hampered by wrong teaching; they are, in one sense, free-born.

When Josiah was 26 he began to manifest his care for the house of Jehovah. We are told in Chronicles that "in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem", 2 Chronicles 34:3. Then in the eighteenth year he takes in hand the repair of the house. We get more detail in Chronicles, which gives the spiritual history, but here we see that Josiah's concern was that the money brought into the house of Jehovah should be given into the hands of them that did the work. Paul refers to Timothy as working "the work of the Lord, even as I", and he mentions every one being "joined in the work and labouring" (1 Corinthians 16:10, 16). It is interesting to see that in 2 Kings 22 there are men known as doing the work.

A bedridden sister sent a message to one she had never seen, 'Tell him I pray for him every day' (see 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 13). The work in the house of God is largely now repairing. What breaches! It is all constructive. All true ministry has this character. It is not that anything will do, Ephesians will not do for Corinthians, nor Philippians for Thessalonians. In repairing it is, perhaps, more important to fit the right bit in the right place. "Let each see how he builds", 1 Corinthians 3:10.

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AN OUTLINE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES

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1 CHRONICLES (A GENERAL SURVEY FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

The whole human family is in view in chapter 1 but without any mention of idolatry or wickedness on their part. They are all, in God's view, for blessing.

Chapter 2 shows that God's government goes on amongst those who have a privileged place: Jehovah slew Er because he was wicked in His sight. Achan is marked out as one who sinned in the accursed thing. Then we get Caleb and the royal line.

Chapter 3 brings in the sons of David and the royal line carried down until after the captivity. The captivity did not break the royal line; not one thing that belongs to Christ as Lord and Head has broken down through the failure of the church. It goes through in the power of divine grace notwithstanding all failure. It is for the saints to return to it so that it may become apparent.

Chapter 4 shows how things are maintained on the side of the saints. The craftsmen and others are mentioned, and then the princes and overcomers and an extension of Israel's territory.

These chapters have as their theme the subject of origin or generation so that we come into things on the principle of generation. It is not simply that we believe certain things but we have been born into them. The normal way for people to have a place in a country is for them to have been born in it. John would give us to see that this is the main thing; everything in the christian profession today becomes a test as to whether we are really born of God.

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Psalm 87 shows that the book of life is the record of those born.

Chapter 5 recounts the setting aside of the firstborn and the dispersal of things in sovereignty.

Verse 1 of chapter 9 and verse 15 of chapter 6 are important as giving the standpoint from which the book is written. The genealogy of the sons of David is carried down to Zerubbabel, and even afterwards, showing that the Spirit of God takes account of a recovered remnant. So it is in spiritual order to read these books after those which speak of the return of the remnant. Written probably by Ezra, they are God's review of the whole history as He would have it to be considered by the returned remnant today. Hence it is that divine thoughts are prominent in these books. It has often been observed that failures are only mentioned when they are necessary to bring out the gracious character of God's ways. The prominent feature in this book is Christ as typified in David and the great end in view is the setting up of the service of God according to His mind.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 1 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 1:1 - 54

What strikes me first in the book is that all men are in God's view. The whole human family is in view in chapter 1 but without any mention of idolatry or wickedness on their part. They are all, typically, in the view of God for blessing. If men are put down in God's chronicles they are put down from the standpoint of what is in the mind of God. They are not viewed here as guilty creatures but as men taken account of in relation to all that God would bring in by Christ. So if Shem is taken up as having the knowledge of God in a special way it is that Japheth may be enlarged and come into the tents of Shem (Genesis 9:27). We get Abraham here for he is the one in whom all nations are to be blessed. In Isaac, too, all nations were to bless themselves.

God intimates, too, that there would be power of government on the earth, though not in the hands of His people. Nimrod is the great prototype of earthly power as it is in the hands of man. It is in rebel hands, but always under the eye of Jehovah. "He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah", Genesis 10:9.

God divided the earth among the nations (Deuteronomy 32:8). Now the nations are the special sphere of His work.

We find also that kings reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned a king over the children of Israel (verse 43). There is a great development of the idea of government in the world before the divine conception is brought in. We expect the world to have priority in this

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matter. The great image which Nebuchadnezzar saw was an imposing object of which he was the head of gold but it was all to be broken up by the stone cut out without hands (Daniel 2:45). No human power had anything to do with that stone.

We see the principle of sovereign selection in the names recorded in 1 Chronicles. All the tribes are not there, nor all the individuals in the tribes that are mentioned. Everything drops out that does not in some way serve God's purpose. We find three tribes singled out for special honour, just as the Lord selected three out of the twelve for special privilege and service.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 2 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 2:1 - 17

Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and He slew him. That is a warning to depart from iniquity. If we do not withdraw from what is not right we shall have fellowship in sins and shall partake of plagues (see Revelation 18:4).

Then in Achar we get another side. He was "the troubler of Israel". He was but one man, but he made all Israel guilty. Where I go I take all the brethren. A young brother starting out in a post which involved travelling said, 'How I behave will affect the whole fellowship'.

Then David is brought in. What is to be praised is seen in Judah; his father's children bow down to him (Genesis 49:8). In chapter 3 his genealogy is carried down far beyond the captivity. The development is not seen yet; it will come out later in the book but the person is there. If the Spirit can get a footing in our hearts for Christ He works from that starting point. He can add to it the whole counsel of God. So Paul began the Romans with God's Son, "come of David's seed according to flesh", Romans 1:3. He can build up the whole epistle on that, the whole gospel and the truth of the mystery.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 4 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 4:1 - 43

In the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles certain details have been selected by the Spirit of God as conveying instruction to the chosen remnant. Whilst the general subject is genealogy according to birth so that it corresponds to the book of life, it is not a full list in a natural way but a number of selected names which stand in relation to God's thoughts of grace and blessing in Christ. The incidents mentioned serve to bring out matters considered worthy of note by the Spirit of God and containing permanent instruction for the man of God.

In this chapter we see how spiritual things are maintained on the side of the saints. Jabez is the product of exercise; I do not think that the Spirit of God has told us who his father was. He had brethren; he had a mother and he cost her something. Some of us would have been more satisfied with the fruit of our labour if it had cost us more. Jabez is one of the outstanding men of prayer in the Scriptures. He wanted an enriched blessing and an enlarged border. I think we shall find it in this book but we must go in for it in Jabez's way. It is good to begin with a sense that we can only get things from God. We may hear, and read, and think but we only get things from God. Then Jabez wanted God's hand to be with him for preservation, so that evil might not come in to mar what God had given him. Sometimes a saint gets careless even through the great enlargement and joy that he has been given.

In close company with Othniel we get "the valley of craftsmen; for they were craftsmen". They were men who

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knew what they were about. They were men qualified for skilful labour, something like Bezaleel and Aholiab. They are wanted in every assembly. There is a danger of our being amateurs, liking to do something but lacking skill. The anointing would come in here. It is right to think first of our own portion in Christ and then, normally, we have a desire to be workmen. Every brother or sister who prays will be qualified for whatever service the Lord intends him or her to do. Human and natural qualifications are useless to further God's work. Prayer means, 'I cannot but Thou canst'.

The potters (verse 23) bring in the thought of the formation of vessels suitable for divine pleasure. They are not gold or silver vessels which would suggest new creation or the result of redemption, that is from the divine side, but they are earthen vessels suggestive of the human side as connected with responsibility. Am I content to be an unformed, or a malformed vessel? Subjection is the first element, then self-judgment giving permanence to the impressions made; then a sense of frailty keeps the vessel in constant dependence. Self-reliance leads to something coming in which is not of the King and unfavourable to His work. If any one thinks himself to be prophet or spiritual let him prove it by subjection. The epistles to Timothy and Titus largely touch on the formation of vessels, the kind of persons the saints are to be in view of service.

Then in verse 21 we get "the families of the house of byssus-workers". I think Epaphras was one of these. He wanted the saints at Colosse to stand perfect and complete in everything that was God's will. Having put on the new man we are to put on the precious features of Christ until we are fully invested with them. The righteousnesses of the saints are on this line. They are positive features, not merely that we do not do wrong. I will venture to say that

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the saints have no satisfaction in not doing wrong; their comfort is found in doing what is positively right. "These are ancient things" (verse 22). They are the commandments which we have heard from the beginning, things true in Him and in the saints. The potters work with a great sense of sovereignty; they have to do with the formation of vessels, earthen vessels. The singular thing is that what was apparently lowly work was carried on by men who "dwelt with the king for his work". They had his mind about the vessels and laboured to produce what would correspond with it. The potters have exercises about formation. A man may have great ability, even gift, and yet not be formed in correspondence with what he ministers.

The plantations and enclosures clearly suggest to our minds the idea of local assemblies. Growth in freshness is to mark them and a careful shutting out of the flesh and the world; the assemblies provide favourable conditions for spiritual growth; they are "walled cities". The King's work is going on there today. In a plantation one would expect to see the trees growing in height and girth whilst enclosures speak of exclusiveness.

Finally in the chapter we have in Simeon the thought of aggressive warfare; the desire for pasture on the part of the people was increasing greatly. Those displaced were those of Ham and Amalek, representing man in his natural departure from God. This continued as late as Hezekiah's day (verse 41). We have seen that for the past hundred years.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 5 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 5:1 - 26

In this chapter the victory is over the Hagarites, representing the legal or religious side. In the latter case the war is said to be of God (verse 22), and there are spiritual elements in the conflict who do not appear in chapter 4; they are seen as crying to God and putting their trust in Him.

Then in the half tribe of Manasseh (verse 25) there is a solemn warning for, instead of getting the victory, they went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land and went into captivity.

Verses 1 and 2 of this chapter are to be noted. They recount the setting aside of the firstborn and the dispersal of things in sovereignty. Royalty was given to Judah and the birthright to the sons of Joseph: "Judah prevailed among his brethren, and of him was the prince", that is, typically, Christ comes of Judah. There is the setting aside of the natural order. This is what the coming in of Christ is. The Son, who comes of David's seed according to flesh and is raised, sets aside everything of the natural order. But the birthright is Joseph's and this has to do with inheritance. Hence Romans 5 but "joint heirs" in chapter 8. Every other man is ruled out as under death.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 6, 15 AND 25

THE SERVICE OF SONG (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Chronicles 6:31, 32; 1 Chronicles 15:1 - 3,15,16; 1 Chronicles 25:1, 2

There has been a certain amount of exercise as to the service of song, and my thought in these Scriptures was that it might be spiritually profitable for us to see the connection between the service of song and the ark getting its place. No doubt we have all noticed that there is no such singing recorded either in the books of Samuel or in the books of Kings. In these books we see David as a type of Christ in victorious power, asserting the rights of God and doing great achievements in order that every adverse power might be brought into subjection and that the people of God might be in rest from all their enemies. That is suggestive of what Christ has done for us. But the service of song does not stand in relation to that; so that though there are great triumphs, and the people of God are brought into rest, the supremacy of David over every hostile power is unchallenged; yet there is no service of song.

Ques. Do you gather from that that the ark must be in its place before there can be any service of song?

C.A.C. It is strikingly suggestive. I put it out for consideration that the service of song is not ordered until there is a place secured for the ark. I think it is a matter of great spiritual import. In connection with a place being provided

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for the ark the service of song is at once introduced and enlarged upon.

Ques. How does it apply today?

C.A.C. I trust the Lord will help us to see how it does apply today. The ark had been available all through the reign of Saul. We are told in 1 Samuel 14:18, that the ark was amongst them, but there was no enquiry of it (1 Chronicles 13:3). It was there but it was neglected; it had no place. Saul, as we know, represents what is fleshly in character, in contrast to what is pleasing to God. Now it is quite obvious that under such an influence as that the ark could not have its place, and therefore there was no basis for the service of song. And, in spite of the fact that the religious world is very much marked by singing, I doubt whether the service of song has any place at all where the influence and will of man after the flesh predominates. David comes in as the man chosen of God, and he is able to establish typically all the rights of God, and there is complete subjugation of everything that is adverse; then he can take another character, so that, instead of acting in subduing power toward adversaries, he can take a place as head. And that is the character in which, it seems to me, David is presented in 1 Chronicles. He is seen as the victorious lord in Samuel and Kings, but as head in 1 Chronicles. I believe it is in connection with the recognition of Christ as Head that we can alone have the service of song.

Ques. What is the difference between this and the song at the Red Sea?

C.A.C. The song at the Red Sea was the celebration of divine triumph. There was at that moment a complete triumph of Jehovah over all adversaries, and He became the strength and song and salvation of His people, but there was no inauguration of a service of song.

In 1 Chronicles 13:1, we read that David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and David

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spoke to all the congregation of Israel. There is a suggestion also on his part in chapter 15, verse 16, "And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren, the singers, with instruments of music". The suggestion comes from David and in chapter 25, verse 2, we read "The sons of Asaph under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied at the direction of the king". "All these were under the direction of their fathers ... for song in the house of Jehovah ... under the direction of the king" (verse 6). That suggests headship; it is not now victorious power dealing with adversaries. We all have to begin with that. We all begin with an appreciation of Christ in the greatness of His victory, as in Exodus 15. We like to think of what He has done for us, and there is a certain song connected with that, but not the service of song. The song in Exodus 15 died away but when the service of song is inaugurated it is to continue. It is an ordered ministry for the pleasure of God of a permanent character. We have to discover that the divine intent in all that we know of what the blessed Lord has done for us in His great victory over everything adverse is that it should secure Him such a place in our affections that He becomes Head to us. We become prepared to receive directions and suggestions from Christ as Head. I believe it is on that line that the service of song is set up. I am sure we all want to minister to the pleasure of God. We should all like to use the instruments of God and to sing.

Ques. Is the last verse of the Psalms the climax?

C.A.C. What a climax! "Let everything that hath breath praise Jah. Hallelujah!". That is the climax in the millennial day. In 1 Chronicles 16:7, we read, "Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to give thanks to Jehovah through Asaph and his brethren". That leads on to the climax in verse 36, "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, from eternity and to eternity! And all the people

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said, Amen! and praised Jehovah". They are all brought into line with the Chief Singer. The sweet psalmist of Israel was there, "and all the people said, Amen!" The praise is everlasting in character; it is "from eternity and to eternity". There is no thought of this song ever dying out. There was a day when it began but it belongs to eternity. The service of song today is eternal in its character and it arises in relation to the ark getting its place. We must not lose sight of that.

David's preparing a tent for the ark is most suggestive; it applies in such a peculiar way to the present moment. It is not the ark in the temple; that awaits another day. Solomon has not come in yet to build the temple, and to give the ark its glorious place in a setting of magnificence in this world. Before that day comes, Christ as Head secures an unpretentious place outwardly for Himself as the Ark. It was in a tent; it had not even the glory of the tabernacle. It was an unpretentious tent but it was a place for the ark. Now, beloved brethren, that is precisely the position today. Christ as Head is securing a place for Himself as the Ark and it is unpretentious. It has not the glory of the outward display which will be in the kingdom, and it refuses all the glory of a corrupt and almost apostate profession, but there is a place for the ark. How we should think of that -- a place for Christ as the Ark! I do not think we realise the greatness of the privilege that God has called us to. Its being a "tent" suggests its provisional character; not exactly movability because it never was moved until the ark was taken from it to be put in the temple; that is the next move. The ark is in the tent today; it is cherished in humble and lowly hearts, it is cherished where there is nothing of the glory of the world, but it is going to be cherished there and the service of song is going to be there until the moment comes for Solomon to bring it into the temple.

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Before we go any further on that line, I would like to go back and call attention to an important aspect of the truth as presented in 1 Chronicles. That is, that the first nine chapters of this book are occupied by genealogies; many of us have noticed it and passed them over without reading them, but those nine chapters are essential to the character of the book. There are some choice gems in those chapters. I am not going to turn aside to these jewels now, but the whole of this book and its service rests upon these genealogies. That is to say, every one who took part in the service, whether it was the service of the altar, or the keeping of the doors, or raising the song, whatever was directed or suggested by David as head, every man was qualified to take up his service by his pedigree. I look upon that as a vital point. We should not think that this long list of names means nothing. God would show us that, if He is going to appoint persons to any kind of service, He will qualify those persons by their generation for the service He means them to take up. It is a very important truth in connection with the headship of Christ, because what would be the practical gain of the headship of Christ unless there was a generation that was qualified to respond to His direction?

Ques. Where do we derive from?

C.A.C. That is very important. In relation to Christ as Head we are not simply viewed as sinners saved by grace, but we are looked upon as persons who have a spiritual pedigree. John insists on pedigree -- a generation born of God. And it is essential that if there is such a wonderful thing as Christ being Head and giving directions, there must be a generation that will respond. It is not now a question of subjugation but of response, and that is why we have to learn the kingdom first. Nothing could respond to Christ as Head that had not been brought into subjection. We have to learn what Christ has done for us, and the

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sense of what He has done, and the wonderful place that He takes before us as maintaining the rights of God brings us into subjection. We feel that He has rescued us from the awful tyranny of our own wills. That is experimental. But on the divine side we are of a new generation; we are born of God; we have a pedigree. Being born suggests the idea of generation and if we are born of God it is a wonderful pedigree. John gives us the whole history of how the generation is formed. He speaks in the first chapter of the gospel about persons who receive Christ because they are born of God. There we see them as newborn babes, and then we go through the gospel to chapter 17 and we find there, "men". They have come to maturity; all the men of the Levites that David numbered were twenty years old. There was maturity.

Ques. As to the kingdom, what is the difference between lordship and headship?

C.A.C. Lordship is in the books of Samuel and of Kings, and we would like to assume that that was a settled thing with us -- that Christ really had His place with us as Lord, so that we are not living on the principle of doing our own will but on the principle of subjection to Him as Lord. This is primary and essential, but all this is to prepare us to give Him His place as Head. He would say, as it were, 'I want to be able to direct and suggest to you', and what He would suggest to us is that the ark should have its place. 'I suggest to you that you should think of Me in relation to God'. Now that is what the Lord suggests as Head this afternoon, for every young believer here -- and every old one too -'I suggest that you should give Me a place in all that I am in relation to God'. That is the ark! There is no service of song until we accord Him that place, as we are subject to the Head and responsive to the directions of the Head. David suggested securing a place for the ark, and when the service was inaugurated and carried on,

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it was under the direction of the king, that is headship; not exactly an arbitrary order, but a spiritual direction. The Lord would have us responsive, and as having a new and spiritual pedigree we should be responsive to the direction of the Head, so that we should be ready to be door keepers or for the service of the altar or the service of song, any part of the service that He might direct.

Ques. As to Hebrews 2?

C.A.C. The Lord is seen in Hebrews as the Minister of the sanctuary; He is the One who has charge of the service of God, and everything that has a part in the service of God is under His hand. It is all living.

Rem. Say a little more about the generation.

C.A.C. We have to make manifest that we have spiritual features. That is the simple meaning of it. No one has spiritual features according to the flesh. According to my natural generation I have not a single spiritual feature. We shall not come into the assembly of God like that. If I can establish that I have spiritual features I have declared my pedigree. Spiritual features are very simple: first I judge myself, and secondly I appreciate Christ. I have to make manifest to myself and to God and then to the brethren that I am marked by these spiritual features. Thus I prove -- I establish -- my pedigree. It does not imply that one is fully grown, but the pedigree is there; you may be only a little child, not competent yet for service in relation to the ark, for maturity is required for that, but if you have established your pedigree, every day you are getting bigger. It is astonishing how quickly people may become twenty years old if they are spiritually minded. I believe the apostle Paul became twenty years old in a few days. You judge everything in yourself and the world that is not according to Christ. The youngest babe may start with that. As I judge and refuse everything in myself and in the world that is not according to Christ I go on increasing

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in the appreciation of Christ; and, on the other hand, the more I appreciate Christ the more refined and sensitive are all my sensibilities to refuse what is not of Christ. In that way we should soon grow from babes to be twenty years old. To serve at the altar or to be singers or doorkeepers, maturity is required.

In John 17 we see men marked by maturity, who could be trusted with the testimony. They were mature and they were trustworthy. The Lord could put everything that was in His heart in their hands.

I would like us to get distinctly before us the character in which Christ can be known as the ark, because that is not on our side at all. It is not what He has done for me, it is not His victory over the enemy, but it is the relation in which He stands to God. Until we have secured Him a place in that character we cannot sing.

Ques. As to Psalm 22?

C.A.C. The Lord praises there on the ground that, through the value of the sin-offering, all that God is can be declared to His brethren. When He says, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren" (Psalm 22:22), He is on our side, He makes God known to us so that we may sing with Him. But then the way we know God is in relation to the ark. I would call earnest attention to that.

The gospels are the supreme part of the Holy Scriptures, and the four gospels answer to the different characters in which the ark is presented. In Matthew, I believe, the Lord is seen as the Ark of Jehovah; that is, there is set forth in Him the faithfulness of God to all His promises. In Mark, we see Him as the Ark of the testimony; that is, God is giving testimony to all that He is in the presence of all the conditions that sin had brought into His creation. Then in Luke, I believe, the Lord is seen as the Ark of the covenant, the expression of all the divine favour to men. In John, He is seen as the Ark of God. There is the expression in Him of

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God, in His nature, and in all the purposes of His love. He is the Ark of God. Now, beloved brethren, how far have we secured affectionately a place for the blessed One of God as He is set forth in these four gospels? Then what a wonderful service of song there would be! Can anybody imagine the sweetness and the power and the elevation and the depths of those notes that would rise to God from those who have really reserved a place for Christ as the Ark in its fourfold glory? It is secured in a very simple form outwardly. Through infinite grace a few obscure individuals can come together, and walk together in the consciousness that they are reserving a place for Christ as the Ark. They are really in communion with God as to what Christ is to Him. And then you can have the service of song. But it must be remembered that if there were four thousand singers there were also four thousand doorkeepers; that is very suggestive. It is said of certain persons that they "were doorkeepers for the ark", 1 Chronicles 15:24. I would suggest that it is a mark of increasing maturity when souls turn to the gospels. We all begin with the epistles, Romans particularly, but we end in the gospels. There we have what is supreme. If we get a sense of it, how important it is that every association in which it is found should be safeguarded from the intrusion of evil! We are called, beloved brethren, to be doorkeepers for the ark, and the doorkeepers correspond numerically with the singers, showing that the song must be accompanied by the most jealous safeguarding of all that is due to Christ as the ark. Otherwise there will be no service of song. There may be plenty of hymns but no service of song -- nothing that reaches the ear of the blessed God as being in accord with His own heart and mind. The better the doorkeeper, the better the singer. This is how the service of song really gets its place. What marks singing is joy, "Lifting up the voice with joy", 1 Chronicles 15:16. The real tuning of the music

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must go on in our hearts. If we could have a hymn book, accurate and with the most refined expressions that had ever been used, that would not in itself enable us to sing. The music is in the heart. And it is as we have in our hearts the joy of all that Christ is as the Ark of Jehovah, and the Ark of the testimony, and the Ark of the covenant, and the Ark of God that we can sing. We want more of that. I would like to see the saints ready for a revised hymn book; many of us need revising in our affections.

Ques. What would be the difference between singing in Colossians and singing in Ephesians?

C.A.C. That is an interesting question. In Colossians we sing to God as under the headship of Christ, and as directed by Him. I think the Lord as Head would direct us into the truth of what He is as the Ark. I do not think we can get it any other way. As He does that we should become Colossian singers. We should be able to sing to God. In Ephesians we sing to the Lord; we also give thanks to God the Father, but we sing to the Lord. As filled with the Spirit -- and that is the setting in which we sing in Ephesians -- we sing to the Lord because we see the great place that He holds on God's part.

Ques. Is singing individual?

C.A.C. In the idea of singing there is the thought of blending in harmony. 1 Chronicles 15:22 speaks about the instruction that is needed for singing: "And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites for the music, gave instruction in music, for he was skilful". Verse 20 mentions a number of names and ends with "lutes on Alamoth", then at the end of verse 21, we read "harps on the Sheminith". "Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark" (verse 23). Instruction in music is under the headship of Christ. Without this I do not think anybody can give out a hymn suitably, though in one sense there is nothing easier than giving out a hymn. It does not seem to

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be suitable for a brother to give out a hymn who does nothing else, who never speaks to God in prayer or praise. The giving out of a hymn is the most elevated service in the house of God. It requires the most profound spirituality. If I address the Lord in praise, that is on my own responsibility, and no one need say, 'Amen' unless they like, but if I give out a hymn I commit the assembly to it. If it is not suitable I detain the service of the assembly. I believe meetings are often greatly detained by hymns, I do not say hindered. A spiritual company of persons together would not be hindered by a hymn, but they might be detained for the time from the present service of God in the Spirit. How important it is to have instruction in singing! Alamoth represents a high note and Sheminith the bass notes. We need instruction. Who is going to give it to us? We must get instruction from the Head -- then we shall know whether to sing high or low or how to blend the two. Spiritual persons alone come under headship. If I am a carnal man I shall not know the gain of headship; I may talk about it for years but I am not in it. Singing as under headship would engage us with Christ in relation to God.

Ques. You would not leave the Lord out after the breaking of bread?

C.A.C. Certainly not. I do not think we should know what will happen in the meeting after the breaking of bread. We ought to know what will happen up to the breaking of bread, for we come together to break bread, and therefore we are under specific instruction, and any part that is taken in the meeting should have direct reference to the breaking of bread. But when we have broken the bread and are prepared in affection to receive suggestions and directions from the Head, I do not know how He is going to direct. He may have a word of ministry for us. All would be in wisdom, and He would have regard, too, to the state of the saints. The word "music" in chapter 15,

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verse 22, has the sense of 'lifting up' or 'transport', and it indicates that the service of song is so serious a matter as to be described by the Spirit of God in this way. It is not because a hymn comes into one's mind that it should be given out. It is a matter of deep exercise that in the service of song all should be under the instruction of the Head. It shows the onerous character of it. It is not a thing to be touched with a light hand. It is only the Chief of the Levites who can instruct us. I am delighted when another brother gives out a hymn that has come before me. It is confirmatory of one's exercises, and what is of the Head would carry all spiritual persons with it as being suitable at the moment.

The service of song is a very serious matter and to take up active service in regard to it means carrying something in your spirit that is weighty. If we considered that there will never be anything in eternity greater in spiritual dignity than the service of song in the house of God today it would make us serious and sober and we should be governed in what we say or sing, not by our feelings alone, but by the light that is in our hearts of Christ in relation to God.

Ques. Would you address Christ personally after the breaking of bread?

C.A.C. It is a question of spiritual sensibilities. I think sometimes we are too quick to hurry away from what the Lord suggests to us in the Supper. He suggests wonderful things to us in the Supper, and I have thought sometimes that if we lingered over what the Lord suggests then it would put more body into the praise. Sometimes as soon as the Supper is over there is a tendency to turn to the Father, and to express what is suitable to family relationship, when perhaps the meeting as a whole is not spiritually up to it. The result of that is that there is a drop. There is a high note sounded, and then a drop. Now I do not

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think the Lord would have drops; we read about "the ascent by which he went up". In the Songs of Degrees there is the idea of going up from one step to another. We need to move with spiritual sensitiveness, to feel what is suitable to the moment.

Whenever we get the thought of "chief" as in verse 22, there is a spiritual reference to Christ. He alone is Chief. Ques. As to the burnt-offering and the song of Jehovah in 2 Chronicles 29:27?

C.A.C. The song is connected there with the saints entering into the pleasure of God in Christ in burnt-offering aspect. That is the sacrificial side, which has its place. The burnt-offering is a very elevated aspect of the sacrificial side. It sets forth the sweet odour of the offering of Christ to God. That confirms the thought that we have had before us that the service of song stands in relation to Christ viewed on the divine side. As the burnt-offering began the song of Jehovah began. The singers have moved over from their side to God's side. They are thinking of the infinite sweet savour of Christ to the heart of God. That is never out of place in the assembly. Indeed, when we get to God's side we cannot go wrong.

The service of song must be in unity. If at any time things are low they must be lifted spiritually; if the meeting is low it is no use trying to lift it by human effort. You must lift it spiritually. The singers were as one; no brother is to predominate. I have heard from a man who used to play in a band that the excellence of the music depends on no one instrument predominating; every instrument should blend. We have to learn to blend; so that if a very highly intelligent brother were in a meeting where they were all uninstructed and low down, he would have to learn to blend, but on their side they would have to learn to blend too. If their hearts were really touched they would have a desire to blend with him. The giving of Christ His

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place as Head according to 1 Chronicles is of the utmost importance.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 10 AND 11 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 10:1 - 14; 1 Chronicles 11:1 - 3

David is introduced as the prince in chapter 5 (verse 2), the service of song in chapter 6 and in chapter 9 the levitical trust to see that every detail is ready for service. All is so rich in typical meaning, all speaking of Christ.

The history in this book begins by showing us the end of the unfaithful man. We have not his history here but his end in death. God was pleased to test man after the flesh for forty centuries, particularly in Israel, so that his character might be known by experience. Christ does not get His place with any of us until we learn what the flesh is and that the end of it is in death. The Philistines did not actually kill Saul; he fell on his sword, but it is said in this chapter that Jehovah slew him and transferred the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

The valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead would show, in burying Saul and his sons, that it is right to respect the position in which God has set a man, even if he has failed in it. David always did so. The simple fact here is that Saul was dead and buried. It is what we have to come to as regards ourselves. Paul's account of it is that God removed him (Acts 13:22). The men of Jabesh-Gilead represent persons who own the act of God in a reverential manner. They identified themselves with what God had done; they regarded it as a matter of personal exercise. This would be something like taking up the exercise of baptism. God puts this great institution at the very gate of christian profession. It often takes a lifetime to learn all that is bound up in it. Christ is the great lesson book for us now.

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It is not simply that the unfaithful man is dead, but that he is dead in the death of the faithful Man. We are baptized unto Christ; we are put into relation to Him by baptism, but it is also to His death. I suppose that no one was ever baptized to Christ until after He had died. He died for me that He might be my life. So all Israel assembled to David in Hebron and said, "We are thy bone and thy flesh". It is a complete change over from Saul to David. When Man said it in the garden it was Christ typically owning the assembly as of Himself, but in 1 Chronicles 11 it is the saints who are taking that ground. They are transferred in mind and affection into kindred with Christ or, even more than that, into corporate identification with Him. Our bodies are members of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10 is the apprehension of being one bread. It never says we are one cup. We could not be that because it is the blessing to which we respond in blessing it. It is possible for us to come to the moral reality that we are His bone and His flesh.

We find that there had been discernment of David's leadership in times past. There is always, I believe, a preparatory work in individuals before we are brought to Christ assembly-wise. There is the thought of Him as Prince, leading and feeding the people; everything centres in Him. God's great thoughts as to Him come before the heart.

David's making a covenant in Hebron is like the Lord committing Himself to His own in resurrection; they anoint David as King in Hebron. He was to have absolute control; it is like saying, 'Lord', to Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are outside the domain of flesh and sin and death altogether when we anoint Him. It is an experience to be known after the Supper. Then we should get the services ordered under the same Lord.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 23 TO 27

FEATURES OF THE SERVICE OF GOD (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

A General Survey of the Whole of Chapters 23 to 27

These chapters are instructive as to service and are to be pondered by all believers as affording light as to how God is to be served. The doorkeepers have an important place in this service; every gate was to be watched. This would be a perpetual service. It is a continual watchfulness from the point of view of what is suitable to God. Hebrews, chapters 12 and 13 show the doorkeepers on duty. This charge applies to the care meeting and to each one of us individually. There is no assembly of God without this oversight.

We see in chapter 23, too, how the levitical blends with the priestly in the service of the house of Jehovah. The ministry of the word is always to help priestly service; that is in the mind of every levite, whatever part of the truth he may present. The prophets and teachers in the assembly at Antioch were ministering to the Lord (Acts 13:2). Paul served in his spirit and carried on his gospel work as a sacrificial service (Romans 15:16).

The courses of the sons of Aaron are seen in chapter 24. We have the principle of "head-men", "the princes of the sanctuary" and "the princes of God". It suggests that there are those who are prominent by reason of what they are personally in relation to the service of God. The service requires the very best. J.B.S. used to say that every meeting

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was characterised by the most spiritual person in it. But then each one has to remember that he is one of twenty-four. There must be no dropping out of line. Twenty-four would suggest the universality of the priestly service, "with all the saints". There is the thought that the service goes round so that each one has his half month. The thought of courses has dropped out in the religious world, but the Lord has revived it in measure and given liberty to take it up practically. A reduction in the size of a meeting is to give more place to the thought of courses; all the holy priesthood are to have their turn. The casting of lots means that there is no self-pleasing; each one must be content to drop into his assigned place in the order. "The chief fathers just as the youngest of their brethren" is said of the Levites and in principle it applies to the priesthood.

The service of song as taken up in chapter 25 is ordered by David and the captains of the host, indicating that the assembly in its militant character has this in view. Every conflict that has to be gone through directly re-acts on the service, for example, the Reformation, the evangelical revival, the truth of the assembly, the matter of the Lord's sonship and so on. Contending earnestly for the faith really has in view the service of song.

It is to be noted that prophesying is made prominent. There is a bringing out of the mind of God even in the musical part of the service. In the most spiritual parts of the service it is not only for divine Persons but the element of understanding comes in for the good of the assembly -- "speaking to yourselves", Ephesians 5:19.

The harp would be the most refined and comprehensive instrument; the lutes and cymbals have a lower grade of harmony; the youngest believer can enter into some hymns; others call for spiritual maturity.

Direction has a great place here. I do not think it is exactly headship, but rather that all is under control.

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Christ is Son over God's house, One who is faithful to God as Son over God's house. As Head He is on our side and as Priest, but He is "Son over". It is more a Solomonic character. I think there is direction from the Lord in the mediatorial sense as introducing to us what is suitable to God and particularly with reference to the prophetic side of the service.

"To give thanks and to praise Jehovah" is mentioned in verse 3 of chapter 25. Sometimes the Lord has to direct us so that we may harmonise with Him and then He can take His place as Head. I think He is directing them at the end of Mark but He is seen as Head in John 20.

In chapter 25, verse 5, Heman is called "The king's seer in the words of God, to exalt his power". That is, as I understand, words which make much of God and exalt His power. That is Ephesian ground.

We have two hundred and eighty-eight men instructed in the songs of Jehovah, all of them skilful; they represent those of the assembly in their highest privilege.

The care of the treasures is another important part of the service. "The treasures of the house of God" are to be distinguished from the holy vessels which give us the revelation side. I understand the treasures are what has been made good in the saints by the work of God. The utterances of the saints, as divinely taught, express what they know of God and of His Christ. The gospels and the epistles were written by men who had the substance of things in their souls. All have become the treasures of the house.

The dedicated things speak of devotedness to the house. They are the result of spiritual wars. The thought is that all that has been dedicated is to be conserved and preserved. What the servants of the Lord have brought in as the results of battles for the truth is to be carefully looked after and handed down unimpaired. The divine thought is

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that the treasures can be added to. There is no reason why any of us should fail to add. There is no addition on the revelation side, but on the side of appreciation and response there is no limit to what may be added. It is part of the levitical service to see that the treasures are not taken away or diminished. We cannot afford to be indifferent to what God has wrought in the souls of those who have served Him.

We find one reason why David was wrong in numbering Israel in chapter 27, verse 23. God would not have any limit set to the multiplying of His people. Spiritually it speaks of unlimited expansion.

Then we get storehouses in every locality and everything is provided for in connection with "the substance which was king David's". Every department was under control. It reminds one of the distinctiveness of services and the same Lord. It is good to see that Paul speaks of things as in God's mind; he corrects what was disorderly by speaking of what was divine order.

In chapter 27 the service is more general. It is that of the King (verse 1) so that it corresponds more with the services spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 28 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 28:1 - 21

Solomon had been previously charged to build the house but now he is charged in the presence of all those who represented all Israel. The princes, the military men and all who served the king were to understand that the building of the house of rest for the ark of the covenant was the principal thing in God's mind and that Solomon was to "build my house and my courts". Jehovah also had chosen him to be His son. All were to be brought into this great matter.

And so it is today. God would have all the people and His servants to know what is for His pleasure here upon the earth, because the house does not typify what is in heaven but a house of rest for God upon the earth. David adds, "and for the footstool of our God" (verse 2). God's thought is that the earth is to furnish a footstool for Him to convey His thoughts of blessing in a restful position. He has finished the work and is restful. The house is the house of rest for the ark of the covenant, that is, Christ as the Ark can be restful in the affections of saints as finding congenial conditions there. It is Christ as expressive of all that is in the heart of God manward, as seen particularly in Luke's gospel.

In verse 1 I we read of "the house of the mercy-seat" -- a beautiful designation. God can be perfectly restful where He is known as revealed in Christ and through the death of Christ; and He would link all this with the thought of sonship for He has brought it all in by One who is the Son of His love. John's gospel comes in to give us the full sense

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of the blessedness of the declaration of God. It has come by One who is in the bosom of the Father. Solomon represents Christ glorified as the Object of the Father's love. His present place is in the bosom of the Father. As Man He is in the most intimate enjoyment of the Father's love. We shall not understand the character of the house down here if we do not see that it is built by the Son glorified (Matthew 16). So there is that on earth which corresponds with what is in heaven. Whatever thoughts there are in connection with God being nearer to men -- such as the Ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat -- behind all and above all is that of Christ's blessed sonship. What restfulness for God is brought in there! The covenant as known by Israel included all that was in the mind of God for blessing so that in applying it to ourselves it includes sonship.

So we can understand that David could not build the house. Fighting battles and overcoming what is adverse is very essential, but it does not minister rest to God. We may contend for the truth and stand for what is right and yet stop short of being a house of rest for God. Sonship must impress its own blessed character upon the whole system that comes under Solomon. We are thus encouraged to take a very exalted view of these types and to read into them a meaning that harmonizes with what is known in the assembly today.

So that, in the light of this, we are to "keep and seek for all the commandments of Jehovah your God". This brings in all that is known as the divine will, whether of individual or collective application. If we get careless we may miss the most blessed things; we may, in a practical sense, lose the house and the land. Verse 9 is still true. The perfect heart and the willing mind are needed. God searches all hearts and discerns all the imaginations of the thoughts.

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Moses was shown the pattern in the mount. There must be a going up on our part from what is on man's level or we shall not see the pattern. But David is viewed here as having the pattern of all by the Spirit. He is at the Spirit's elevation and could write by Jehovah's hand upon him instructing him as to the pattern. This goes along with the apprehension of sonship in Christ glorified. It is only by being spiritual that we can have things.

The word "weight" occurs nine times in this chapter. The point here is that every detail of the house is known by the Spirit and is a help to us in learning how God has a place here. All these things have their counterpart in the house today. It is noticeable that we do not get, either in Samuel or Kings, anything about the pattern being given by the Spirit. It is Solomon acting in God-given wisdom but there is not much about preparation or the pattern. God in 1 Chronicles would bring us to view things as worked out according to the pattern communicated by the Spirit. The whole house and its various parts and vessels were there in pattern before any of it was built. In a day of recovery we need to see what is in the mind of God in its perfection. David here represents a spiritual man getting light as to the house and understanding that it will only take form as the beloved Son gets His place and sonship comes in to give character to the work of God in His people. It is not that sonship is known in a mature way. Solomon is "young and tender" but he is made king. There is the thought of sonship as supreme in the mind of God. The mature thought is not reached until chapter 29. Nothing is said about his being "young and tender" after that. It is when the divine thought comes to maturity in our souls that conditions are present for the building to proceed. Paul brings in the Son of God in a mature way in his ministry and as the wise architect of the house.

David had the pattern by the Spirit, and in writing by

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Jehovah's hand upon him, instructing him in all the works of the pattern. We have to recognise that it is by the Spirit that the pattern has come to us and that attention must be paid to what is written.

The striking thing about this chapter is that all seems to stand connected with the porch. There is no veil in Kings but there is in Chronicles, no brazen altar in Kings but there is in Chronicles. What is to be learned from these? The porch, as I understand it, sets forth what is presented of God manward. It is the most conspicuous feature of the house, ten by twenty by one hundred and twenty cubits. It makes one think of the one hundred and twenty upon whom the Spirit came at Pentecost. There was a setting forth of the great things of God in them. They were all in the light of what had been set forth by the Lord in His service here, and they knew Him as risen and taken up into heaven. I think the height of the porch has reference to that.

Then the houses, treasuries, upper chambers, inner chambers and the house of the mercy-seat were all there behind the porch. Paul speaks of the mystery of the glad tidings, conveying to us that there is a great deal hidden, as it were, behind the glad tidings. If God dwells amongst His people there is a great deal that gives character to the glad tidings but which is in the background. Saints living in the love of God might answer today to the houses, resulting in our being very near to each other. Then the treasuries indicate that there has been an accumulation of what is precious. If we take the last hundred years what an accumulation of precious things has come into the house! Then the upper chambers would refer to what is above the level of man's thoughts altogether.

The "things above" would suggest the character of those of the upper room whilst the inner chambers would be like chapters 13 to 17 of John's gospel, the Lord in

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seclusion with His own. Then the house of the mercy-seat brings us to the holiest where God is known as set forth through Christ and in the value of His blood. He can carry out all that is in His mind in a way of supreme glory. We contemplate His resources in the ark and the mercy-seat.

The courts and the chambers and the treasuries indicate the spaciousness of rooms in which we can move about. We have the freedom of the house in every part of it, but it is all looked at here as lending some richness and fulness to the public testimony of God.

In verse 13 we turn to the service Godward and the instruments of service. We find that the latter are divided into two classes as vessels of gold and vessels of silver; utensils they are called here; they are for use. The saints as utensils of silver think of themselves as of value to God but secured by redemption. We are brought back to God for His pleasure in all the value of the death of Christ. This is largely how we are viewed as eating the Lord's supper. It is largely Paul's teaching, that we are justified, reconciled, accepted in the Beloved and receiving sonship. All this is on redemption ground. We are in new creation on that ground.

But utensils of gold refer to what the saints are in nature as born of God and as having fed on Christ so as to live on account of Him.

As redeemed we think of a past history. We have been liberated for God in all the value of what Christ accomplished in death. Our condition was all estimated by God and provided for so that our place before Him brings out the value of our redemption in Christ. Ruth would never forget what Boaz had done that he might have her and take away all the reproach from the inheritance. The right of redemption is one of God's greatest rights and He has exercised it to the full by His Son. Redemption is something done for us outside ourselves and applies to us so as

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to secure eventually the redemption of our bodies. Nothing can be added to the value of redemption nor can anything be taken from it. Blessed be God!

But there is another wonderful reality, that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world: "Thine they were". We were marked out for sonship in the purpose of God.

If saints are viewed in purpose as not of this world even as Christ is not of this world as in that character they do not need to be redeemed; they need to be kept and guarded. They may be viewed abstractly entirely on the side of what is divinely wrought. We do not connect the thought of redemption with the saints viewed as the brethren of Christ. It needs spirituality to take that ground. John 17 views the saints as golden.

All that comes to us on the ground of the death of Christ constitutes us utensils of silver. All that we are by the work of God constitutes us as vessels of gold. The first we take up by faith, the last by being spiritual.

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1 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 29 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

1 Chronicles 29:1 - 30

Solomon, in being charged and in having the pattern given to him represents the truth of sonship as having taken form in the saints so that there is ability to do the work for the service of the house of Jehovah and to finish it. The truth of the house can only be worked out in a practical way as the great thought of the assembly predominates. It is learned in Christ glorified, but it is intended to take form in the saints so that there may be the working out of what is in the divine mind. Everything is finished in the way of material and personnel and the affections of the people are brought into the matter in chapter 29 and God is worshipped as the Head and Source of all.

We have to understand these types spiritually to get the present mind of God as to His house. David is a type of Christ as the One who has the pattern and who really prepares everything for the building. But it has to be all subject to the work by the hands of artificers. Then God is worshipped as Head above all. And, finally, Christ gets His full place in view of the house being built. When God gets His true place He will magnify Christ exceedingly.

We have to see the greatness of Christ as the true David, preparing everything for the house and having the pattern. In one sense nothing can be added to what Christ has prepared and the impression of God which He has brought into human hearts by declaring God and by accomplishing the wondrous work of redemption. But then He is to be known in a new way as Solomon, representing Him as glorified, before the house can be built. Then we find that

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there is room left for the affections of sonship to come out in the saints in their offerings. Christ glorified being apprehended leads to great wealth and richness in offering. Then Solomon appears to be, in a certain way, representative of the saints as apprehending sonship, and as encouraged to go on with the service of the house of God. It is the saints as believing on Jesus glorified who alone can understand the greatness of the palace which is to be for God. There is headship in David and in Solomon and in God. Saints have part in all that David has prepared, and in all that Christ is as Solomon, and in the vast blessedness of God as Head above all.

Both David and Solomon are reigning together, but it is clearly seen that Solomon is to build the house. It is Jesus glorified who gives the Spirit and the responsible side of the work must evidently work out in the saints who have the Spirit of the glorified Man. But in this chapter it is what David does in His affection and what the saints do in their affection; God is the source of all. It is hardly Christ personally until verses 22 - 25.

The result of David's reign is that everything is secured Godward. He was spoken of by Samuel in the words "Jehovah has sought him a man after his own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), "of whom also bearing witness he said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will", Acts 13:22. This is not a precise quotation from Scripture, but a spiritual summing up of what God found in David, which came to full maturity in the close of 1 Chronicles. That is, we see everything secured for God Godward in the pattern of the house, the preparation of the material for it, the bringing of all spiritual elements amongst the people into line, and then the wonderful utterances Godward in which He is owned as Head above all, and all that was secured is attributed to Him. It is one of the most worshipful utterances

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which the Old Testament contains. It is all God's will reached in spiritual power (John 17:3.) though it has yet to take form in the house. It is what is brought in by Christ, but viewed as extending to His brethren, for "all the congregation" are brought into it (verse 1). Things are viewed as brought to completion under His Headship. There is no discrepancy or failure in view: the will of God is brought to pass, spiritually speaking, before the house is built.

All this results in Solomon being made king the second time. It is all passed on to Solomon as the one who would "do all" and "build the palace". He "sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father". David brings in the will of God in a patriarchal way so that it could be passed on in completeness to his son: he is called "the patriarch David" in Acts 2. What distinguishes him is that he has a son who can take up all that he brought in, and give it form and substance as put together in the palace. David does all the will of God but Solomon sets it up here for the pleasure of God in the light of his own sonship. It is divine power in administration for it is the throne of Jehovah, but it is characterised by sonship. This great divine thought is seen, and all obey and submit themselves; Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly. It is Christ seen as glorified, not now seen as doing God's will, but having all now in His hands in view of it being set up here in testimony. I say testimony in contrast with display in glory. But it is not a question in this chapter of what He sets up, but of His own transcendent glory. It is like Paul's heavenly vision. Before he got his commission, before the ministry was committed to him, whether of the glad tidings or of the mystery, he saw Christ glorified. The whole thought of God was there in a glorified Jesus: it was all radiant in Him. The ministry made it known and brought man into it, but all that man was brought into was there in

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the glorified Man before they were brought into it. David does the will of God, but Solomon is the wisdom of God. Now the great thing is to be obedient in heart to all that God has magnified in Christ glorified as the Son. David is Christ as magnifying God, but Solomon is Christ as magnified by God. His being glorified is God magnifying Him exceedingly and in surpassing measure, so that it is transcendent. The whole of Paul's ministry answers to the building of the palace: it is for the bringing of the saints into this great thought of God, so that they might take form for His pleasure in men.

When it is a question of the will of God being done it is Christ as David. This covers all that He was here in incarnation, death and resurrection. But then the completed glory of all that passes over to Solomon: He is invested with it all as the glorified one. So that the ascension of the Lord is the point of transition from David to Solomon. It is not that the Solomon aspect is greater than the David aspect because all the latter passes over into the former. But it is the present glory of Christ that all that He has brought in as David is His subsisting glory as Solomon.

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AN OUTLINE OF THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 1 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 1:1 - 17

It often happens that when God has given light as to His mind those to whom it comes fail to rise to it. Solomon in this chapter is an example of this. In considering persons in the Old Testament who are typical of Christ we have always to distinguish between those features in which they are types of Christ and those incidents which bring out their own personal shortcomings. Even the latter are profitable to us and instructive; they are useful negatively just as the features typical of Christ are enriching in a positive way.

It is evident that if Solomon had acted in the light which had come to him through his father David he would not have gone to the tabernacle at Gibeon. He would have known that the true altar of burnt-offering was in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite. He was not truly a son of his father in going to Gibeon. This teaches us how easily we may drop down from what is proper to sonship; then the house drops out of view. It is noticeable that there is no reference to the house in Solomon's prayer in this chapter. The great outstanding interest of the moment was the house that was to be built, but Solomon was occupied with other things, very good and desirable things, but not God's chief interest at the moment. Many believers honour God, and are even honoured by Him, as having desires of which He approves and which He answers, who yet fall short of His present movements in grace and of what is His present glory. They are content with a measure of communion which is far less than it

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might be and ought to be. Solomon in this chapter is a warning to us.

Two great events in David's life were the bringing of the ark to its resting-place in Zion and building the altar of burnt-offering in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite. Both these acts were the setting aside of the original order and the institution of something new in the ways of God. They were light given by God as to how He would get His place after the complete breakdown of the system set up by Moses. He would have His will done perfectly by Christ, and something set up to which the ark could be brought as a place of rest. Many scriptures speak of Zion as God's dwelling place. We need to apprehend this before we can take up the thought of the house as built by Solomon. Zion had been the stronghold of the enemy's power, but when taken by David it became the royal city and the resting place of the ark. Zion represents the assembly as the place where the reign of grace is known. The beautiful features of Zion, as seen in Scripture, set forth what marks the assembly as set up in the fulness of God's grace in Christ; every hostile element has been overcome, so that, under the mighty influence of Christ every heart is pervaded by divine grace. It is the fruit of His triumph here, not in heaven. In a spiritual sense christians are born in Zion; that is how God writes them up; they are sons and daughters of Zion. So that the bringing of the ark to Zion is bringing it to a place where all is of grace, which therefore answers to God's desires and is a place of rest for Him. He dwells there in complacency and can be known there. This is in contrast with the tabernacle which He had to forsake because it represented a system which failed to secure restfulness for Him.

Pending the setting up of the new system in Zion, God went on with the tabernacle service at Gibeon, though His ark was not there. He received the offerings and praises of

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His people at a level lower than what was in His mind for them. This was the evidence of His patience during a transitional period. But when Zion had been set up, and the ark placed there, any thoughtful Israelite could have understood that an entire change had come about in the ways of God. Zion would have superseded Gibeon in his affections.

Then the altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan was further light. It was to be the altar of burnt-offering for Israel. A new economy was to be set up, which would supersede the tabernacle economy, but which would, in due time, incorporate all the spiritual features of the old economy. This raises the question whether we understand the new economy, what Christ has brought in as the true David, Zion as His city, and the ark as brought there. Or are we going on with something which has ceased to be pleasurable to God? Many believers are like Solomon here; they ignore the light which has come in from God, and they go on with things which for the time He bears with but which have no correspondence with His present mind. This is a peculiar state of things, but it answers to a good deal which goes on today. It is an aspect of the situation which brings out in a striking way the patience and forbearance of God. But, though God may bear with what is not in accord with His present mind and may even accept offerings from His people who go on with it, He has no restful satisfaction in it. When He has given light He will not countenance His people in ignoring it. He allows them to prove that Gibeon and its effects result in depreciation of what is precious, and in links with Egypt, and in helping on the world, and in delaying spiritual movements in regard to His house. That is the lesson in this chapter.

At the beginning of the Acts Christ was presented as the true David, and the assembly appeared as the true Zion. But the influence of the old system soon came in, and the

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worship soon became lowered to the level of Gibeon, and has continued there. God has borne with this in true saints, but it has not pleased Him; it has lowered the whole character of His service and He has allowed it to be seen that it tends to worldliness. But the truth has been revived in these last days, and the character of Zion has been set forth in much precious ministry so that it may be known that God dwells there as His desired rest; it is therefore a very serious thing to go on with Gibeon. It is, indeed, said that Gibeon was the great high place, as though to mark that it partook of idolatrous character. People may claim that they offer spiritual sacrifices, and that they truly praise God and have happy times, and even get their prayers answered in a remarkable way. But all this may be at Gibeon, and not at Zion or Jerusalem. God would impress on all His saints not to go on with things which He may be bearing with, but which are not in accord with His present mind or in keeping with the light which He has given. Many would say, 'God accepts our service and blesses us, and we are happy', and they think that is all that matters. But if God had indicated His mind as to how He would be served it will not please Him if we disregard the light which He has given. The "palace" will not be built at Gibeon. For that we must move in the present light of God; we must come to Zion and see the ark there restfully, and then to the new altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan. The house is built there; it can only be built there. David, as a man instructed of God, could not go before the altar at Gibeon, "for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Jehovah", 1 Chronicles 21:30. He realised that the tabernacle at Gibeon represented a system of things which was not in accord with the present mind of God, for He had forsaken it. And, moreover, it inspired fear because it was connected with legal requirement; a spirit of bondage again to fear came in that connection.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 2 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 2:1 - 16

The purpose of Solomon "to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom" now comes into view, so that things are evidently on a different spiritual level from what we read in chapter 1. The description of the house as built by Solomon is amongst the things "written before" which "have been written for our instruction"; there is much to be learned from it as to the present mind of God. There is instruction in the fact that so many strangers were employed in the building. We learn from chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, that they were of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They were of the nations doomed to destruction in Joshua's time, but now under Solomon they were made tributary and laboured in the building of the house.

This signifies how God takes up those who were once subject to His judgment, and brings them under the subduing power of Christ so that they become serviceable for the work of His house. This is one blessed result of Christ being in supremacy. Those who come under His influence become bondmen for the house, however unworthy and obnoxious they were before. Indeed, none come to labour for the house save on the terms that they deserve nothing -- "We also all once ... were children, by nature, of wrath, even as the rest", Ephesians 2:3. "For we were once ourselves also without intelligence, ... living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another", Titus 3:3. It is that class of people who are rendered tributary until this day. Every one of them is expressive of the gracious power of Christ to

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subdue contrary wills and objectionable features. The epistle to the Romans shews how this is worked out under grace.

Then Solomon sending to Huram King of Tyre typifies the Gentile being brought in as contributing skill and material for the building. The house of God could not take its present form without the Gentiles. The great supper of Luke 14 and the younger son's coming in in Luke 15 shew how the Gentile gets a place in the house. So that the truth of the mystery is hinted at in this chapter. In Romans 16:25 Paul speaks of "the revelation of the mystery", and this great matter is developed in Colossians and Ephesians. It is something far greater than God's ways in connection with Israel, and something far greater than all promises or prophecies; it was "hidden throughout the ages in God", Ephesians 3:9. The word "mystery" does not mean that it cannot be known, but that it is known only to those who are initiated into it. But when known it works out practically in the body and the house.

The house as seen typically in chapters 2 to 5 of 2 Chronicles is wholly for the pleasure of God. It is something quite apart from formal profession, and from the mixed multitude which passes as being christian. It is where God is served according to what He is as a Spirit, and therefore every feature of it bears the mark of "spirit and truth", John 4:24. It is very suggestive that Solomon should be able to speak so freely and fully to Huram about the house and the service that would be carried on in it. He evidently regarded Huram as able to follow intelligently the matters of which he spoke, and to take them up as contributing to them in a practical way. It is thus that the Gentiles are regarded in the ministry of Paul. (See Ephesians 2:11 - 22; Ephesians 3:1 - 12; Colossians 1:24 - 29). By the calling and work of God the Gentiles are brought in to have part in His wondrous purpose, and to be "built together for a

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habitation of God in the Spirit". It is to Gentile believers that Paul says, "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?", 1 Corinthians 3:16. The Gentiles, as indwelt by the Spirit, are capable of understanding what is in the mind of God and they are capable of taking part in the practical working out of it. Indeed, it is mainly amongst the Gentiles that the truth of the house is being worked out today. This challenges us as to whether we are like Huram, able to appreciate what may be made known to us concerning the house and its service.

There are three things particularly mentioned by Solomon here: the burning of incense, the continual arrangement of the shewbread, and the burnt-offerings. He has before him mainly the thought of what was to be presented to God, and the three things mentioned largely cover the service of the house Godward. They bring out how the saints, as the holy priesthood, minister to God. The burning of incense refers, I believe, to how we approach God with prayers and praises, not as having in mind our personal needs and exercises, but God's wondrous thoughts with regard to us in Christ. We need to be furnished with God's thoughts as to His saints so as to be able to present them to God as having intelligently entered into them. It is as we are maintained in ability to do so that we can "burn before him sweet incense"; we can speak to Him as bringing the holy fragrance of what is for His pleasure and glory. We can understand what sweet incense there was in the Lord's wondrous prayer in John 17, and the recorded prayers of the apostle Paul are full of fragrance as bringing out what is in the mind and heart of God concerning His saints. Then the praises that are rightly found in the house of God are all suitable to the golden altar; they bring to God the fragrance of His wondrous thoughts in Christ as now known in the hearts of His

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saints, and brought back to Him for His pleasure and glory.

Then "the continual arrangement of the shewbread", or, as it is literally, 'the bread of the presence', speaks of how the saints can be viewed of God as in the life of Christ, and thus wholly apart from the flesh, and in a spiritual order that is delightful to God. The result of reconciliation is that the saints can be presented holy and unblameable and irreproachable before the fulness of the Godhead (Colossians 1:22). This is how the saints appear in the holy place; Christ is their life, as represented in the "fine wheaten flour" of which the cakes of shewbread were made. The "bread of remembrance" as it is called in Leviticus 24 is said to be "an offering by fire to Jehovah", and "most holy unto him of Jehovah's offerings by fire". This shews that it is regarded as wholly acceptable, and apart from anything that would not bear the fullest testing by God. It is intended to bring to our minds that, on the ground of the death of Christ, and in virtue of His work in them, God is able to view His saints according to what Christ is, who is their life. They are thus before Him for His eternal pleasure, for it is "an everlasting covenant" and "an everlasting statute" (Leviticus 24). And saints, as divinely illuminated, can think of themselves thus as yielding pleasure to the heart of God. It is part of the service of the house that they can be thus presented.

But this is on the ground of the burnt-offering. We have an entirely new and blessed ground of acceptance in Christ, and that is the fact that He has "delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour", Ephesians 5:2. In the service of the house this is never forgotten. It has its place "morning and evening", and "on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God". That is to say it is carried on continuously as the essential basis of all the

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holy service.

Solomon communicated to Huram his sense of the greatness of God, and that the house must be correspondingly great: "The house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods". This must ever be in our thoughts in regard to the house; we cannot think of anything small or unimportant in the house of One so great. Therefore great skill is required for the working out of what pertains to the house. And the fact that Huram is called upon to send a skilful man suggests that it was in the will of God that spiritual skill should be found amongst the Gentiles for the working out of those great thoughts which were to take form in His house. Consideration of Paul's epistles to saints in Gentile assemblies will shew us what has to be worked out. The following chapters in 2 Chronicles give us in a typical way much instruction as to this.

The large food supply in verse 10 shews us what is available for those who labour in connection with the house. Spiritual food of the finest quality is provided in abundance; I suppose there has never been so much brought before the saints in ministry since apostolic days as there has been during the last hundred years. And one cannot doubt that one great divine object has been to strengthen the people of God for labour in connection with His house. He intends that His house shall be built and finished before this present period closes. It has been frequently remarked that the books of Chronicles were written after the return from captivity. They were specially intended for remnant times so that saints in such times might be encouraged to bring what is in God's mind to completion, even though in a small and feeble way outwardly. We shall not be feeble spiritually if we feed on such food as is typified in verse 10 of this chapter. But we shall be feeble if we do not feed, and it is to be feared that this is the case with most of those who profess to know

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God. But the remedy is at hand if we have any heart for the work of the house.

"Twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil". The wheat and the barley are for bread by which man's heart is strengthened (Psalm 104:15). Even according to nature man's strength comes by food, and it is so in the realm of grace. I think Scripture suggests to us that wheat typifies the product in men of God's operations in grace. John the baptist said of the One who should come after him, "whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and shall gather his wheat into the garner", Matthew 3:12. "The seed is the word of God", and it fructifies in those "who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience", Luke 8:15. God's testimony of grace in Christ is the producing cause of all that is suitable to be brought into His granary, and the condition of men's hearts is revealed by how it acts upon them. If their hearts are "honest and good" -- and this must be by God's working in them, for no man naturally has "an honest and good heart" -- there is a result for God such as marks the feast of Pentecost, which is now running its course. For "the feast of weeks", that is Pentecost, is "the first-fruits of wheat-harvest", Exodus 34:22.

But "beaten wheat" indicates that it has passed the threshing-floor; there has been a beating out of the grain, and a winnowing away of the chaff. The Lord does this in His threshing-floor, and we are reminded of this when we read of the house being built "in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite", 2 Chronicles 3:1. Threshing-floor experiences he at the very basis of any constructive work in the house of God. There must be the separation of what is precious from what is

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worthless. This is a great object in the divine ways with us, and the result is "beaten wheat" which can be fed upon. God has brought into our souls something that is entirely new and of Himself and of grace, and which morally displaces everything else, so that there may be something which is suitable for His garner. Abstractly, as in Christ, we are suitable, but the beating process of the threshing-floor is very necessary in a practical sense. The beating and winnowing are still in progress with us all, but God helps us by engaging our hearts with the pure result which is before Him to bring about. We can feed upon what has come in from God, which is entirely apart from fallen man, and which is now our true self as we identify ourselves with the new and in mind and heart refuse the old.

The "barley" brings before us Christ as the First-fruits for God after having been in death on account of all that we were and had done. The "barley-meal" in Numbers 5 brought "iniquity to remembrance", but it was typical of Christ as bearing the judgment of Israel's unfaithfulness. Barley-harvest is prominent in the book of Ruth when the remnant, represented by Ruth and Naomi, returned to Bethlehem. When we have wandered and experienced restoring grace it is very sweet to find that Christ has borne what we deserved, and that He is the First-fruits of an order in which there will never be any failure.

It may be noticed that barley is not mentioned in Kings as given by Solomon to Huram, but in Chronicles, which is written for the returned remnant, it is mentioned. This is a peculiar touch of grace specially given for a time of recovery after great departure. Those who feel the departure and unfaithfulness which have marked the Christian profession can feed upon Christ as having borne in suffering love even what is due to that unfaithfulness. This is most touching, and it is on this ground that those who repent of the unfaithfulness can depart from iniquity and

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return to God's original thoughts. In John's gospel, written especially for the last days, we read of God being glorified in the Son of man, and this reaches out in its bearing to everything that has dishonoured Him, and it is therefore inclusive of the sin of the christian profession. Christ risen is the Firstfruits of a new order of man which will be eternally for God's pleasure. All this is, indeed, food for us in view of there being spiritual strength to labour for the house in such days as these.

Then the wine and the oil here, as elsewhere, typify the Spirit as the means of stimulation and joy, and as the inward source of all that is spiritual in the souls of saints. Through infinite grace all this is fully available for us today if our hearts move us to go in for it. It is presented to us here typically as that which has to be drunk. Scripture speaks of drinking of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), alluding probably to the cup in the Lord's supper, as the "one body" in the same verse alludes in a spiritual way to the bread. There is such a thing as drinking into a blessed satisfaction which has its spring and power in the Spirit. Many christians who walk in an orderly way have not much spiritual joy or power. They move in relation to the things of God, and value them, but do not know much of the wine and oil as within them. But these things are there in great volume to be appropriated. A vast amount of beaten wheat and barley and wine and oil is provided by the true Solomon, but it is only what we feed upon that will strengthen us. Mere listening or reading does not impart strength. If believers really fed upon what they have heard or read how strong they would become to labour for the house! What we feed upon becomes part of ourselves; in a spiritual sense what I feed upon becomes my true self.

All this is most important as preparatory to our taking up service in relation to building the house.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 3 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 3:1 - 17

"And Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where he appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite". Solomon now takes up things in the light divinely given to David; he begins on the ground of sovereign mercy; he has come to God's thoughts. Moriah means 'shewn by Jehovah'; it suggests that human thoughts are left and what is divinely provided is appreciated. It was in "the land of Moriah" that Isaac was to be offered up, but "Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said at the present day, On the mount of Jehovah will be provided", Genesis 22:14. When we read in Scripture of things remaining "to this day", it means that their import remains; it comes down to our day. This is true of all that is shewn by Jehovah; whatever God has made known of Himself and of His own provision forms the basis on which His house is built. We, like David and Solomon, have to learn that all must stand in the sovereignty of mercy.

"And this was Solomon's foundation for the construction of the house of God". What Solomon did in connection with the house was foundational, and it is to be observed by all who would labour rightly in the building of the house today. All construction of the house must conform to Solomon's foundation. God would have us to keep in mind the thought of a foundation; it stands in contrast with the changing thoughts and opinions of men. Paul said, "As a wise architect, I have laid the foundation, but

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another builds upon it. But let each see how he builds upon it. For other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11. The foundation abides; it is permanent, and the stability of the structure depends upon it. The habitation of God today is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone", Ephesians 2:20. That foundation includes all the teaching of the apostles, and whatever the outward departure may be, as foretold in 2 Timothy, "the firm foundation of God stands", 2 Timothy 2:19. Solomon's foundation appears to include all that he did for the construction of the house; it is to be observed as fundamental instruction by all who take any part in building the house, and this should include all saints. If His house is God's chief interest on earth who that loves Him would wish to have no hand in building it?

Certain dimensions are given in verses 3 and 4 which are intended to help us to understand the proportion in which things stand to one another in the mind of God. The width of the house appears to suggest what is adequate for the setting forth to men of what God is as dwelling here, for the house is primarily where God dwells so as to be known by men. When the Lord was here His body was the temple, and there was the perfect declaration of God to men in Him. But He was not the house in the sense in which it is typified by the house built by Solomon. It is He who, as glorified, builds the house. Things have now taken an extended form, requiring that the Gentiles shall be brought in as a constituent part of the house; we might say the principal part of it. This was not possible while the Lord was on earth. The divine thought is that a permanent structure should be set up here in which God dwells, and in which He is expressed. This is brought about as the result of the Spirit being here, and He would not be here if

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Christ had not gone to the Father. There is a wonderful extension of things now. One of the first things we need to learn is how things are proportioned. The length of the porch is the same as the breadth of the house and each is equal to the length and to the breadth of the holiest; the holiest and the brazen altar are equal in breadth and length to one another.

The most holy place sets forth in a typical way the most intense presentation of holiness possible. The most holy is the thought of holiness in the highest possible degree, but the altar is equal to it; indeed, "most holy" is really 'holy of holies', and this intense form of expression is applied to the altar as well as to the most holy place, (see Exodus 29:37). Christ at the cross sustained the glory of God in relation to sin in such a way that divine holiness has come fully into view before the whole moral universe, but it is God glorified in holiness so that He may be presented to men in the supremacy of His grace. The length of the porch is the same as the length and width of the holiest and of the altar. However we may know God in the holiest and at the altar it is all brought into the public testimony of His grace. The porch being four times as high as the rest of the building is to shew that the presentation of God in grace to men is intended to be the most conspicuous feature of His house. The elevation of the testimony of grace will hardly be understood unless we see that it was rendered at the beginning by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The one hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost were the most prominent objects in Jerusalem at that moment. How they towered high above the temple and all its ritual! Of course in principle the porch is a permanent feature of the house; it sets forth to men what is presented to them of God as a Saviour-God.

The greater house is double the size of the most holy place, which seems to indicate that there is enlargement of

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what is for the pleasure of God as we move outwards. The shewbread, which had its place in the greater house, is, as it were, an extension of Christ in His saints for the pleasure of God. The candlesticks symbolise the present light maintained by the Spirit in the house. How it expanded in the early days from the ministry of the twelve to that of Paul, and then, long after, the writings of John were given specially as light for the last days of the assembly! And it has been so in the recovery of the truth; all that was in the Lord's mind did not come out at once. Things came out, and were developed with increasing light, as the saints were spiritually able to bear them. The Lord had in mind that there would be great enlargement on the part of His saints as the result of the coming of the Comforter, and then the action of His gifts as ascended had in view that all saints should "arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ", Ephesians 4:13. It is not that divine things become greater in themselves but they become greater in the apprehension of saints and as spiritual formation and growth go on there is an enlarged sphere in which God can find pleasure.

"The greater house he boarded with cypress-wood". It is noticeable that neither cedar nor olive is mentioned in 2 Chronicles in connection with the building of the house, nor is stone mentioned in this description. Cedar and olive and stone would suggest excellent quality in the material used, and its stability and permanence. These things would have reference to what the saints are viewed as God's elect, "called according to purpose", and hence they are prominent in Kings which gives the heavenly side. But cypress-wood, alone being mentioned in the chapter before us, indicates, I believe, that the Spirit of God, in this connection, would emphasise the thought that it is men who form the house. God makes use of that

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order of being, He can use men as He could not use angels; it is a time of His "good pleasure in men", Luke 2:14. Men have a wonderful place in the mind of God; He has made it possible for all men to be saved and to have a place in His house. Attention is called in Chronicles to what is put upon the material used rather than to the choiceness of the material itself. From the viewpoint of grace there are wonderful possibilities for men, and none in the human family is shut out from them.

If men are to have a place in God's house they must have His Spirit, and so take on an entirely new character. I think this is set forth in the cypress-wood being "overlaid with fine gold". There are certain antecedent movements in the soul leading to repentance and to the belief of the glad tidings, but the Spirit being given as the seal is the definite marking off of persons for God, and it is from that point that true spiritual formation proceeds. This is, in us, a continuous work so long as we are here. We have in the type the complete divine thought, and it is reached in the measure in which we are spiritual. Believers are to take character from the presence of the Spirit, to give place to Him so that the flesh is practically set aside and what is of God comes into evidence. This is how the overlaying with fine gold is brought about. "Palm-trees and chains" were set upon it, which speaks of overcoming and of being held. The measure of the Spirit's work in those who have the Spirit is largely indicated by their ability to overcome the power of the flesh and of the world. And we only do so as we are held by the love of Christ. The Bridegroom in the Song speaks of His heart being ravished by one chain of the spouse's neck. He is held by her attractiveness. And in 1 Kings the oracle was shut off with chains of gold, suggesting that it was retained as the peculiar place for the Ark of the covenant. In this chapter there are chains on the top of the two pillars carrying a hundred pomegranates;

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that is to say that the public testimony carries the evidence of fruit being secured for God on the principle of captivation. The greater house carries the mark of this.

"He overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty" is a feature which is not mentioned in Kings; it is an added thought of beauty to enhance the house in our estimation in a day of departure and recovery. Along with spirituality there will always be precious and distinctive apprehensions of Christ, coming out in their result as spiritual beauty in the saints. The house being "overlaid" with precious stones suggests a complete covering -- the divine thought being that nothing is seen but features of Christ. The body exists that features of Christ may come out in it for the pleasure of God, and the house is beautified as those features cover it. In these types we see the full divine thought that our exercises and desires and prayers may take character from it, so that it may be worked out in a practical way. Things are all, as yet, in the constructive stage, and the type is given to show us to what end we are working.

"The gold was gold of Parvaim". It is significant that the kind of gold should be specified, even as we read in the next chapter of "pure gold" and of "perfect gold". It seems to suggest that there may be gradations of purity and excellence even in that which, in a general way, is spiritual in character. There are "spiritual manifestations" in the assembly, but it does not follow that they are all of equal value. Gifts are all spiritual in character, but some are greater than others, and are to be earnestly desired. But, having spoken of gifts, the apostle adds, "And yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence", 1 Corinthians 12:31. That way is the way of love; it answers to the "gold of Parvaim" with which the house was covered. Even love may have its gradations, for the Lord spoke of loving much and loving little. But the

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divine thought is that in the house of God the divine nature shall be everywhere in evidence, and in the highest degree of excellence. God would have spirituality of the highest degree, love of the most surpassing excellence, to mark His saints as composing His house. And cherubim being engraved on the walls intimate to us that where spirituality exists all will be in harmony with the government of God.

As regards "the house of the most holy place" (verse 8) it is very striking to notice the immense amount of "fine gold" used to cover it -- "amounting to six hundred talents". The nearer we come to God the more essential is spirituality of a refined order. The object of all God's chastening is that we may partake of His holiness, and holiness is to be perfected in His fear. As having to do with "the most holy place" holiness and love are required in large measure. It is only as "partakers of the divine nature" that we could have any suitability for that place. But six hundred talents suggests not only a partaking of that nature but a large formation in it. It suggests richness and maturity in Christ, the result of growing up to Him in all things. It is the complete divine thought, given to us in the type for consideration, though we may have to own that we have not yet reached this in spiritual stature. But it is what the saints may come up to as divinely wrought, and I think this is what is in view in the type rather than what they are abstractly as in Christ. Nails are only mentioned in this book in connection with the most holy place, and their weight is given in "shekels of gold". They seem to convey the thought of saints being held together in relation to the most holy thoughts of God. Those thoughts are infinitely precious in themselves, but the divine pleasure is enhanced by the saints taking them up as firmly held together in a spiritual way. The epistle to the Ephesians shews how God would have His saints held together in relation to the most holy thoughts of His love. Nails imply

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firmness and fixedness so that nothing is held in a loose or uncertain way. The oneness of the house as secured by the nails reminds us of the Lord's prayer, "Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one as we", John 17:11. Such is the divine thought, and it is for us to see that it comes into evidence in a way that testifies to the reality of it, even though in remnant conditions. Thank God!, it is possible for saints today to have to do with His most holy thoughts collectively, and in absolute unity of heart and mind. Many would say that such a thing is practically impossible, but, on the other hand, many witnesses could be found to testify that it is possible, and that they have known it in spiritual reality. No christians should dismiss it from their minds as a thing impossible to be known down here. Why should not saints be held together in oneness in relation to Christ as the Ark and the Mercy-seat and the Revealer of God as the Father? Why should they not all be practically in the unity of the Spirit? Human thoughts have come in to hinder this, but they are such as cannot be carried into the most holy place. If we value what is there we shall be glad to let them go.

The upper chambers are mentioned along with the most holy place. Of the three floors of side-chambers which are spoken of in 1 Kings 6 only the upper chambers are mentioned here. This suggests that things are viewed here on a high level, as in John's gospel where Jesus speaks of "part with me", and of preparing a place in His Father's house for His own, "that where I am ye also may be". In Paul's teaching the high level comes out in Ephesians 2, where the saints are spoken of as raised up together and made to "sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus". The upper chambers are spoken of here by the Spirit of God as if they were identified in His mind with the most holy place. They are highly spiritual in character, and can in no way be entered upon by man as in the flesh,

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or by the natural mind. The most holy place can only be entered by going through the veil. The flesh of Christ, carrying with it the thought of His death, is the way in. We can only go in on the ground that all connected with ourselves as in the flesh has been ended in His death, and that where we were ended the love of God was revealed.

In the knowledge of God revealed in love there is "the new and living way" by which we have "boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus", Hebrews 10:19. "The veil" has a place in this description though it is not mentioned in Kings. If we think of the saints from the standpoint of the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians we do not think of a veil, and Kings corresponds with that. We are reconciled by the Fulness of the Godhead "in the body of his flesh through death; to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it"; that is, before the Fulness (Colossians 1:22). As thus presented there is perfect suitability for the most holy place. In Ephesians we are seen as taken into favour in the Beloved, and seated in Him in heavenly places. We cannot bring in the thought of a veil in that connection. From the standpoint of the epistle to the Hebrews we need to go through the veil to enter the realm of the most holy things, and it is from that point of view that the veil is introduced in Chronicles. We cannot enter the holiest, or know the privilege of the upper chambers, apart from going through the veil.

"And in the house of the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold". This is an added feature, which had no counterpart in the tabernacle. The faces of these cherubim were "toward the house"; that is, they faced outward in contrast with the faces of the cherubim which were made "out of the mercy-seat", Exodus 25:19. The faces of the latter looked inward and downward "toward the mercy-seat",

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representing the divine government as infinitely complacent in the mercy-seat, and in the blood that was sprinkled upon it. But the two cherubim in the temple looked outward; they represent the government of God in its universal outlook, but as it is known in the most holy place rather than in its public action. The wings are specially prominent, being mentioned eight times in three verses, clearly suggesting the thought of protection. We are told in chapter 5: 7, 8 that when the ark was brought to its place it was "under the wings of the cherubim; and the cherubim stretched forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above". But it will be remembered that the length of the ark was two cubits and a half, while the wings of the cherubim extended over twenty cubits. So that, while the ark and the mercy-seat came under their protection, a much wider range of things was in view, including the whole width of the house. God would have us to know in the most holy place that His government protects all that is of Himself as set forth in His house. Outwardly, what is spiritual, including the testimony of the glad tidings, may seem to be weak and defenceless; it seems to have no power to stand up against great and hostile powers; but it is all the time protected in a secret way by the government of God. The outward look of the cherubim embraces all nations, and their mighty outstretched wings are all the time protecting what is of God. Men outside have no idea of this, but it is known for the comfort of God's elect in the most holy place. The unseen government of God is always acting for the protection of what is of Himself. It is not always publicly manifest that it is so, for He has often allowed His saints to be persecuted and even killed. But in nearness to Him it is understood that the wings of His government are outstretched in protection over what is precious to Him. But for this everything that is of God

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would have disappeared long ago from the face of the earth. Faith knows the secret, though at the present time it is not apparent to men. The government of God is veiled, but it is known to be a great reality by those who have access to Him.

The fact that there are two cherubim in the most holy place would hardly refer to testimony, for testimony is not rendered there. I think the two may suggest divine government acting in a combined or co-operative way, so that a full result is reached in divine operations. In relation to God's protective government there is often a combination of forces working together to bring about the end that is before Him. We see this illustrated in the book of Esther. God breaks up man's combinations, as at Babel, but His combinations destroy the power of what is hostile to His thoughts and purposes. Two, when seen on God's part, confirm a thing. We have probably little idea how far-reaching have been the movements of divine government in favour of what is of Himself spiritually, or how effective they have been. It is a comfort to be reminded and assured of this, and especially at a time when so many powerful forces seem to be working adversely to what is of God.

Then in the last section of the chapter we have two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which stand "before the house". They represent what is set up here in public testimony. Jachin means, 'He will establish', and Boaz means, 'In Him is strength'. God has established a witness for Himself here, and He is the strength of it. The testimony is to what God has established, and to the fact that the source of strength is in Him. The pomegranates on the top of the pillars would speak, I think, of the attractiveness which God would put upon His saints as they bring forth the evidence that they have come under the reign of grace, and find their strength in Him. Romans is the great epistle of establishment (Romans 1:11; Romans 16:25), and in

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chapter 16 we have a list of persons in whom fruit appeared in an attractive way. God establishes His saints in Christ, and then He becomes their strength so that fruit comes out in them which is worthy of God and attractive to all who fear Him.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 4 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 4:1 - 22

The dimensions of the brazen altar shew that this altar was many times the size of that made by Bezaleel in the wilderness. The altar, as known by us today, is very great, for it witnesses that divine love has been expressed in a sacrificial way, and this forms the basis of all our relations with God in His house. It is expressly said by God, "I have chosen for myself this place for a house of sacrifice", 2 Chronicles 7:12. There is something peculiarly touching in the love of divine Persons as expressed sacrificially because it has acted towards us who have had a sinful history here. The love of God as shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is a sacrificial love: "For we being still without strength, in the due time Christ has died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6), "But God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us" (Romans 5:8), "He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?" (Romans 8:32), "The Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me" (Galatians 2:20), "For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died; and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15) and "The Christ loved us and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2).

There are aspects of the love of divine Persons which are not sacrificial: for example, God's electing love which

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chose us in Christ before the world's foundation, and the love which gave us the place of children and sons. Then Christ chose us out of the world in His love, and called us, and He loves His own as given to Him by the Father. The Spirit in the book of Kings had in mind those aspects of divine love which are not sacrificial, for the altar is not mentioned in the description of the house there. But here in Chronicles it has its place, and is seen to be of large dimensions. In a day of recovery God would give the altar a very large place. Each kind of offering, the burnt-offering, the oblation, the peace-offering, the sin and trespass-offering, was brought to the altar, and the altar itself spoke of the capability and strength of Christ, by reason of what He was personally, to sustain the action of fire in such a way that the whole of His offering, and every part of it, yielded fragrance and glory to God. The altar is a place, too, for our sacrifices to be brought, and we shall be rich to offer if we really appreciate Him as the great Offerer, and that it is by Him that we offer.

The altar and the other things mentioned in this chapter as being made of brass had their place in the court. They have to do typically with the assembly as seen in the place of responsible witness here; that is, as seen in 1 Corinthians. The Lord's supper has its place in that connection, and its having been restored in these last days to its place in the assembly has led to a much deeper appreciation of divine love as expressed sacrificially. The loaf and the cup speak of the love of Christ and of the love of God as expressed sacrificially, that is, in a way that involved sacrifice on the part of Christ and of God. We call to mind the One who gave His body and whose blood was poured out. His wondrous offering is past, and we now eat His supper to call Him to mind who is forever beyond all suffering. Indeed, it is evident that when in the midst of His apostles He instituted the Supper He was in spirit and

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mind beyond death. For, having all the import of the loaf and the cup before Him, He gave thanks. It was all, to His mind, accomplished. Of course, this was anticipative, like other utterances of the Lord, particularly as the end of His course drew near. The service of the Supper has its place in the court, and it is preparatory to our entering the holy place. It corresponds with the position of the altar. The more we enter into it the more offerings will there be on our part. Of course, in giving thanks for the loaf and the cup we address the Lord, for it is His supper, but every right word that is addressed to Him goes up as sweet odour to God. We are an odour of Christ to God in that part of the service. But it belongs to the court; it stands in relation to the public position in which the saints are found here as the assembly of God.

The molten sea comes next in the description and it is evident that it contemplates conditions in which there is need for purifying. The sea was for the priests to wash in and none of us can suitably take up priestly service in the house of God without washing at this sea. And God would impress us with the very large provision which He makes for purifying; "in capacity it held three thousand baths". The whole of "the word" is available for purifying, and it is applied by the patient, persistent service of Christ, typified by the three hundred oxen which encompassed it round about, and also by the twelve oxen on which it stood, which looked north, west, south and east. The three hundred were "ten in a cubit"; they were relatively small, and suggest how Christ serves us in regard to purifying in detail. He would not have us to be careless about what seem to be small matters. Without His purifying service in detail we should be very apt to let something pass which would have a disqualifying effect in regard to priestly service in the house of God. A tender conscience and a priestly heart would not wish to be disqualified, and

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would ever welcome the service of "washing of water by the word". It would seem that the priests were responsible to wash before they served. We all have a responsibility as to washing one another. It is an essential part of the service in the court, the service of Christ being extended and taken up by all His own. In view of all that is coming on this world Peter exhorts us to "be diligent to be found of him in peace; without spot and blameless", 2 Peter 3:14. This is incumbent on us as in the responsible pathway here, but how much more when the holy service of God is in view! The twelve oxen with their universal outlook suggest purification with respect to defilements which are widespread. We cannot look in any direction without being made aware of things which really disqualify for holy service according to God's pleasure in His house. The Lord has shown many of His saints that no such service can be carried on where a human ordering of things prevails, where a sectarian position is maintained or where a clerical system quenches the Spirit. If believers do not purify themselves from vessels to dishonour, by separating from them, they cannot be vessels to honour in God's house, or be qualified for His holy service. All these things call for purifying in a very extensive way, but it is requisite if the service of the house is to go on in purity, and in suitability to Him whose house it is. It is not a matter of legal requirement, but of suitability to God on the part of those who love Him. "He set the sea on the right side eastward, over against the south" suggests a very favourable position which would lead us to regard purifying as most desirable and a divine favour to be fully taken advantage of. As seeing it to be the provision of divine love our hearts should be alert to get the full benefit of it, so that we may be personally suitable for priestly service.

Then it is said of the ten lavers that "they rinsed in them what they prepared for the burnt-offering". Not only do

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the priests need to be washed, but each offering must be rinsed. In the service of the house of God each contribution must be purified. For we can only serve or worship by the Spirit of God. Nothing fleshly, or that is of what we are naturally, can have any acceptable part in the offering service; it is an intrusion and an offence. Christ must be the substance of the offering, and the Spirit must be the power by which it is offered. It must be the personal exercise of those who offer that nothing shall go forward to the altar without being rinsed. There is no element of bondage in this; it is the only way of true liberty in the service of God. The ten lavers suggest that this is a matter which we are responsible to attend to as we serve.

The sea and the lavers stand connected with what is spoken of later as "the purification of the sanctuary", 2 Chronicles 30:19. We shall have no need to wash in heaven, so that the sea there is one of glass, a crystal pavement on which some stand who have no longer need of purifying. The priesthood of Christ supposes, I think, that His saints are where it is not easy to maintain holy conditions; they need His priestly grace to enable them to do so. Priesthood in the saints implies a surrounding condition which is unholy; it will not go on eternally but will merge in headship and sonship. Priests need the sea now because there are defiling influences about. It is very favourably placed, and in a sense of this we are attracted to make use of it. The washing now is particularly that we may have part with Christ, that we may be suitable to Him. It meets every intense desire of lovers of Christ.

The things seen in this chapter as made of brass have their places in the court. As we consider them I think we shall see that they have to do with moral things; that is to say, some question of good and evil is involved, of righteousness or sin. In Romans and 1 Corinthians the brass is mainly in view. The two pillars referred to in verses 12 and

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13 appear to represent the saints as set up in testimony here, which is the aspect of the assembly as seen in 1 Corinthians. What was made prominent on each pillar was a globe covered with a network which held two hundred pomegranates. The pomegranates were held in unity by the network, and all covered the globe. Without attempting to say that it is the strict interpretation of the type one may say that the underlying truth in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is the unity of the body, into which all saints have been baptised in the power of one Spirit. The saints are also seen as held in a certain fellowship or communion which determines their associations here; all saints are called to the fellowship of God's Son, and are entitled to have their part in the fellowship of His blood and His body. This is a very practical reality, as may be seen by reading 1 Corinthians 10; it held the saints together as apart from any association with the idolatrous world around them. We find at the beginning that all that believed "persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers", Acts 2:42. They were held together in that way; none thought of breaking away from the fellowship; they would have been lawless if they had done so. In every believer sealed by the Spirit there is some fruit for God, as set forth in the pomegranates, but the fruit is never seen in its true setting until it is held in the network of the fellowship. It is essential to the testimony of God that it should appear in that setting. If saints disregard the fellowship they are really on the line of scattering and not of gathering. How could anyone who had known the happiness of walking in the fellowship ever think of breaking away from it? And yet we see this done sometimes, to the soul's great loss, and to the Lord's dishonour.

The pots, and the shovels, and the forks, and all their instruments would be connected with service in the court. Everything there, even to the smallest detail, is to be

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morally suitable. We read, "Let all things be done comelily and with order", 1 Corinthians 14:40. Anything out of order is unworthy of God, and it is to have no place "in all the assemblies of the saints", 1 Corinthians 14:33. That all these vessels of brass were made by Huram intimates that God intended to work out what is typified in these things mainly amongst the Gentiles, as it is at this day.

Huram acted under the authority of King Solomon in making the things of brass, but when the golden vessels are spoken of they are said to be made by Solomon. Certain things connected with the service of God belong to the sphere of lordship; they are matters of authority and commandment. "If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord's commandment", 1 Corinthians 14:37. But the more advanced and spiritual part of the service stands in relation to the headship of Christ; this answers to the vessels of gold which were found in the holy place.

The one candlestick in the tabernacle was, no doubt, typical of Christ as sustaining light by the Spirit in the house of God. The ten candlesticks here would seem to refer to spiritual light being maintained on the principle of responsible service. Great spirituality is required for this; which is emphasised by the gold being spoken of as "pure" and "perfect"; and the lamps are said to burn "before the oracle". The divine thought is that there shall be a ministry in God's house that corresponds with the full disclosure of His mind. This necessitates continued enquiry, not only on the part of those who minister, but on the part of saints generally. We speak of temple light, and we should expect to have it as we enquire together. For what is in the Scriptures only becomes light to us as it is brought out by the Spirit. But if believers read the Scriptures with true exercise they could never be content with an unspiritual ministry. They would want to find a ministry

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that was not the product of the mind of man. But this comes as the answer to enquiry. If an individual enquires he gets light; how much more if fifty or a hundred enquire together! The coming together of saints to read the Scriptures, and to enquire in the temple, is a very important feature of God's movements amongst His saints today.

The ten tables correspond in number with the ten candlesticks, and they carry the shewbread, which is literally, 'bread of the presence' (see note to Exodus 25:30). This sets forth that spirituality enables us to view the saints as before God for His pleasure, having Christ as their life. If we think of Christ as Head we think of the body as being of Him. In Colossians the saints are not looked at as children or sons, but as the body, the assembly, for the expression of Christ under God's eye for His pleasure. The aspect of the mystery in Colossians is that Christ is in a company of Gentile saints, the hope of glory. It is the privilege of saints to know this as a spiritual reality, and to be before God in the holy place according to the truth of it.

The number "ten" in connection with the lavers, the candlesticks and the tables seems to indicate that God would have the truth of these things to be taken up in a practical way as the fruit of responsible exercise. The most purely spiritual things are not understood, or entered into, apart from attention to Scripture, and diligent enquiry and prayer. They will not be known apart from very real exercise in the soul. It is noticeable that Paul not only ministers the word, but he prays with intense fervour, suggesting to us that prayer is the way to have the ministry made good in our souls by the working of God. But all this exercise comes in on the responsible side and the thought of this seems to be conveyed by the use of the number 'ten'.

The golden altar is where we approach God as associated with Christ as Head. If we have been raised with Him

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and quickened together with Him this is a wholly spiritual position. As the brethren of Christ, according to John 20:17, we are a wholly spiritual order and we are privileged to approach to present to God what is most fragrant to Him as expressive of what is in His own mind and heart. What fragrant incense there was in the wondrous prayer of John 17, and also in the prayers of Paul in Ephesians 1 and 3! The latter are models for us, true examples of spiritual altar service.

The point of transition from lordship to headship in the service of the assembly is, I think, set before us at the end of 2 Corinthians 3. The Lord is the Spirit of the new covenant, and He quickens; that is, He makes His saints to live spiritually in relation to that of which He is the Mediator. We need liberty in order to enter the spiritual realm, and we have it in having the Spirit of the Lord, the Mediator. There is liberty to turn to the Lord, and to look on His glory, and by so doing we are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory. "From glory to glory" is a truly spiritual thought; it brings us into correspondence with the Lord, and then we are ready for headship. He could not be in the place of Head to persons unlike Him. But having been transformed by looking on His glory as the Lord we are liberated to contemplate Him as Head. And this is in view of our moving with Him Godward. His Father is our Father, and His God is our God. What we say to the Father and to God, as in the consciousness of our place and relationship as the brethren of Christ, is most fragrant incense to Him. It is the bringing back to Him of the thoughts of His own love by hearts that have been divinely taught to know and appreciate and respond to them in the Spirit of sonship. All this belongs to the order of things which is purely spiritual, typified by the gold.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 5

THE WILL OF GOD (SUMMARY OF A WORD AT A MINISTRY MEETING)

2 Chronicles 5:10; Hebrews 10:5 - 10; Ephesians 1:3 - 14

I ventured to suggest the reading of this scripture, dear brethren, because in the types we are considering in Chronicles we are brought to a point when the Spirit of God tells us that there was nothing in the ark save the two tables, suggesting that it is possible to reach a point spiritually when Christ is regarded only from the standpoint of the will of God. I thought that was the teaching of it for us. That is, that the will of God has been fully and permanently secured in Christ, and by means of Christ He is going to displace everything else; so that even those matters which are essential for us as regarded in the wilderness, and in responsible service, are no longer in view. The golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded are no longer found in the ark; they are there in Hebrews in the wilderness setting, but not in the ark when it is brought to rest -- nothing remains there but the will of God. I read the New Testament scriptures to develop that.

It was evident that manna was the provision of grace for the wilderness, and we all know how essential that is from day to day; and the rod that budded was the token of Christ's blessed priesthood, and we know our need of it, especially in any service Godward, for we could not possibly

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do without it. But the Spirit of God suggests a point when they both go out of sight and there is nothing but the will of God secured in complacency and eternal restfulness in Christ and through Christ. The passage suggests that point being reached by us, not the mere abstract thought that it is so but that the saints come to the blessed reality of the moment when all that belongs to divine grace in the wilderness is left and another scene entered which is filled with something more blessed than anything belonging to the wilderness. I suppose it is normally reached in assembly privilege. There is a moment reached when the priesthood of Christ merges in His headship. In the millennial day He will be a Priest upon His throne, but there is no thought of His priesthood continuing in eternity, because priesthood contemplates contrary conditions where priestly support is needed. Of Aaron it was said, "That he may serve me as priest". There is a moment when what is official ceases and what is permanent as to Christ remains. The moment is reached typically when priesthood ceases to function and the glory intimates that God is there in the supreme satisfaction of His love. God's will is love and He is determined to have His own way and to have a universe dominated by the will of God; and all that is going to fill that universe is a living reality to the saints at this moment. The saints are privileged to go in and see Christ in this relation, which is in relation to God, the pleasure of God being established eternally. It is the highest point of assembly privilege, and I would not say that it cannot be touched by lovers of Christ individually, but it is seen in connection with the temple, that is, with assembly privilege. It works out in God filling everything. We are held by headship, by the apprehension of Christ in headship; and if it is only reached for a brief moment it is none the less real.

The object in reading Hebrews 10 was to show how God

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detaches us from all that system of things that does not answer to His pleasure; while the passage in Ephesians 1 shows what were the purposes of good pleasure that lie in the will of God, into which we are brought by grace. The two put together give us an apprehension of what is the will of God.

It would help us, I feel, to consider that the incarnation stands in connection with the will of God. "Wherefore coming into the world he says, Sacrifice and offering thou willedst not; but thou hast prepared me a body. Thou tookest no pleasure in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will ... He takes away the first that he may establish the second; by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". It is the blessed result of the will of God brought in in its completion. It is not the will of God in connection with our circumstances (though the Scriptures do speak of that), or in relation to our movements in service and our practical conduct, what it is to suffer and so on; all that enters in incidentally and provisionally but the will of God brought in by Christ refers to something far greater.

The first thing secured is the setting free of believers from the old system according to the law, the system of sacrifice with which the Hebrew believers as the people of God were familiar, and from every question connected with sins or sin. The will of God effectuated by the Son set us completely free from all that: "by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all"; it is an accomplished thing. And it is by the will of God -- every christian should accept that. We are set entirely apart from every kind of religious system that does not please God; and we are perfected for ever. These things are in the will of God, and they have been

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effective in relation to the saints, so that we might be at liberty to be in the enjoyment of another scene which is filled with the blessedness of what is the outcome of the will of God. The allusion to Horeb reminds us of the time when God first made Himself known. It is good for us to assure our hearts of our footing with God -- that we are on the footing that His will has been carried into effect by something outside ourselves altogether; it happened through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and nothing can come upon our consciences. That is the christian position. Coming into manhood He brought in the will of God, not in demand, but by securing the satisfaction of His will in love.

In Ephesians there are three marvellous statements: "the good pleasure of his will", "the mystery of his will", and "the counsel of his own will". So we are brought in Ephesians 1 to what is typically set forth in 2 Chronicles 5:10. There is nothing left but the will of God fully established in Christ and through Christ.

We have been considering the ark as setting forth the greatness of Christ personally, and in considering the tables which were in it we are brought to see what is in Him. He is greater than all He contains. It is really only the saints of the assembly who can look upon Christ in the holiest and see the will of God established in Him; so it belongs particularly to the present time -- as we are seeking to know it now.

It is indeed "the surpassing glory". The glory as seen in Ephesians goes back before the foundation of the world, and is connected with the saints being chosen in Christ. "That we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself". But I am a poor sinner, you say. But this is the will of God; you must have what God is pleased to give, or nothing! The ten commandments are

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the necessary claim of love, and now the truth is clear; we find it is in the will of God to satisfy His own love, and what He purposed before the world was to have a vast company before Him holy and without blame, in love. That is the will of God, and nothing can alter it. "The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" -- that gives us the ark. And this great thought of sonship is "according to the good pleasure of his will". Taking us into favour in the Beloved is a question of His will. What is His will? He wills that. In Christ and through Christ He has secured what He wills.

"The mystery of his will" refers to what is yet future. It belongs to a wider range than what is proposed in the good pleasure of His will, which has to do with the holy conditions of the saints. "Holy and blameless before him in love" (it is not what they ought to be, but what God's will is that they should be), "marked ... out beforehand" for sonship, "taken ... into favour in the Beloved"; all that is the will of God and has actually come into effect. It is our privilege to see Christ in the holiest as having secured this for the good pleasure of God's will and looked at apart from anything else. We turn now to the mystery of His will, a much wider range of things. People are very stupid to call believers narrow-minded; there is nothing narrow here, but vast.

The mystery of His will comes out in verses 8 - 10. That is, we get an inner circle first, upon which the will of God has put a most blessed impress; "holy and blameless before him in love", and "marked ... out beforehand" for sonship. Then there is a wider circle which takes in everything in heaven and on earth. That is the mystery of His will; it is millennial; it is the administration of the fulness of times, not eternity. There is going to be a wonderful administration. Figures known on the world's stage today are passing shadows; that is, they are things

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only here for a moment and they are going out. But Christ is going to be the Centre in whom all will be headed up. It is a mystery now, because only the saints know it, but it is well known to them because God has made it known to us. Verse 8 supposes that the greatest capacity of intelligence belongs to the sons. If we are in this most blessed relationship, He looks for capacity in the sons so that His own wisdom and intelligence can be communicated to them -- a wonderful thing! Paul prayed that the saints might be equal to it. It is one thing to see it, another to be equal to it. We can only arrive at that through prayer.

In Revelation 10:7 we read that "the mystery of God also shall be completed", referring to the time when God's will will be completed publicly. When things are manifested, they are no longer in mystery. We are privileged to go into the most holy place to see this all secured in Christ as much as it will be in a coming day -- but only there can we see it.

Then, finally, there is "the counsel of his own will", which refers to the inheritance. "In whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will". He has taken away the first; all this is connected with the second. The whole will of God is now brought in; the place of the saints, then their immense outlook, and all things to be headed up in Christ, and lastly the thought of the inheritance. "We have ... obtained an inheritance".

As far as I observe, believers are not so much taken up with the inheritance as they ought to be. We should have far more dignity about us if it were so. The inheritance shows us what we can be trusted with. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of it, and if He had His way He would make the inheritance a great reality to us. Seeing the inheritance would impress us with the wonderful blessedness of it, for

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we are to share with Christ what He is going to inherit. "The good pleasure of his will" puts us into happy relations with God our Father who is above us; but the inheritance is beneath us, what we are put in possession of but are capable of taking up as joint heirs with Christ. All this great range of things is connected with the will of God and it must stand. It brings out the greatness of Christ that He is able to bring into this world all the blessed will of God and secure it on the ground of His death, so that the saints come into it and give God the praise and glory.

There is a moment when you are absorbed in the blessedness of the will of God; the Priest and the manna are no longer in view. Hebrews 10 really liberates us in order to come into this wonderful scene of divine pleasure, which brings the whole universe in as the inheritance of the saints. May we be enlarged, not only in the greatness of Christ, but in what He contains -- enlarged as to what is in the Ark!

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 5

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AT REST (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Chronicles 5:1 - 14

The work for the house of Jehovah being finished there was a suitable place for all the dedicated things. Solomon may be regarded, from one point of view, as representing those to whom much that is precious has come down. Many of us are in that position today. The dedicated things represent spiritual contributions which are entitled to have a permanent place "among the treasures of the house of God". Hymns which have this character have come down to us, and there are many things which have accrued as the spoil of past conflicts, and which remain as permanent treasure to enrich the house and make it wealthy Godward. This is not a question of offering but of retaining things in their full value so that they are for the pleasure of God in His house. God would have it to be known that the assembly, viewed as His house, is a place where all that has been the fruit of devotedness in the past is treasured and may be added to. Dedicated things are wealth added to the house by the devotedness of God's people; they are a permanent witness that His people love Him. The widow's two mites, and Mary's pound of ointment, come in on this line; they have been kept among the treasures until now. Every precious ministry that has come to us in power has produced some answer in dedication, and all this, according to the divine thought, is

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brought into the house as treasure. We could hardly value the dedicated things which others have brought in without being greatly moved to contribute something ourselves!

The principal thing in this chapter is the bringing up of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah "to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place". The ark of the covenant is the most remarkable symbol to be found in Scripture, for, though it was a material thing, it was the actual seat of Jehovah's presence amongst His people. He is repeatedly said to dwell between the cherubim, and He said to Moses, "There will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, everything that I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel", Exodus 25:22. The ark is said to be God's strength and His glory (Psalm 78:61); and it is called "the ark of thy strength", Psalm 132:8. But the history of the ark shews us that the greatest privilege that can be conferred upon man only becomes the occasion to bring out the evil that is in man's heart. When Israel had the ark in their midst they dishonoured it by their high places and graven images and yet they assumed that it would help them against their enemies! This only resulted in the ark itself being given into captivity. This shews that, apart from His sovereignty in mercy, the nearer God comes to men the more will He be dishonoured, and this was fully proved when He was manifested in flesh in the person of Jesus. If His glory and His thoughts of blessing are to be known He must undertake the whole matter Himself. And this is what He has done, and it is seen typically in the ark being protected and cared for, and, in due time, brought by David to a resting place in Zion.

There could be no place of rest for God in a world utterly gone astray from Him, and where sin and death reigned, the dreadful evidence of the power of the enemy.

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But David came in, typical of Christ as the One able to do God's will in meeting and setting aside the power of the enemy so that a place of rest might be secured for God and for the ark of His strength. Scripture suggests two distinct thoughts in relation to the securing of Zion. First, in Psalm 132, it is reached as the outcome of David's "affliction", and his unselfish devotion to "find out a place for Jehovah". Then in 1 Chronicles 11 we read that "David took the stronghold of Zion, which is the city of David". The seat of the enemy's power became David's stronghold as the result of his victory. In His devotion Christ has come in, at all cost to Himself, to secure a place for God in the very spot where the enemy held sway. He allowed no affliction or difficulty to turn Him aside from this purpose of His heart. On the other hand, He acted in victorious power to secure Zion by conquest. In the very place where "sin has reigned in the power of death" He so met and overcame all the power of the enemy that at the present time grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The ark was brought to a place of rest in being brought to Zion, but it was there provisionally as being in "a tent".

It is instructive to consider the difference between the place which David prepared for the ark in Zion and the place to which Solomon brought it in the most holy place in the house. The first was a provisional place of rest, but the house was a permanent resting place, for the staves being drawn out indicated that the ark was not to be carried again.

We learn from Psalm 132 that Zion contemplates need in man, for it is written, "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy ones with bread". "Life for evermore" comes in on this line as relieving men from the pressure of death. The true David has taken the stronghold of Zion, and made it His own city; He has overcome

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every power that stood in the way of God's grace being made known to men. The kingdom is set up, and all its benefits are available; God can rest in what Christ has done, and in what He has brought in for men, and all this answers to Zion. It is made known in the glad tidings to men, and those who believe the glad tidings can be said to have come to mount Zion. It is an accepted time and a day of salvation, but it is provisional, and, alas, the majority of men do not come into the gain of it, though it is provided for them.

God desired a place of rest in relation to all that had come in here by sin and Satan's power, and Christ has secured that rest for Him. David's bringing the ark to Zion typifies how, when men had forfeited all title to blessing from God, He took up in the sovereignty of His mercy, through the Lord Jesus Christ, a position where He can be known as extremely favourable to men. Nothing can be added by either God or men to the grace that reigns now through the Lord Jesus Christ. God is in the attitude of forgiveness towards all men. Righteousness, life, salvation and every blessing that divine favour can bestow are available for men. God has left Sinai and come to Zion, and all there subsists according to what He is Himself as set forth in Christ. God does not look for anything in man, save repentance, but He is perfectly at rest in what He has set forth of Himself in Christ, and in what is available for men in Christ. There is not a feature of need in men which is not fully provided for by the all-blessing grace of God. It might be thought that none who knew this would hesitate a moment to turn to such a God, to boast and glory in Him for evermore! But such is the alienation of the human heart from God that nothing but the touch of sovereign mercy can bring about in that heart a true appreciation of God as dwelling in Zion. All must be of Himself, the abundantly blessed provision in

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Zion, and the begetting of men to enjoy it. "Of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her", Psalm 87:5. All those truly blessed of God are Zion's children; they take character from the city in which they were born; they come into view as persons in whom the reign of grace has become effective. It is, indeed, a wonderful sight to see men freed from sin's dominion, in whose hearts the works of the devil are undone, and in whom the kingdom is seen in its practical power. It is certain that amongst such persons Christ will ever be held in great honour. It was clearly so in the early chapters of the Acts; the principles of Zion were set up amongst men in the power of the Holy Spirit. Zion in a spiritual sense is found today when men as subjects of sovereign mercy, stand in God's favour through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ being held in supreme honour amongst such answers to the ark being brought to Zion.

Blessed as Zion is, it is not the culmination of God's thoughts. David was right in desiring that the ark should not remain "under curtains", for Jehovah said to him, "Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart", 2 Chronicles 6:8. But the house was to be built by one of whom Jehovah said, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son", 1 Chronicles 17:13. This was a prophetic declaration that the full thought of God could only be brought in and established by One in the relationship of Son to Him. The Spirit of God has greatly magnified, in recent years amongst the saints, the truth of the Lord's sonship, and this has been in view of God's great and blessed thoughts being brought out in their completeness and finality. Solomon bringing the ark up to its place in the house indicates typically that the full thought of God is reached. The ark being brought into "the oracle of the house" suggests the full revelation of God's mind; it is very much Christ as seen

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in the gospel of John. For His body being spoken of as "the temple" in that gospel links on with what is before us in the type. Then Paul speaks of all the building as fitted together and tells us that it "increases to a holy temple in the Lord", Ephesians 2:21. This is a direct reference to the Scripture now before us, and it shews that the constructional work is proceeding. It cannot yet be said to be finished, but the complete thought is set before us in the type that we may understand what God has before Him.

Paul's announcement of all the counsel of God in the epistle to the Ephesians answers in the New Testament to the ark being brought to its rest in the most holy place. For there is nothing beyond, or more holy than, what we have presented there. God is bringing the saints of the assembly by Paul's ministry into the most blessed nearness to Himself with regard to Christ's place before Him. For the ark in the "oracle of the house" is where God's mind is most fully made known. Paul speaks of completing the word of God, and the full thought of the oracle is reached by the revelation of the mystery to him, and by his ministry of the assembly. Now the crowning point is to see Christ's blessed place in relation to it all, and this seems to be typified by the bringing of the ark into the most holy place. This brings about that the saints are filled even to all the fulness of God. There can be no further movement beyond this; it brings us to the permanent resting-place of divine love; we touch what is eternal. So that we can but exclaim, "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen", Ephesians 3:21.

In connection with bringing up the ark, "king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude". In bringing before us the highest and most glorious things that have place in His eternal purpose God would give us a

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very large apprehension of the death of Christ as the ground on which alone His great thoughts could be reached in all their fulness. The epistle to the Hebrews has in view boldness to enter the holiest, and there are no less than twenty-eight distinct references to the death of Christ in that epistle. Gentile saints are addressed in Ephesians 2 as having become nigh by the blood of the Christ. We could not be sanctified so as to be suitable for the holiest, or for the apprehension of what is there, on any other ground.

Personally He was the Ark of the covenant when here; and the ark being brought into the most holy place typifies the place which He has now as risen and exalted. In this chapter the house has been built, and the cherubim are seen as overshadowing the ark there. The ark as brought to its permanent rest in the house is covered by the wings of the cherubim. Christ, as He may be known today in the affections of the saints of the assembly, is the cherished Object of God's delight. In the holiest we come entirely apart from the flesh and from the infirmities and limitations which attach to us as in the flesh and blood condition; we are privileged to contemplate Christ as in relation to the will and glory of God, and as having effectuated that will. We are, perhaps, little accustomed to contemplate things from that standpoint, but we do not really reach the blessed thoughts of God until we do.

It is evident that a work of God is necessary in the souls of His elect to prepare them to enter into these great and holy matters; they must go through the exercises of "the children" as partaking of blood and flesh; they must be of "the seed of Abraham" as having faith. But then they are privileged to view everything from the divine side, and to think of God as the One, "for whom are all things, and by whom are all things", and as the One who is "bringing many sons to glory", Hebrews 2:10. "Glory" is the fruition

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of His purpose of love, and in order to bring it about He has made perfect the Leader of our salvation through sufferings. Christ as having passed through death, and now in glorified condition, is made perfect as the Leader of salvation. He leads into the condition of glory by being in it Himself. And the whole work of sanctifying which was needed was undertaken by Him; He is the Sanctifier; His saints are the sanctified. They are so identified with Him, so entirely the result of His own sanctifying, that He and they are said to be "all of one". It is for this cause that "He is not ashamed to call them brethren", Hebrews 2:11. He can view them as entirely the result of His own sanctifying, and this is divinely perfect. Later on in the epistle we find that He came to do God's will, "by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all", Hebrews 10:10. It was the will of God that we should be sanctified, and it has been brought about by that wondrous offering, so that saints are now "all of one" with the Sanctifier, and He cannot be ashamed of them because they are what He has made them. And, viewed thus, they are suitable for the holiest, to contemplate there the ark in its own place as having brought in the will of God in its completeness. The holiest is a scene of infinite complacency for God because it is the climax of His own will and glory so far as it could be typically presented.

The wings of the cherubim are seen here in relation to the ark and its staves. The wide scope of things connected with the outward look of the cherubim is not mentioned here; it is simply "the place of the ark ... and its staves". So that the thought of complacency predominates here;_ every attribute of God and His holy government is complacent in Christ and in what Christ has brought in. The staves are a reminder that the ark has been in other conditions than the most holy place to which it is brought to

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rest. It has been carried in service and testimony during a long period ever since the Lord ascended and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven. The apostles' testimony to Christ as in relation to the will of God was a delight to God, and in so far as their testimony has been continued there has been delight to God. But as in the most holy place the staves are not in active service; they are there as the witness that the ark has been carried in testimony when it was not in rest. But now, as appears from J.N.D.'s note, they were drawn out, as though to mark the contrast. Even when the ark is viewed as in its permanent place of rest the carrying time is not to be forgotten, "The ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day". At the moment contemplated here the carrying service had ceased, but it is not lost sight of within the holy place.

"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb". According to Hebrews 9, "the golden pot that had the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had sprouted" were also in the ark. That was the wilderness arrangement, for in the responsible life here we need both the inward sustenance of the grace of Christ and His priestly succour in things relating to God. But in the ark as brought to the most holy place in the temple there was neither, indicating to us that a point is reached typically when nothing remains to be considered but the will of God, and that will as brought to rest complacently as being fully accomplished. It is possible for us to reach such a point, and particularly as in assembly privilege, and to anticipate the eternal condition of things when all that the incarnation of Christ had in view will be brought to pass.

The will of God is viewed in different connections in Scripture. Sometimes it has reference to movements in service, and there are some passages in which it is applied to christian practice; there is also what God may will in

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regard to suffering on the part of His saints. But when we think of Christ as coming into the world to do the will of God it covers all that is now, and will be eternally, for the pleasure of God. In Hebrews 10, it is contrasted with the whole system of sacrifices according to the law. They were offered in recognition of the fact that men under law were sinners. But they did not establish the will of God, which was that His saints should be "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". We are set for God apart from the whole system of things which failed to give Him pleasure. Jesus Christ has been here in a prepared body, and that body has been offered once for all, and the result is that the will of God has taken effect; believers are sanctified and perfected for ever. Nothing can add to the completeness of this, for it is the will of God, and accomplished once for all by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ on the cross.

But saints of this present period are sanctified, and perfected in conscience, with a view to their being introduced into all the positive blessedness that is in the will of God. So in Ephesians 1 we read that God has acted according to the good pleasure of His will. He purposed in Christ before the world's foundation that a vast company should be holy and without blame before Him in love, marked out for sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, "to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved". This is the will of God as now seen in the ark in the most holy place. It is God having His own way, and Christ is in the most blessed nearness to Him as Man so that His will might be there as an accomplished fact. We are privileged to see Him there, and to learn that every part of what is in the will of God is brought to fruition in Him. His Person is the greatest wonder of all. The ark was greater than what it contained, but what it contained expressed God's will, and that will at

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the present time includes all saints in its blessed eternal purpose. The will of God is brought in now in its completeness in Christ glorified, and its blessedness extends, and will extend, to all those chosen in Him. There is nothing else there, from the point of view of the wondrous type before us. Wilderness needs are not there, nor the grace that provides for them.

Then God has not only given us a most holy place before Him, and a relationship in love which answers to His pleasure in a supreme way, but as in that place of sonship and favour He has made known to us the mystery of His will. He gives us to know what He has purposed in Himself. The fulness of times is soon going to be administered, all things headed up in Christ. The saints cherish the mystery of God's will which He has made known to them. It is all a present reality in the Ark in the most holy place, but it will very shortly be brought forth and publicly administered. It will no longer be the mystery of God's will when all things are headed up in Christ, but it has the character of mystery now; it is only known to those who have been initiated into it. The saints of the assembly have the widest outlook; they embrace heaven and earth in their view.

And then we have obtained an inheritance in Christ. This is important as bringing out the great thoughts of God for His sons, and their wondrous and divinely conferred capability to take up what He has assigned to them. The Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance; He is an actual part of it. God is working all things according to the counsel of His own will, and He has secured in Christ everything that enters into His will, and according to His purpose His saints have obtained an inheritance in Christ. He is entitled to inherit all things, and the saints of the assembly will inherit with Him. At the present time we obtain it in Him. Hence it is of the

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utmost importance that we should contemplate Him as the Ark of the covenant in the most holy place. All God's present and future will is as surely secured in Christ as it ever will be, and it is our privilege to know Him thus.

The hallowing of all the priests without observing the courses seems to intimate that a much more extended and expanded service is in view at this point. When the ark is brought into its place the idea of courses gives place to the general or universal service of the assembly. "All the saints" are brought in in Ephesians 3:18, and the climax of all is glory to God "in the assembly in Christ Jesus". This regards the assembly as moving Godward in its completeness and unity. This is the divine ideal, and it should be ever before us. It is seen typically when "It came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving kindness endureth for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God".

This point being reached is very much like the prayer of Ephesians 3 being answered. If the saints of the assembly are "filled even to all the fulness of God" we can hardly think of official service continuing, for God fills all. There cannot be anything more for God than that He should fill all. Even temple service, wondrous as it is, does not rise to the blessedness of being where the Son is in His Father's house. In the case of the younger son in his father's house (Luke 15) we hardly think of him as serving there; we think of the blessedness of his being there, and the joy it was to his father to have him there. And when the Lord said, "Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I

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desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24), we do not think of priests or temple service there. We are conscious that a point is reached which belongs to another and a different order of things. In the eternal state, when God is all in all, I apprehend the priests will no longer "stand to do their service". They will be in the blessedness of their eternal place and relationship as sons.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 5, 7 AND 9

THE ORACLE, THE ALTAR AND THE THRONE (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Chronicles 5:7 - 14; 2 Chronicles 7:7; 2 Chronicles 9:1 - 9

In bringing these scriptures before you, my desire is that the glories of the Person who is the Spirit of all the Old Testament may shine upon our hearts. I know it is only as our eyes are anointed with the Spirit's unction that we can discern the glories of that Person, but I trust that each one of us here has received the anointing which teaches us to abide in Christ and to find everything in Him. He is here presented, in type and figure, as the One who fills the oracle, the altar and the throne.

For more than a hundred years the oracle had been empty; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that there had been no oracle at all, for when the ark was taken by the Philistines, God "forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent where he had dwelt among men", Psalm 78:60. There was no spot upon earth where God could rest -- where His glory could dwell -- and from which He could make Himself known, and communicate His mind. The whole order of things connected with Sinai had come to grief; the system which was set up in connection with the responsibility of men whose blessings depended upon the way in which that responsibility was discharged, had ended in total failure. But God had begun a new order of things in connection with David and Zion, in which the

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source and spring of everything was grace. The great characteristic of grace is that it brings in what is of God; and everything depends on God, and therefore there is no flaw in it. To be established with grace is to have the heart brought into a circle of things which is entirely filled with perfection -- that is, with Christ.

Here we get the oracle restored. The glory, which departed when Ichabod was born, comes back. But when? When "the ark of the covenant of Jehovah" was brought in "to its place, into the oracle of the house". When the priests had retired, and the ark alone remained in the holy of holies, the house was filled with the cloud of glory. That glory which greeted the ark to its place in the oracle of the house was a glory which excluded man in the flesh. The place was found at last concerning which faith could say, "Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength"; and concerning which Jehovah could say, "This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it", Psalm 132:8, 14. A place where every perfection of God's nature, and every attribute of His Being, could repose in profound satisfaction, and from whence He could make Himself known, and communicate His mind and pleasure. But what occupied that holy oracle? The ark of the covenant alone. It was the presence of the ark, and the absence of everything else, which made that holy oracle a resting-place for the divine glory. Take away the ark, and you might write Ichabod on Solomon's splendid sanctuary as plainly as it was written on the deserted tent at Shiloh. Introduce any other person, and that glory must necessarily have proved his destruction. The ark alone could fill that holy oracle, and make it the resting-place of the Shekinah.

What does this present to our hearts, my brethren? Does it not remind us of what we surely desire never to forget -- that there has been but one Person on earth in

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whom the glory of God could find its rest? God created man for His own satisfaction, but from Genesis 3 'Ichabod' was written on Adam and his race, and there was no place of rest or satisfaction for God in man or in man's world. The oracle was empty; the glory was departed. But God never gives up one of His thoughts, and in due time He brought One into the world who could fill the oracle with perfection, and make a home on earth for the glory of God.

I have no doubt you have often lingered over the wondrous scene which is brought before us in Luke 2. The birth of that holy Child, who was "called Son of God"; brought perfection into this world for the first time since the fall, and at once we have "the glory of the Lord" greeting Him, and the heavenly host sounding forth the blessed fact that there was "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". It was, in truth, the bringing in of the ark "to its place, into the oracle of the house". The natural eye could see nothing there but a babe whose nativity was encircled by circumstances of unparalleled lowliness; but the presence of that Babe on earth made a home here for the glory of God. His presence was the pledge that every desire of God's heart as to man should have its perfect answer. For God and for heaven -- and, we may add, for faith -- the true Ark of the covenant was at Bethlehem; there was the oracle, and there appeared the glory-cloud.

Now let us pass for a moment from Bethlehem to the Jordan (Luke 3:21, 22). The time had come for that blessed One to take His place amongst men as the vessel of grace, and God would not suffer Him to enter on His ministry without a further and glorious testimony to His Person. The Ark is again seen in its place in the oracle of the house. The opened heaven, the descending Spirit, the Father's voice unite to proclaim Him as the object of God's delight and love, and the place of God's rest. There

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was perfection in this world in a Man, and the glory of God could find its perfect satisfaction and rest in Him. Before His service began His personal perfections were a place of rest for the divine glory. Notice the words, "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb". At other times there had also been the priestly rod that budded, and the golden pot of manna. These things indicated what Christ is in priestly grace and service, and as food to sustain His people. But here it is not what He is in grace or service for His people, but what He is in His personal perfection for God, the One who could say, "Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me -- To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart", Psalm 40:7, 8.

Then if we move onward to the holy mount (Luke 9:28 - 36) we find Him at the end of that day of service which began at the Jordan. The only thing remaining for Him on earth was the decease to be accomplished at Jerusalem, which formed the theme of holy converse on that mount of glory. And here again we find the Ark filling His place in the oracle, and the glory resting there. It may be said, and rightly so, that Moses and Elias appeared in glory as well as Jesus. But how instructive to observe that when Peter would have regarded and retained them all in equal honour, it is expressly told us by the Spirit that he knew not what he said; and immediately thereupon the cloud of excellent glory appeared -- the same cloud as of old filled the house of the Lord -- and that glory would own and greet but One. "There was a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And as the voice was heard Jesus was found alone".

In connection with that word, "Hear him", I think we get the thought of the Oracle. The One in whom God can rest is the One who can make known all His mind. God said to Moses concerning the ark, "There I will meet with

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thee, and I will commune with thee", Exodus 25:22, Authorised Version. "God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these Gays has spoken to us in the person of the Son", Hebrews 1:1, 2. God has been perfectly declared in this world, and all His mind expressed there, in and by that blessed One; He has filled the oracle.

One lovely touch must not be passed over. "And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without". The staves were those by which the ark was carried, and I think God would remind us thereby that the One who filled the oracle, and in whom all His glory found its perfect satisfaction, was carried along in perfect dependence at every step. If we think of Him at Bethlehem we are reminded of His words by the prophetic Spirit -- "Thou didst make me trust, upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb", Psalm 22:9, 10. If we look at Him at Jordan we find Him praying. If we view Him on the holy mount He is praying there. We see "the ends of the staves", but we must be near Him in the sanctuary to understand this, and to know how perfectly He kept the place of the dependent One -- "they were not seen without".

We noticed that the glory which greeted the ark excluded everybody from the sanctuary. If God can rest in the perfections of Christ He must refuse everything that is not Christ. If this be so, a solemn and deeply important question arises at once. It is this. If God has brought in perfection for His own heart in Christ how can all our imperfection be dealt with and removed according to His glory, so as to leave Him free to bless us according to the perfection of Christ? That question can only be answered -- thank God! it is answered perfectly -- by the altar. If Christ, in His holy life as Man upon the earth, filled the

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oracle, in His sufferings and death He has also filled the altar.

Before I touch upon what is specially brought before us in 2 Chronicles 7 in connection with the altar I am constrained to say a few words on what may be called our side of the work of the cross. Perhaps I am speaking to some timid and doubting soul who has never known what it was to have divine peace. It may be you have analysed your feelings and reviewed your experience again and again with the greatest earnestness and sincerity, but you have never been able to find in yourself any evidence or token that would impart the longed-for peace. You have been looking altogether in the wrong direction. The Spirit of God, who has made you anxious, would now turn your eyes away from yourself, and even from His operations in you, to the work of Christ for you. Let me read you some precious words as to the object and efficacy of that work. "Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree", 1 Peter 2:24. Jesus our Lord, "who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification", Romans 4:24, 25. "Having made by himself the purification of sins, set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high", Hebrews 1:3. "But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity at the right hand of God, waiting from henceforth until his enemies be set for the footstool of his feet. For by one offering he has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it ... their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more", Hebrews 10:12 - 17. The sins of all believers were remembered at the cross, and dealt with there in holy judgment according to the divine glory; and God has testified by His Spirit in the Scriptures that He will remember them no more. What a complete expiation! What perfect peace and assurance for the believer!

Then another one may say, 'But my difficulty is not

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that. It is not what I have done that troubles me so much as what I am. All my efforts to improve myself have failed; and though I thought I was converted, I find myself as bad as ever, and I am disgusted with myself'. You are finding out what attached to you as a child of Adam, what it is to belong to a race that will not do for God, and you are discovering something of what "sin in the flesh" is, and of the nature of "the mind of the flesh" which is "not subject to the law of God; for neither indeed can it be", Romans 8:7. For you I will read Romans 8:3 -"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh". The thing which is through grace so trying and hateful to you is not less hateful to God; but it has received its full judgment at the cross. Sin in the flesh has received its just desert at the hand of God -- it has been "condemned". Sin, as well as sins, the root as well as the fruit, was brought before God at the cross, and there dealt with in unmitigated judgment. God has been as fully glorified about what you are as He has about what you have done. What a relief and joy to know this!

Now, if you look at 2 Chronicles 7:7 you will notice that three things are mentioned there, the burnt-offerings, the oblations and the fat of the peace-offerings. That is, everything is looked at from God's side. If we begin by learning the perfection of the work of Christ, in bearing our sins and putting away sin, we must not stop there, or limit our apprehension of that wondrous work to the side of it which meets our need. It is an immeasurable loss to us if we do not go on to learn what the work of the cross has been for God. In connection with the burnt-offering we may read Ephesians 5:2 -- "The Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour". The Lord Jesus came

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here to take up the whole question of sin, and the glory of God in respect of sin. Think of that scene of judgment, when all that God was, and must be, against sin, came out and was expressed as it never can be expressed again throughout eternity. All that sin was in the presence of the holiness, majesty, and glory of God came out there. But as you think of that scene of darkness and judgment and death, in which the glory of God was maintained and vindicated to its utmost bound as to all that sin was before Him, remember that there was something greater at that cross than the darkness and the judgment and the death -- something greater than the sin in respect of which God was so eternally glorified there. May God give each of our hearts a deep, adoring apprehension of that greater thing. I refer to the infinitely perfect affections of the heart of that blessed One, the obedience and love in which He was there, the devotedness of the holy Victim which made every part of that unspeakable self-sacrifice a sweet-smelling savour to God. Have those words, almost His last ones, never thrilled your heart? "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has commanded me, thus I do. Rise up, let us go hence", John 14:31. "On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life", John 10:17. Never again can the Son so express His love to the Father as it was expressed at the cross when He gave Himself to maintain the divine glory in respect of sin. Well may He speak of that death as a motive for the Father's love to Him, for never were His perfections of obedience and love so wondrously displayed before.

Then there was the oblation. It was due to God that in the very place where man had so dishonoured Him there should be found a Man to honour Him in unfaltering devotedness to His will. I believe the oblation offering sets forth the Lord Jesus in His personal devotedness to God;

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as Philippians 2:8 expresses it, "obedient even unto death". Nothing could move Him from the path which, 'uncheered by earthly smiles, led only to the cross'. His devotedness was tested in every way -- in private life, in public service, and in that hour of darkness preceding and including the cross. There was at last One found in all the circumstances of man who would take the very lowest place in obedience to God's will, and who would die rather than swerve from the path of devotedness to God. He "resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin". He would carry out the will of God at all cost to Himself.

"And the fat". It is blessed to know that there are depths and riches of personal excellence in Christ beyond all that we know or can know. "All the fat shall be Jehovah's", Leviticus 3:46. All the personal excellence of that blessed One, as only God can know and estimate it, has come out at the cross to the eternal satisfaction and gratification of the heart of God. So that whether as to the glory of God in respect of sin, or as to personal devotedness in Man, or as to the excellence of the holy One who was thus devoted, Christ fills with absolute perfection everything which the altar demanded. So that the place of sin and judgment and death is the very place above all others in the universe where perfection has been displayed.

In connection with this, notice the words -- so richly significant -- "the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offerings and the oblations and the fat". I think this serves to show how every type and figure fails to express the greatness of Christ and the cross. The perfections of that Person and work are infinite. There can be no measurement of the glory of God, of the devotedness of the Sufferer, or of His personal excellence. May God enlarge our hearts to apprehend all this a little more fully.

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If Christ filled the oracle and the altar He also fills the throne, and this brings us to His present place on high. The thought connected with the throne is administration. "Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king to Jehovah thy God! Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore did he make thee king over them, to do judgment and justice", 2 Chronicles 9:8. Solomon was set on Jehovah's throne to administer everything for God to the people. Christ, having filled the oracle and the altar, now fills the throne; He is exalted to administer everything for God. No other but the One who is the perfect Object of satisfaction and delight to the heart of God could fitly administer all the grace and blessing of that heart to men. What an exalted view, and what a divine measure, does this give of the greatness of christian blessings! "Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore did he make thee king over them". The greatness of God's love, and of His gracious purposes, is expressed in the greatness and glory of the Person who administers it all to us from God. There is not a single christian blessing which is not administered now by and through Christ in glory. All the blessings of divine grace are administered by and through an enthroned and glorified Saviour. The remission of sins (Acts 2:36 - 38), salvation (Acts 4:11, 12), justification (Acts 13:38, 39), peace with God (Romans 5:1), access into favour (Romans 5:2), reconciliation, and joy in God (Romans 5:11), are all administered to us through a risen and glorified Saviour. The ministration of righteousness is from Him (2 Corinthians 3), and in His face shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). We get no right estimate of the character and greatness of our blessings until we see them in living connection with Christ in glory.

How much we may learn from this Gentile queen who

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"came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon", Matthew 12:42. She heard of the fame of the one who was set on Jehovah's throne to administer everything for God to the objects of His love, and nothing would satisfy her heart but, as coming to that glorious person, that she might see in his presence the reality of that greatness of which she had heard in her own land. My brethren, is there no such journey for our hearts to take today? Indeed there is. For the satisfaction of the heart it is not enough to hear the report; the soul must reach the company of the One of whom it has heard. It is a supremely blessed moment when the heart is so attracted by the fame and the glory of the true Solomon that it turns away from man and from present things to travel outside the whole sphere of sight and sense into the company of the glorious Person who fills the throne. In His company, in conscious nearness to Himself, there is not, there could not be, an unsatisfied desire in the heart. The reality was beyond the report, and beyond all the greatest expectation of the queen's heart. Not only was all her need met and all her enigmas solved but she found herself in the circle of Solomon's greatness and glory; every detail in that circle expressed his wisdom and the perfections and grace of Jehovah, on whose throne he was set. What a journey for the heart! To leave our own land, the place of need, and unrest, and unsatisfied longing, where self is the great centre and object, and to come to One who has a perfect answer for every question of the heart, and who brings us into His own circle and fills our hearts with His own greatness and glory. May every one of our hearts be so attracted to Himself that we may be prepared to leave in spirit everything that is here to reach His presence and have His company.

The great object which God has in view is to attach our affections to Christ; and I trust He may use the ministry of

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His word tonight to this end, so that the blessed Person of Christ, who has filled the oracle and the altar, and who now fills the throne, may truly fill each one of our hearts. Amen.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 6 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 6:1 - 42

The Spirit, in causing these chapters to be written, had in mind a day which was then future, but which is now present. The house of God could only be set up here in spirituality through the incoming of Christ the Son, and His being glorified on the ground of having accomplished redemption. As a result of these immense realities the assembly is built as "a house of habitation" for God, a settled place for God to abide in by the presence here of His Spirit. God would have all His people to come into the intelligence and blessing of this. Solomon blessing the whole congregation of Israel intimates to us that very great blessing for all saints is connected with God dwelling here in His house.

But this requires that God shall be, as it is said in 1 John 1:7, "in the light". This is in striking contrast to dwelling in thick darkness. I believe there are fifteen references to Jehovah's name in this chapter. God's name refers to how He would be known by men as "in the light". Whatever light there was as to God in the Old Testament was really anticipative of Christ; God could not be said to be "in the light" until the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father declared Him (John 1:18). Conditions have now come about, through the great and blessed activities of divine love, which make it possible for God to be known by men, and for Him to dwell where He is known.

Solomon said, "I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with

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the children of Israel". The house without the ark would have been destitute of its glory: Jehovah's name would not really have been there. We could have no knowledge of God's name apart from Christ. His name has been made known by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and it expresses all that He is in grace for men, notwithstanding their sinful condition, and it also makes known what He is in the purpose of His love for those whom He has chosen in Christ. It came out in the ministry of Christ on earth, though all that was made known then was really based on His death, and now that He is glorified it is opened out to us in the teaching of the epistles. That He gave His Son to die, that He raised up and glorified the Lord Jesus, that He is a Justifier and Saviour God for all men, that He is made known as the Father, is all included now in His name. He is to be known and worshipped as thus made known. Jesus said, "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world" (John 17:6), and, again, "I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known" (verse 26). The house is characterised by this, that God's name is there.

Most of the departure that has taken place in the history of the church has come about by disregarding His name. How little is known in Christendom generally of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness without works, or of the man to whom He will not at all reckon sin! How little does the Spirit of God's Son in the hearts of saints, crying 'Abba, Father', appear in what is supposed to be Christian worship! Is there not more often a sense of sin and distance, and a cry for mercy? However commendable this may appear to be, it is really the proof that God's name is not known. The fact is that most of Christendom is marked by the error against which our apostle contended so earnestly when it appeared in the assemblies of Galatia. Turning back to law and works, and

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seeking to establish righteousness in the flesh, is really a grievous offence against what is made known of God in the glad tidings: it is wholly inconsistent with the name by which He has made Himself known. It is as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" that we know Him. This is indeed the full blessedness of His name as it is known in His house today, and bound up with it is the full and eternal blessing of His saints in Christ. So that the saints as "built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22) are a settled place for Him to abide in for ever in all the blessedness of His revealed name, and of what He has purposed in Christ. This is how He would be known as dwelling in His house.

The "house" is mentioned sixteen times in this chapter. The house is built unto the name, and the name is called upon the house. The result of God's name being declared is that He has a house in which He dwells by the Spirit; it is composed of those who know His name and are indwelt by His Spirit. All departure and evil that have come into the christian profession have come about by disregard of the name or the house, for where one is disregarded the other will be also. Therefore in all cases of departure recovery can only come about by the recognition of these two great realities, and a return to them in true repentance. This is largely the burden of Solomon's prayer.

There could not be a settled place for God to abide in for ever except on the ground that He is known, and an order of things set up which is in accord with Him. In the previous chapter we saw the ark brought to its rest in the most holy place; that set forth what is inward and spiritual; but the chapter now before us regards the house as set up here for God's name; its outward and public position are in view. When the hundred and twenty disciples on the day of Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit it was publicly manifest that God had chosen a place, and that His

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holy name was there. We can say now that God does indeed dwell with man on the earth, and the true blessing of His people really depends on the recognition of that wondrous fact. If Christ has built the house (Hebrews 3:3), and God's name is there, the recognition of this is necessary if His people are to fully prove the resources which are available. We are very apt to forget that there is a house here built by Christ, and that God's name is there, and that it is God, as known in His house, who is the resource of His people under all circumstances. It is true that the heavens are God's dwelling place -- Solomon refers to this repeatedly -- but what is emphasised throughout this chapter is that there is a house on the earth where God dwells, and that this is to be recognised in every exercise and need of His people. He said Himself, "Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attentive to the prayer made in this place; for I have now chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually", 2 Chronicles 7:15, 16. God is dwelling here in a habitation in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22), and if we disregard this, or think little of it, there will be a serious defect in our relations with God. The present state of confusion in the christian profession puts great difficulty in the way of realising this in a practical way, and hence many believers think only, or mainly, of their individual relations with God as in heaven. But if He has a dwelling here, and His name is here, we ought to be concerned to know about it, and to find our place in relation to it. The first thing is to recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to be deeply exercised to have the gain of this wondrous reality. The result of God's name being made known is that the Holy Spirit has come to indwell those who are in the faith of that name. Every one who forms part of the house of God has become such by the reception of the Spirit. If God's people do not recognise

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the presence of the Spirit, or if they set Him aside practically by some human order, or by holding a sectarian position, they cannot be regarded as having "house" character. God would have every one of them to be concerned as to the truth of His house as formed here by the presence of His Spirit. It is the point of recovery all through this chapter. Whatever departure there is, whatever evil is occurrent, the remedy lies in recognising the house, and the resource that is there. All resource for us today lies in God's name as known to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the fact that He dwells here by His Spirit. All believers are responsible to walk together in the truth of the "name" and the "house". If they did, they would appear publicly as unified by their knowledge of God, and by the indwelling of His Spirit.

Solomon has much before him that the people will need to have their sin forgiven. This makes clear that the house is viewed here as available in a time of failure, when the government of God has brought upon His people the consequences of departure from Him. It is not exactly the house as seen in Acts 2 and 4, before failure came in, nor does it typify the house as it will be in millennial conditions, for then there will be no such circumstances as are spoken of in verses 24 - 29 and 36 - 38. It is the house as a place of resource in conditions which represent figuratively the present state of things amongst the people of God. So that we have here what is very precious and comforting as shewing the practical gain to be derived in a day of departure from the recognition of the house as the place where God has set His name and where He dwells. This should, indeed, be the gain of all saints, but it will only be understood by those who see that God dwelling here in His house is a great spiritual reality, and that the recognition of it in a practical way is needful to keep us right, or to set us right when we have been wrong, or to

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give us power over what is adverse. Thank God, it is still possible for saints to walk together in the blessedness of God's name as made known by His Son, and as recognising the presence of His Spirit. These precious realities become the standard by which we adjust our conduct, our associations, our service and our worship. When God gives us light we have to be consistent with it if we wish to retain a good conscience. But provision is made, as we see in this chapter, for recovery and restoration even if we have been inconsistent with the truth.

The first matter contemplated is, "If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness" (verses 22, 23). This gives us to understand that where the truth of God's house is recognised we may expect that His direct government will come into action when necessary. The first administrative action of the assembly referred to in Scripture has to do with this very thing, (see Matthew 18:15 - 18). For such cases the Lord has laid down a definite order of procedure which would secure a righteous judgment in all such matters. But we have only to read the whole of Matthew 18 to see that the Lord never intended that every sin against a brother should be brought to the assembly. Peter was told to forgive "until seventy times seven", and the end of the chapter shews how the Lord regards an unforgiving spirit. Most of the grievances that arise should be regarded as God-given opportunities for grace to display itself, for forbearance and forgiveness. But if a matter is so grave that it comes to the assembly on the testimony of two or three witnesses it is definitely settled: the wicked is requited, and the righteous justified. A true assembly

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judgment can never be set aside, for it is the mind of heaven, and heaven ratifies it. It derives its authority from the fact that the Lord is in the midst even of two or three who are gathered together unto His name.

Then the possibility is suggested (verses 24, 25) of God's people being "put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee". This contemplates a general defection which exposes the people of God to inroads of the enemy whereby they suffer loss of their divinely given inheritance. The saints at Corinth and in the Galatian assemblies are examples of this. And it can hardly be denied that at the present time the principles of the world have so prevailed that the blessing in Christ is very little known or enjoyed. But the way is open to "turn again and confess thy name". We are called by God's name (chapter 7: 14), but we may give up the confession of it, and all manner of evil may come in for which He may have to chasten us. Recovery is brought about by turning again, and confessing the name we have sinned against. This is more than confessing our sins; we confess the positive excellence of the name that has been made known to us, and this leads to genuine repentance and turning from sin. It is in giving God's name its true place that individual or collective recovery takes place. It is in thinking of Him, and of the wondrous way in which He is known to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are recovered. It is possible deeply to regret past or present failure without getting relief or restoration. When we have sinned and are conscious of it the way back is to confess what God is notwithstanding what we have been. It is very suitable to confess how wrong we have been, but this does not bring power into the soul. In confessing what is positive we find the true power of restoration, and we pray differently when we return to God's name.

Then prayer and supplication are to be "before thee in

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this house". God looks that all His people should recognise that His Spirit is here, and that He has a house here. The great movement of recovery a hundred years ago was largely brought about by the recognition of the Spirit as dwelling here. This involved, not only that all saints were baptised into one body, but that, according to God, they were built together as His habitation. Outwardly things are broken up and in confusion, but if the Spirit is here the one body and the house are here too. If we recognise this we should speak of it, it should enter into our confession; then we might find that others are prepared to recognise it, and we might find a bond of association with fellow-saints which is according to the truth. It has been found practically by thousands of saints that as the truth of the house has been recognised and returned to there has been very great enlargement in the knowledge of what God has given to His saints in Christ. In this way God's people have been brought again to the land given to them and to their fathers!

The next part of the prayer covers a wide range of God's dealings with His people when they are in a state of departure from Him. The heavens being shut up denotes, in its application to the present day, a lack of spiritual ministry. It should cause great exercise when fresh and living ministry is lacking amongst the people of God. It is a clear proof that something is seriously wrong. Then pestilence is abroad when evil teaching obtains currency, as is often the case. Blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar are things which spoil the value of what is in itself good and nourishing. Excellent ministry may be blighted or eaten up by many apparently little things which would never get any footing if we were marked by abiding with the Lord. If you are conscious that you are not getting the good of the ministry, look round and see whether you have not some worldly literature about, or some companionship that is

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not helpful, or, perhaps, some personal feeling that ought to be judged as of the flesh. All such things should be regarded as an urgent call to self-judgment and prayer. Then enemies may besiege us; there are plenty of them about, influences of the world which curtail our spiritual freedom.

Finally, "whatever plague or whatever sickness there be ... every man his own plague, and his own grief", comes down to the personal state and need of every individual. Whatever condition may have come in through our unwatchfulness and sin, there is the gracious possibility of deliverance from it by returning to the blessed God, and afresh confessing His name, and recognising that His house is here. Every form of sin is the evidence of departure in some way from God's name as made known by our Lord Jesus Christ. For us God's name and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are inseparably bound up together. And if we get away from the name there will always be practical disregard of the house; that is, of the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling here in the saints. But whatever the departure may have been grace makes it possible for us to return in heart and faith to these great realities, and then the prayers of God's people can come before Him in an acceptable way, and He will teach them "the good way wherein they should walk". It has been found so by many who have called upon Him. Plentiful rain has been given, and true hearts have been taught to fear Him, and to walk in His ways. They have found their place in that which has the true character of His house. For in considering this scripture, and all other typical scriptures, it must be remembered that no type presents the whole truth. Each type is complete as regards the particular teaching intended to be conveyed, but there may be much to be added from other parts of Scripture. We learn here that recovery will be granted to those who feel that they have

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been wrong, but who turn to God and recognise the house where He abides. But we learn from other scriptures that those who truly return will themselves be found here as the house where God dwells, and where His name is set.

Verses 32 - 35 are outside any thought of failure or chastisement as resting upon God's people. They present what is normal and positive; first, in relation to what is evangelical, and then with reference to conflicts which become necessary for the maintenance of the truth and for the extension of spiritual territory. "The stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel" is represented here as coming "out of a far country for thy great name's sake". It is assumed that God's great name will be made known, and that it will be known as in relation to His house, so that the stranger comes and prays "toward this house", and he gets what he asks for. The end in view is "that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name". God's great name is what He is for all men; it is the setting forth of what He is in grace and saving power (for His mighty hand and His stretched-out arm are spoken of), but it is definitely connected with His house. All peoples are to know that His house is called by His name. His name is there and nowhere else. It was clearly so on the day of Pentecost. The gospel went out from the place where God dwelt, and the converts were brought there. In the divine ordering of things there are no loose ends. No converts are left unattached or free to go where they like. According to the truth there is only one name and one house, and every convert is viewed by Solomon as linked up with the house where God's name is set and where He dwells. It may be said that young converts do not understand this! But do we understand it? It is clear that if there is a place where God has set His name every convert should come there. At the beginning

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of our dispensation Peter might have asked any one, 'Do you know God's great name?' And he would have been able to tell them what it was, and that it was set in God's assembly, His house, and that it was continually praised there. How different it was from the present confusion of christendom with its many names and places! But we cannot accept that God's arrangements are different now from what they were then. The confusion makes it necessary that we should return to what was at the beginning.

In a certain sense Jerusalem at Pentecost was not very different from what can be seen today. The "pious men, from every nation of those under heaven" might have included ritualists, scribes and Pharisees who could speak of antiquity and a successional priesthood and an order of service that had come down from David and Moses. There were also doctors of the law who stressed the importance of others doing good works. Then there were Sadducees, the modernists of that day, who exalted human reason above the Scriptures. And, no doubt, there were many disciples of John the Baptist, truly repentant and sincere according to their light, looking to be blessed through Christ and to be baptised with the Holy Spirit but not yet knowing God's name as declared by His Son, nor the house where His name was set. The last is far superior to the other three classes and not far from the kingdom of God, but not actually in it. Those represented by these classes are all to be found today. But there was also in Jerusalem something entirely different from them all. There was a company of persons who knew God's name as it had been made known by His Son, and who now, as having received His Spirit, formed His house. They could speak forth "the great things of God", and those who received their words were added to them and also became the house. There was nothing else in Jerusalem to which

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the Lord would add.

Now in principle it is much the same today. The name that has been made known by the Son of God really sets aside all that the ritualist, the man of works and the modernist build upon. It brings to us the full outshining of God in grace. To be kept by the Father in His own name is the great characteristic blessing of the present period (John 17:11). A company kept in the Father's name is very suitable to receive the Holy Spirit and thus to have the character of the "house". The assembly at the beginning was kept in the Father's name and all were indwelt by the Spirit. Now if we return to this there will be great attraction for those who fear God. How blessed it would be if every preaching gave such an impression of God that the converts could not bear to think of allowing anything that was of man to come in! If the preaching were in the power of the Spirit, and the saints were all walking in the Spirit, it would be conveyed to the young converts that there is an order of things set up here characterised by the presence of the Spirit of God. The house is a spiritual house, and the only name that is great in it is God's name and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to come back to this spiritually, to the name and the house as they were at the beginning. In spite of the terrible departure God's mercy would bring us back to what has been made known of Him through the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the blessed reality of the Spirit's presence here and what results from it. If even a few saints walk together in the blessedness of God's revealed name, and walk and pray and serve and worship by the Spirit, and refuse all human innovations, there will be something recovered, amidst the general ruin, that has true house character. It should be the great exercise of all saints to be marked by the knowledge of God as made known by His Son and to be true to the character of God's habitation in the Spirit.

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There are times when God's people have to go out to battle against their enemies by the way that He sends them. If they did not do so the truth would neither be maintained nor recovered when it was lost. Everything of spiritual value has had to be fought for and will have to be fought for to the end. The thought of this is not popular today; people go on amicably with what they know to be wrong under plea of what is called charity, but which is really Laodicean indifference. The Reformation would never have come about on that line nor the great revival of a century ago. In conflicts for the truth the whole scope of God's will must be prayerfully kept in view. The city, the house and the name must be the base of operations in all spiritual warfare.

It is essential that "they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name" (verse 34). The city represents what is universal; all saints must be in our view according to the way in which they are blessed in Christ and have a common portion in Him. Then the house speaks, as we have seen, of the presence of the Spirit here and its great and wondrous results. And the name sets forth what is made known of God by His beloved Son. All this is to be before us in going out to battle. We pray to God according to His universal thoughts and as in the truth of His house and of His great name which dwells there. Many who have contended for what was, in measure, true have not had the city and the house and the name sufficiently before them to keep them in the largeness of divine thoughts. Hence their warfare has not secured a result that is in keeping with those thoughts; it has resulted in what is sectarian. But even in a day of weakness and departure we can pray as having the city, the house and the name in view. Then, if we have conflict, it will be for something "right", something that is in the largeness of the truth and God will

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maintain it. It will be manifest that we have gone forth by the way that He sent us. Those who get away in mind from the truth of the assembly cannot really fight the Lord's battles.

The next section of the prayer (verses 36 - 39) has a very clear application to our day. It anticipates a day when, through the sin of God's people, they are given up to the enemy and carried away captives unto a land far off or near. It would be wrong to assume that all who have been carried away captive are equally far away: Sardis is not so far away as Thyatira. But "the land of their captivity", be it far off or near, is not "their land which thou gavest unto their fathers". It would be good for all believers to challenge themselves as to this. Are we really enjoying "the fulness of the blessing of Christ?" Are we dwelling in the land as described in the epistle to the Ephesians? Or, to take a lower line, do our religious associations correspond with the fellowship and assembly order as seen in 1 Corinthians? And, as to our personal relations with God, are we standing fast in the liberty in Christ Jesus wholly free from the law of sin and death, or are we in captivity to something that is quite foreign to that liberty, something that is of the flesh or of the world? Whatever it is that is amiss, the first thing is to "take it to heart", and repent and make supplication. It is open to all saints who are in captivity, and all human systems are really captivity, to return to God with all their heart and with all their soul. They can set their faces prayerfully toward the land and the city and the house that is built unto God's name. His people have, indeed, a "right" to what He has given them, to the blessing in Christ, to the immense reality of the Spirit and His wondrous service, and to the blessedness of what God is as made known in His Name. And if they take to heart that they have been carried away from their divinely-given right, and repent, and return, and pray, such is the grace

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and mercy of the blessed God that He will "maintain their right" and forgive their sin. This is the way of recovery amidst all the departure of the last days.

After going over all the circumstances in which God's people may be found and shewing how He would come in for them when His name and His city and His house were recognised and turned to, Solomon says, "And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness. Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant". It is very striking that Solomon goes over in anticipation the whole history of failure, and shews what the name and the city and the house can be as resource and as the point of recovery, before he calls upon Jehovah to arise into His resting-place. It seems to suggest that, through divine recovery being granted after terrible departure, conditions would be brought about in which there will be a resting-place for God and for the Ark of His strength. It is suitable to God that His priests should be clothed with salvation and that His saints should rejoice in His goodness. If He grants recovery it must be to such conditions, for what is less than His original thought could not be a resting-place for Him. So that we come back, at the end of the prayer, to Christ as Jehovah's Anointed and to a sense of His acceptability in Davidic character. His "affliction" must be remembered, and what is due to Him.

It is very striking how Solomon returns to Psalm 132 and to what is said there of Zion, but he connects it now with the house. It needed the house to be built to give completeness to the thought of God's rest, but when it was built the thoughts connected with Zion were brought up into it. Christ as David secured Zion; He set aside the whole legal system and brought in the reign of grace and if

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we are not established in this we shall get into some kind of legal bondage. But the house speaks of the saints as affording rest and complacency to God as the result of His Spirit's work in them. It is composed of living stones; there is spiritual material there so that they are suitable to be God's dwelling place. So He has an abiding place of rest which will continue even to eternity, but which has present existence where the conditions of the house are found. But the end of Solomon's prayer, reverting as it does to David and Zion, reminds us that all is based upon Christ and upon what He has done, and that it is through sovereign mercy and grace that we have any part in it. That is why so much is made of mercy and grace in Ephesians 2 before the habitation of God is spoken of at the end of the chapter. We are to understand that, however blessed the work of God is in His saints, it is altogether on the line of His unmerited favour. The salvation with which His priests are clothed is altogether of God and of grace. The saints rejoice in God's goodness. After all our consideration of the house we come back to the pure joy of knowing that all is unmixedly and eternally of God, and is expressive of His infinite favour to us.

It is all a question, too, of what is due to Christ. He has come in to glorify God in the highest possible degree, to overcome every hostile power and to set up the reign of grace in place of the reign of sin and death. Christ is God's Anointed to bring all this about for Him, and to be in resurrection the expression of His victory over death. How can His face be turned away? Who can tell what is due to Him? He must see of the travail of His soul; "all his affliction" must be remembered for Him (Psalm 132). What He has done to find out a place for Jehovah must be remembered. It is He who, as the true David, has secured the assembly as the dwelling-place of God. "My faithfulness and my loving-kindness shall be with him"

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(Psalm 89:24). It is a matter of God's faithfulness to Christ that the reign of grace should be established here, and that God's resting place should be secured in a house built by Christ as Solomon. In all our thoughts of the assembly it would help us to keep in mind what is due to Christ. Indeed, the whole system of eternal glory and the place men are to have in it is of God, and is the outcome of His unmerited favour and sovereign love. But from another point of view we may say that it is all due to Christ. His place in headship in relation to it all is due to Him because of who He is, and also because of His mighty victory in order to secure Zion, so that the house might be built. Solomon does not put himself forward here, he speaks only of David; for it is David's affliction and devotedness that secure the resting place for Jehovah. David, it has often been said, is greater, as a type, than Solomon.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 7 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 7:1 - 7

We have seen in chapter 6 that a history of failure was prophetically in view but that recovery would come about through God's loving-kindness when an erring people should return to Him. Chapter 7 is a prophetic picture of what will happen when the heart of Israel turns to Jehovah their God in the last days and they are recovered to His favour. God's ways at the present time are very similar; He is granting recovery in the last days of the history of the assembly after a long period of departure. And His ways of recovering mercy, as seen in this chapter, have their counterpart in what is going on today. So we shall seek to give present application to what is set before us here.

It is a great help to see that there is a divine order in recovery, and I believe it is indicated to us in the scripture now before us. To state it very briefly, that order is the glad tidings, the fellowship, and the service of the sanctified company. This is obviously the order in which recovery has come about during the last century. To understand present divine movements we need to be spiritually intelligent as to this.

We see here, first of all, that, Solomon's prayer being ended, "the fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house". It is remarkable that this should take place after a prayer which had contemplated so much sin on the part of the people! But the Spirit had in view that it was precisely when such conditions had come about that God would bring His glory in. What could have

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been more lamentable than the state of Israel when God visited His people and manifested His glory amongst them in the person of His beloved Son? It was at the very moment when they despised and rejected and crucified Christ that He accepted that wondrous sacrifice in which He was glorified. It was in virtue of that sacrifice, though it was not yet offered, that the glory shone forth in the blessed service of Christ when He was here. The "woman in the city, who was a sinner" (Luke 7:37) saw it; the half-dead man on the Jericho road saw it in the Samaritan's kindness and care of him (Luke 10:30 - 37); the younger son saw it when his father "ran and fell upon his neck and covered him with kisses" (Luke 15:20); the thief on the cross saw it when he was assured of a place in paradise with Jesus (Luke 23:43). In every case there had been great departure, but it only served as a background to throw the glory into brighter relief. And we must bear in mind that what was seen in Jesus in humiliation here shines in Him now as glorified. God was so delighted with Him that He glorified Him. So that Paul's gospel has often been spoken of as the gospel of the glory. He speaks of "looking on the glory of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18), of "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4), and of "the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:6.

The glory of what God is for His sinful creatures, which they may see if they come to Him, is radiant in the Person of Christ. But if He meets the ruined creature in such wondrous grace and love it is because He has in mind to set him up in a new way that is according to His own heart. The father not only received the younger son with kisses, but the best robe, the ring and the shoes were put upon him. These spoke of something conferred upon him which was entirely new. God receives us not merely as forgiven

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sinners, but as having an entirely new status and acceptance in Christ. In the far country we lived in the life of the man who did nothing but his own will, and we were dead to God, but as "come to life again" in the house we live in the life of the Man who lives to God; we are "alive to God in Christ Jesus", Romans 6:11. This is not merely a beautiful conception; it is a spiritual reality, known to be such by the Spirit. The Spirit not only sheds God's love abroad in our hearts -- this answers to the kiss -- but He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; we are "come to life again" in Him. We are of God "in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption; that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord", 1 Corinthians 1:30, 31. We are God's sons in Christ Jesus. Our whole status as in the flesh is set aside and ended for Christ has borne the judgment due to it, and we have a wholly new status in Christ. God has received us in the fulness of His love as in another Man, and has given us His Spirit that we may be conscious of this, and not regard ourselves any more as in the flesh. In our new place as before God in Christ there is not the slightest admixture of anything that is of ourselves. It is a question of what God has been pleased to do to glorify Himself and to satisfy His love. All this belongs to the "glory" that was seen upon the house at the beginning, as we may see in Scripture, particularly in Paul's epistles.

But the "glory ... upon the house" in 2 Chronicles 7 is typical of what will take place in the last days; it is therefore not unsuitable to regard it as suggestive of recovery at the end of the assembly's long history of failure. Even before Paul's departure christians were turning away from the gospel of the glory. They did not give up Christ, nor deny the necessity of atonement for sin, but they connected christianity with man after the flesh, so that it became a modified form of judaism. Legal and ceremonial

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elements were brought in and a human order, and we see the result all around us. The reformers got a measure of recovered light, but it was not until the early part of the last century that Paul's gospel was revived and began to be preached. The infinite acceptability of Christ to God, the fact that His saints have righteousness and life and every blessing in Him and that nothing of the flesh can be brought into it began to be made known. As saints saw the glory they were unified and constituted worshippers. How could there be any divergence if saints had nothing before them but what was of God, and what they had in Christ, and what was in the power of the one Spirit?

"All the children of Israel saw ... the glory of Jehovah upon the house", and they all worshipped; they were one united company in presence of the glory. The present divisions of the people of God are really the evidence that they have not seen the glory upon the house. They have something before them which is not really glory. It is man according to the flesh in some form or in some phase of his activities. But all the children of Israel "bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and thanked Jehovah". They could well afford to efface themselves for they were absorbed with the glory which they saw upon the house. This is the great deliverance and satisfaction which God has vouchsafed to His people in these last days. He has caused the fulness of His grace to shine and the glory of His love. He has shewn how He has blessed His people in Christ completely outside all the sin and weakness and ruin of man after the flesh. He has shewn that the purposes of His own heart from eternity have come to fruition in His glorified Son. He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to give us liberty to look at it all. This is the glory upon the house.

"The priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah,

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because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah's house". He would have all the children of Israel at that moment to see the burnt-offering and the sacrifices accepted for them, and His glory upon the house, and nothing else. The highest, holiest and most acceptable service would be an intrusion or a diversion at a moment when God would engage His people entirely with Himself and with His own glory in Christ. The priests could rightly stand in their charges in verse 6, but they would be out of place in verse 2. It is a most blessed thing to be in the presence of what is purely of God. No one is really at liberty to worship until he sees the glory upon the house on the ground of Christ and His accepted offering. In the radiancy of what is purely of God all thought of self disappears, and nothing remains but the blessedness of God and of His thoughts manward, all set forth in Christ.

And we look at it now with a very peculiar sense that God is good and that His loving-kindness endureth for ever. For we have come to see it after a very long period of assembly failure for which we cannot disclaim responsibility. It is, indeed, purely of God's goodness and lovingkindness that Paul's gospel has been revived; it has brought the glory in. It is noticeable that nothing is said here of the cloud as in 2 Chronicles 5:13, 14. The cloud would suggest what is beyond human ken, but the glory is a radiance which can be known and understood by men. It is what is made known in the glad tidings.

As the glory began to be seen, after many centuries of obscurity caused by giving man in the flesh some place, the spirit of christian liberty began to move and found strength to break the religious fetters that had bound the saints. Believers found that, under the good hand of God, they could break bread apart from national or sectarian bodies and without needing any official person to make the service valid or orderly. Those who first did so probably

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did not understand that in so doing they were returning to the true fellowship and were acting in the unity of the body and of the Spirit. But such was the case, though they did not learn it all at once, and even before they had really learned it Satan brought in principles amongst them that diverted many from it and resulted in independency. But there can be no such thing, according to the truth, as an independent fellowship. To break bread on the principle that each local company of saints is an independent unit is really the narrowest principle of church fellowship in christendom. The act of breaking bread commits one to a fellowship which is universal in character. Otherwise we must admit that there are more fellowships than one, which, in the light of Scripture, cannot be thought of.

The immense number of sacrifices in verses 4 and 5 were peace-offerings, suggesting the thought of fellowship. This links on with what we have already referred to in Luke 15, for the reception of the younger son was followed by, "Bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry: for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found". The fatted calf is not for one person; there was to be a joint participation; this is the true house festivity. It is what God can have His part in, and which ministers to His joy; it is shared in common by all who are in the house. This is the true idea of the fellowship as set forth in the peace-offering. If we have seen the glory we cannot but be drawn into the closest partnership with others who have seen it. A young convert should understand that the saints come together to break bread because they are called to the fellowship of God's Son, and of His body and blood, and he should know that it is his privilege to come into the fellowship publicly by breaking bread with them. It is very natural, in a spiritual sense, that a young convert should feel that all his links with the world are broken, and that they must now be with

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those who know God as he knows Him and who think of Christ as he thinks of Him. This might almost be said to be intuitive on the part of those who have received the one Spirit. Those who think of Christ as we do, and who think of Him better than we do, become very attractive to us; they are our own company. The fellowship is not a self-chosen association such as joining a religious body might be; it is a precious holy bond formed by the one Spirit, the fellowship of God's Son, and of the body and blood of Christ. It is well to ask if this is really what we have part in.

The oxen and sheep spoken of in verse 5 were all, in the first place, offered to God, though the offerers and others participated in them as partaking with the altar. One great gain of the fellowship is that we participate in the wealth that others bring. Paul could, no doubt, bring an ox, while Onesimus his young convert would probably not go beyond the measure of a sheep. But as in the fellowship they participated in common: Onesimus would be enlarged by what Paul brought, and I am sure that Paul enjoyed what Onesimus brought. This common sharing is a great feature of the fellowship, but it is a sharing in what is eaten together. There is a continual supply of spiritual food by which a spiritual constitution may be built up. The eating and drinking are specially referred to in 1 Corinthians 11. And in whatever way the saints enjoy Christ together God has His part in it. In eating the Lord's supper it is the Lord Himself who is specially before the hearts of His saints in their fellowship, but God has His portion in it. It is delightful to God that the Lord should be called to mind and that His saints should speak of Him or to Him. If Christ is magnified in the praises of the saints God has His portion and His delight in it.

But what Paul had to say to the Corinthians about the fellowship raised an important question, which we also have to face. If we have a common equal sharing in regard

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of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and in regard of His blood and His body, and in regard of the Holy Spirit, does it admit of our also having part in some other fellowship of a different character? This ought not to be a difficult question for a true heart to answer. Paul did not say that they ought not to drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons, or that they ought not to partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons: he says, "ye cannot", 1 Corinthians 10:21. He puts it on the ground that it was a moral impossibility. The fellowship is of such a nature that it involves a high order of spiritual sensitiveness. We have not exactly to do with the "table of demons"; that was in the heathen world. But we are constantly being appealed to to share in common in something that is not the fellowship. Sometimes it is proposed that we should associate with something religious that we know is not consistent with the fellowship. Sometimes the benefits that will accrue by our joining this or that are urged upon us, or we are threatened with loss if we will not. When such suggestions are made to us let us remember the true and holy character of our fellowship. It is, by its inherent nature, very exclusive. Let us remember the apostle's word, "ye cannot".

As the fellowship is faithfully maintained it secures the true character of the house. Hence it is said in this connection, "So the king and all the people dedicated the house". All the people took part in this. Even the youngest believer may have his part in the dedication of the house. If Christ is precious to us, and we have delight in feeding upon Him along with the holy brethren, and bringing Him to God in our praises, there is something secured for God which has the true character of His house. It is what God's lovingkindness has been securing in these last days in contrast with all that state of things in the religious world which is a practical denial of the truth of His house.

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But the fellowship and the house have something further in view which is typically set forth in verse 6. It is to be noted that priests and Levites are now present, which suggests to us that the matter now in hand requires instructed and intelligent service. It calls for developed spirituality. The fact that "the priests stood in their charges", and that "all Israel stood", indicates an alertness and readiness to attend to the service in its most elevated character. Spiritual elements being present, particular attention will be given to all the instruction which is available in regard to the service. I believe the Lord is specially stressing this at the present time, for He would have the service to reach the highest point of excellence before the assembly is translated. 1 Corinthians does not develop this for the general state of the saints was not such as to qualify them to take it up. But through the lovingkindness which endures for ever, God is now restoring to the faith and affections of His saints some understanding of how He would be served in His assembly in the most spiritual way. "And the priests stood in their charges, and the Levites with Jehovah's instruments of music, which David the king had made to praise Jehovah, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever, when David praised by their means". It is evident that the service moves at this point into a different setting. David is referred to as having made "Jehovah's instruments of music", so that God might be praised in His house as David praised Him. There is a most beautiful and elevated thought in this, for our hearts are carried to Christ as the great Leader of praise; He is not only the Image of God to make known to us all that God is, but He is the great Leader in praise to God. He has come into manhood that He might take up this wondrous service, but He takes it up in the midst of the assembly. He said prophetically, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee", Psalm 22:22. And this is quoted in

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Hebrews 2:12 as being verified in the assembly. Think of Christ singing God's praises! He suffered in making atonement so that in resurrection He might praise God with singing in the midst of a sanctified company who are "all of one" with Him. It is for us to understand this spiritually. "For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren", Hebrews 2:11. If saints are "all of one" with the Sanctifier there is no disparity between them and Him. This does not apply to us as in the flesh or as viewed in our mixed condition here; it is a matter of spiritual apprehension as being true of the sanctified company viewed purely as such.

If Christ sings in the midst of the assembly it is for the assembly to be alert in observing how He sings, so that there may be no notes which are discordant with His. We do not exactly get the thought of singing in 2 Chronicles 7; it is the instrumental side. The Levites have the instruments which David had made and by which he praised. It suggests that under the skilful hand of Christ the saints become instruments capable of being employed in the service of the house as harmonising with the way in which He praises. The service is carried on responsibly by the saints viewed as Levites, but they have with them the precious thought of entire suitability and correspondence with Christ which attaches to them as of the sanctified company. It is in this way that, under the headship of Christ, the highest and sweetest notes are restored to the service of praise.

Christ is Head towards His body, for we read of "the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God", Colossians 2:19. This is very much on the line of David making the instruments, and it seems to me that when He comes to His saints according to John 14:18

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He would, in the first place, serve us as Head, and receive our praises in so doing. When He says, "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises", He is in the place of Head Godward. If He ministers to us the increase of God it is in order to qualify us to understand how He sings, and to fit us to be in harmony with Him. We may be sure that what He does in the assembly gives character to the assembly. In the midst of the sanctified company of His brethren He sings God's praises. But there are also instruments of music which He has made. Nothing could shew the elevated dignity of the assembly viewed as Christ's brethren more than to see that each member of that sanctified company is an instrument for the sounding forth of God's praise.

David brought in this great addition to the service; he not only wrote psalms, but he made instruments by which Jehovah could be praised as never before. Of course, in all this he presents Christ to us. All that is bound up in God's loving-kindness, and which is the outcome of it, is praised on these instruments. In principle it takes in all that is the subject o£ praise in the assembly. It covers now the revelation of God as Father, and the blessed relationships in which He is known by the many sons, and all that He has before Him to bring to pass in the ages to come. How He delights to be praised in His assembly when every note that is sounded is just how Christ would have Him be praised! Every saint is an instrument, as of the sanctified company, by which what is in the heart of Christ Godward can be sounded in praise. This is the levitical service as here presented.

The priests sounding the trumpets opposite to the Levites suggests that in the assembly we may look for a priestly ministry from Christ as Head that will stimulate and invigorate the service of praise.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 8 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Chronicles 8:1 - 18; 2 Chronicles 9:1, 2

Building characterised the dominion of Solomon. God is said to have built all things (Hebrews 3:4), and Christ has built the house: He builds the assembly. So that this is in a special way the time of divine building. Men are building too, but their building is on the principle of casting away Christ as worthless. We are all building, some on sand and others with poor material. Building supposes a plan and carefully selected material. The saints are God's building. It is very encouraging to find something that is of God definitely built in souls and that is going to remain in the city which He is building. Edification is to be sought and everything in the assembly is to minister to it. What spiritual thought has become part of me today? Paul said that he wished to see the Roman saints, "that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to establish you", Romans 1:11.

The Canaanites represent those who need to be subjugated under Solomon, so they have tribute service imposed upon them. It is with them a matter of contrary wills being subdued and of the power of Christ triumphing over all that is adverse, such as was seen in Saul of Tarsus who was a blasphemer, persecutor and so on. "A necessity is laid upon me; for it is woe to me if I should not announce the glad tidings", 1 Corinthians 9:16. There is refractory material to be subdued.

But the children of Israel represent the dignity of saints who are viewed as children of promise, taking up service in liberty so that there is personal qualification to take up positions involving energy and leadership. Some have to

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be constrained to serve; they are conscripted and cannot get away from the sense of obligation. Others move forward in the liberty of free affections to do what they are qualified to do. The two kinds of service may intermingle practically in each one of us.

In 1 Kings 3 Pharaoh's daughter is brought into the city of David; she thus becomes a most interesting type for it speaks of those who are brought into the fruit of Christ's victorious power who have no personal title to occupy such ground or any title through promises made on God's part. She is a higher type in Kings than in Chronicles. In the former she is seen representing the assembly as brought to Mount Zion in pure grace to have her place according to the will of God and according to the love of Christ.

Here in 2 Chronicles 8 Solomon is thinking of what is suitable to the ark; from verse 11 it would seem that he was getting an increased sense of the holiness of the ark and of the places to which it had come. An Egyptian princess in the city of David was anomalous. She had been there provisionally until Solomon "had ended building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall of Jerusalem round about", 1 Kings 3:1. The house of David was not her place neither was the city of David nor did she appreciate the holiness of the ark. Solomon now brings her up out of the city of David to her own house which, from this scripture, would seem to be regarded as less holy than that which she occupied provisionally in the city of David where the ark was.

We make a wrong use of grace if we plead it as an excuse for admitting what does not suit the ark or the holiness of the place where it rested.

The service was carried on to its completion as seen in verse 16: every day, sabbaths, new moon and set feasts as in Numbers 28 and 29. For us it includes the complete

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service of the assembly, the full appreciation of Christ, acceptance, divine rest, new experiences of the shining of Christ. Then the feast of unleavened bread, the state in which the Supper is eaten. The feast of weeks is first fruits, as they bring the two wave-loaves as being the matured exercises of Christ being known as risen and crowned by the gift of the Spirit. Then tabernacles would be for us the full thought of God in Jesus glorified. Then the priestly and levitical services are all ordered according to David. All is governed by the presence and holiness of the ark.

Then the wealth of the Gentiles comes in, what God has wrought in Gentile hearts. This is a peculiar enhancement of things specially connected with Paul's ministry, not calling attention to the poverty of the Gentiles but to their wealth. The Queen of Sheba comes in, not as having a burden of guilt but as having her heart full of enigmas which needed to be explained. She had acquired much that had divine value, but most of all in having capacity to appreciate Solomon and all that he had surrounded himself with. She comes in as a complement to Solomon and as one able to draw out what was in him, (chapter 9: 1, 2.)

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 9

A GREATER THAN SOLOMON (SUMMARY OF AN ADDRESS)

2 Chronicles 9:3 - 8

I purpose to make a few remarks on the seven things which the Queen of Sheba saw during her visit to Solomon. I need hardly say that I do not intend to dwell on these things in a merely historical way, but as figurative of certain things which are now made good in Christianity in connection with Christ risen and glorified.

The first thing that she saw was "the wisdom of Solomon". One of the first great lessons that we have to learn in Christianity is that Christ is the Wisdom of God. This comes out in 1 Corinthians 1. We have to see that every human resource and activity has been brought to nothing. Corinth was second only to Athens as a centre of learning, and as the headquarters of different schools of philosophy; and the saints were evidently affected by the atmosphere around them, as we all are more or less. Hence the apostle found it necessary to insist that the cross set man in the flesh completely aside with all his wisdom and power. There is nothing in the cross in which man can boast. No man could boast in the fact that he was under death. Human wisdom is of no account whatever in the things of God. Yet it is deeply rooted in people's minds that a preacher must be a learned man; his mind must be trained, and so on. The cross is very little understood.

In Proverbs 8 we learn that God operated in wisdom in

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connection with creation and in carrying out His purpose. In John 1 we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst men, and it was in Him that God's wisdom was seen. Then at the cross we see man in the flesh condemned and removed in judgment, while at the same time all the blessedness of God's love is brought to light. Finally, Christ is raised and glorified at God's right hand, and He is "God's power and God's wisdom", 1 Corinthians 1:24.

It follows from this that the wisdom of God does not come within the cognizance of man's natural powers. It is "hidden wisdom", "God's wisdom in a mystery". It can only be known by the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2). The thought of "wisdom" is the revelation of God in all the blessedness and perfection of counsels and resources that no power of evil can baffle. The fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ the glorified Man (see Colossians 2). The effect of apprehending Christ as the Wisdom of God is to make us not only independent of man's wisdom, but infinitely superior to it. And we not only have Christ objectively as "God's wisdom", but "we have the mind of Christ". We have a new and divine intelligent faculty by which we can apprehend the wisdom of God.

The second thing mentioned as being seen by the Queen of Sheba was "the house that he had built". Christ is the builder of everything that is for God's pleasure and glory on earth. The Father prepared the material and brought it to Him (see Matthew 16:17; John 6:37, 45, etc.), and He put it together in resurrection power as His assembly (see Matthew 16:18; John 20). There is divine material and a divine Builder, and the result is a divine structure.

Christ's assembly is God's house. The connection between the two thoughts is seen in Hebrews 2:11, 12. The assembly is Christ's, but He sings God's praises in the midst thereof, and this gives it the character of God's house. In Hebrews 3 Christ as a divine Person -- the Son --

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builds the house, and is over it as Son. When we come to the house of God we find what is characteristic of Christianity, viz., that the carrying out of God's pleasure is no longer entrusted to servants -- however faithful such might be, as for example, Moses -- but everything is brought about by the Son. That is, everything is accomplished by God Himself in the Person of the Son. It is this which gives the character of perfection to everything in Christianity.

1 Peter 1 and 2 give us what may be called our side of the truth of God's house; that is, we see the different elements of the divine work by which we are constituted living stones in chapter 1, and in chapter 2 we see the effect of that work in saints coming to the Living Stone so as to be built up a spiritual house. In result, God's pleasure and God's testimony are found here in the assembly.

Approach to God in the sanctuary (Hebrews 10) is the highest privilege of those who form the house of God. They are also introduced to a circle where divine satisfaction can be found, and where God's light and perfection is revealed (see Psalm 27:4). This is a subject which attracts one's heart, but which I cannot enlarge upon now. It will come before us to some extent in the next section of our subject.

The third thing which the queen saw with admiration was "the food of his table". I have just mentioned that in the house of God we come to a circle where divine satisfaction can be found. There is food there. In the world, the greater your desires are and the more refined your tastes the less likely you are to get satisfaction. But in the house of God, the more your spiritual desires and capacities are enlarged the more perfect is your satisfaction, for there is an overflowing provision. It is not only that grace and strength are vouchsafed to us in times of need and pressure -- I trust we all know something of this -- but there is that which satisfies every spiritual craving and desire of those

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born of God.

At every stage of our spiritual history the Spirit creates in our souls exercises and desires appropriate to our state, and by which we are prepared to appreciate that which may be known of God and of His beloved Son. Spiritual tastes and appetites are thus brought into being, which can only be satisfied by the knowledge of God. But in the food of God's house there is that which perfectly satisfies these spiritual tastes.

I apprehend that 'milk' is a figure of divine grace, adapting itself to our need and weakness. It is the suited food for babes; that is, those in spiritual immaturity. But 'meat' represents all that which has to do with divine purpose and counsel. It is that in which the blessedness of God Himself is set forth. This is the food of those who are full-grown, those who have come to the apprehension that the flesh is worthless, and that everything for God is established in Christ risen and glorified.

Next, the queen noticed "the deportment of his servants". The word translated "deportment" does not exactly convey how they conducted themselves but rather the excellence of their position and privilege as being called to serve in Solomon's house. It was a most blessed position to occupy. "Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom!" They had their dwelling in the circle of Solomon's greatness and glory, and they were privileged continually to hear his wisdom. We may see in this a figure of the character of christian blessing.

Our true blessing and joy does not consist in receiving certain things from Christ, but in being drawn to Him so as to find everything that is blessed and satisfying for our hearts in Him. Christ does not give blessings away to be enjoyed apart from Himself. He gives every blessing in Himself. The great longing of the psalmist was expressed

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in the words, "One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty" (or graciousness) "of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple", Psalm 27:4. Again it is written, "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be constantly praising thee. Selah", Psalm 84:4.

We find the same spirit in the two disciples who heard John speak and followed Jesus. When He said unto them, "What seek ye? ... they said to him, Rabbi (which being interpreted, signifies Teacher), where abidest thou? He says to them, Come and see. They went therefore, and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day", John 1:38, 39.

How blessed to be drawn thus into the presence of One in whom all divine wisdom and love is revealed! The true Solomon in all His glory, "(as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth", the revealer of the Father! How blessed to be amongst the "men" given to Him by the Father, that they may find in Him the revelation of the Father, and thus be brought into life eternal! Solomon's servants dwelt in the light of his wisdom and glory, and were happy. But what was their portion and privilege compared with ours? We may see in them, indeed, a lovely and striking picture; but it is only a picture. It is given to us, through infinite grace and love, to enter into the divine reality in the power of the Holy Spirit. May God encourage our hearts to do so!

Another thing which impressed the queen was "the order of service of his attendants" (or ministers), "and their apparel". All the appointments of the house, with its different offices, and the orderly and harmonious working of the whole, revealed the wisdom and perfect administration of Solomon. In this we see a figure of the order that properly belongs to the house of God. Christendom in

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general has entirely departed from the divine order, having lost the sense of what that order is. The administration of the Lord Jesus, and the presence of the Spirit here, are quite unknown in any practical way in christendom generally. Hence we find ecclesiastical systems set up, and religious officials appointed to maintain human order. On the other hand, not a few have left the organised religious bodies, and taken independent and professedly non-sectarian ground, that they might be at liberty to serve and minister in their own way. But clerical order and radical independency are alike unknown in the house of God. Everything there is under the administration of one Lord, and is in the power of the one Spirit.

The clerical system stands hopelessly condemned in 1 Corinthians 12. However great and gifted a man may be, he is only one member of the body, and he cannot possibly discharge the functions of the other members. The attempt to do so can only be a human effort, unprofitable to men and displeasing to the Lord.

The radical principle of everyone doing as he feels led is, if possible, a greater evil still, for it gives room for all the evils of one-man-ministry to be multiplied, and often subjects saints to the infliction of ministry (so called) from men whose only qualifications are self-confidence, and a desire to hear their own voices.

Edification is the great end of all ministry. The saints are to be built up in the knowledge of God; Christ is to be ministered to our hearts, and the things of the Spirit presented to us. And this, not merely in a general way -- the barren statement of things admitted to be true -- but so as to lead us on in a deepened knowledge of God. As our spiritual capacities are enlarged we should find in the house of God a ministry that would continually help and edify us. A ministry that does this approves itself to every spiritual mind as being of God. It carries the stamp of

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divine wisdom and grace, and it is necessarily in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The subduing knowledge of divine Persons, and a deep sense of the greatness of divine thoughts, characterizes every true minister. We realise that he is not seeking to make himself prominent, or to display his ability in the way he presents things. He is conscious of the greatness and blessedness of that which he seeks to present and it is his one desire that it should become great and blessed to our hearts. We see that he is absorbed by it, that it elevates him above self-consideration, and this gives moral weight to his ministry.

The service that is of God makes divine Persons and divine thoughts prominent. In this way the knowledge of God characterises His house, and true edification is found there. The "order of service of his attendants" is invariably on the line of edification (see 1 Corinthians 14).

One word as to "their apparel". Everything about Solomon's ministers was suitable and appropriate to their service. Their personal appearance was consistent with their high service. How important is this! People will pay little heed to the ministry of those whose personal appearance and ways are not in harmony therewith. I have heard of one who was continually speaking of being 'dead with Christ', but going on with much worldliness at the same time. Such ministry only dishonours the Lord, and is a stumbling-block to souls. The apparel does not match the service!

Now we come to "his cupbearers and their apparel". These were servants who ministered in a special way to the pleasure of Solomon. There is a higher and sweeter service than that of ministry to the saints, however blessed that may be in its place. To be able to minister to the joy of Christ is a wondrous privilege, and divine love has placed even this within our reach. It is not, indeed, that we do so

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by bringing what is of ourselves to Him. But as we present ourselves before Him, and as our souls enter into His deep perfections and into that blessed revelation of the Father which He brings to our hearts, and as we taste and respond to His precious and perfect love, we minister joy to His heart. We bring back to Him that which is His own, but we bring it back to Him as that which has become the life and glory of our hearts. May God by His Spirit lead us more into this peculiar and blessed ministry when we are found together in assembly!

It will be noted that there are thus three classes of servants contemplated, representing saints in three aspects. "The deportment of his servants" sets forth the position and privilege of all saints as being in the blessing and favour of God's house. "The order of service of his attendants" speaks of all that is connected with ministry and service in the house of God. "His cup-bearers" represent saints as those whose sweet and holy privilege it is to minister to the joy and satisfaction of Christ. We get the same three classes in a familiar New Testament picture in John 12:1 - 8. Lazarus sat at the table with Him, and Martha served, but Mary had the deeper and sweeter joy of so entering into His mind and responding to His love that she ministered to His joy. I do not set one class against the others, for all may be true of us in their season, but let us not stop short of the last.

Finally, the Queen of Sheba saw "his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah". I apprehend we have in this a figure of approach to God in the sanctuary. No doubt the approach in that day was worthy of the revelation of Jehovah's name which had been made, and it was worthy of the one who approached. But when we come to christianity all is so infinitely great and glorious that it transcends all types and figures. The Son has glorified the Father by placing the perfect revelation of the Father's

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name before the hearts of His own. He has brought all the blessedness of God to light in the activity of His holy love. He has also, by receiving those whom the Father has drawn to Him, and by accomplishing redemption and giving the Spirit, secured a company of "many sons" to be in the light of that blessed revelation, and to respond to it. But, now that the revelation is made, and the company secured, He takes a new and wondrous place as "the firstborn among many brethren". He takes a place thus on our side, that the privilege of approach may be equal to the perfection of the revelation. He first brings out the revelation of the Father, and then He leads the sanctified company to approach as His "brethren". The revelation comes out according to the greatness of the Son, who alone could bring it; and then He takes a place, as I have said, on our side to give a perfect response to that revelation -- such a response as none but the Son could give.

For us the most absolute sanctification is needed in order to approach. All that we are, as in the flesh, must go. Thank God, it has gone in the death of Christ. We can find no way of entire deliverance from the flesh save by Christ's death. I do not mean now for walk but for approach. It is "through the veil, that is, his flesh", that we enter into the holiest. Within the veil we are "all of one" with Christ; we are of Him, His brethren. No imperfection comes there. All is new creation, and glorious in divine beauty. There the Son sings praise, and the music of His singing fills the hearts of His brethren. Thus as of Him and with Him they approach God, as revealed. The ascent by which Solomon "went up to the house of Jehovah" was no doubt glorious, but what was it compared with the approach to God which is found in christianity? How far excelling in moral glory is that which we are called to know! If the Gentile queen was subdued and entranced by what she saw, so that "there was no more spirit in her", how are we affected by the

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realities of which she only saw dim and imperfect pictures? Is it not fitting that, with subdued spirits and enraptured hearts, we should ascribe blessing and praise to the Father and the Son?

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 9

SOLOMON'S THRONE (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 9:17

The throne is almost the last thing Solomon is said to have made, and it was no doubt the crown of the typical teaching; it was clearly symbolical. Ivory as a symbol represents material that has passed through death, a wonderful suggestion in connection with the throne, indicating that it was in the thought of God that supremacy should be taken up by One who has passed through death. It goes back to the original thought of God in creating man, which comes out in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth". His thought in creating man was that he should have dominion; but, as we know, instead of the first man maintaining that place, he came under the dominion of sin and death. From that moment it became necessary, if God's great thought was to be carried out, that Another should come in, that there should be a Son of man who could take up for God everything the first man had failed to maintain. It is portrayed in Psalm 8. It is well to remember that in Hebrews the Spirit of God adds something to the psalm that was not in it, that is, the Son of man being made some little inferior to the angels on account of the suffering of

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death, showing that in the ways of God death must come in as the ground on which the Son of man takes up universal supremacy. I think that is symbolically made known to us by the Spirit of God from the fact that the throne is made of ivory.

The great throne speaks symbolically of what is secured in Christ. It must necessarily be a great throne, when we think of the greatness of the Person that is to occupy it. He is not only Son of man, able to take up all God's thoughts as to man and bring them to fruition, but in order to do that He must needs be a divine Person. So it is evident in the reference to the Son of man that none could take that place but a divine Person. The Lord seems to cherish the title of Son of man specially. In the gospels He refers many times to that title, but He makes it clear that He was nevertheless a divine Person. Before the council He testified to the high priest, following his adjuration, that they should see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power: that is, He appropriates to Himself what belongs to Jehovah. So these thoughts are essential to any divine conception of the throne. It is occupied by the Son of man, who clearly is a divine Person, therefore it is due to Him in every way that He should have the place of supremacy in the universe of God. He is the One we now look upon as crowned with glory and honour. It is characteristic of the dispensation that we should look upon Him in all His suitability and fitness to occupy the universal throne. I think that Stephen is the pattern; his confession was that he saw "the Son of man standing at the right hand of God". These thoughts are stupendous, and yet we cannot think truly of the throne in a divine sense without rightly taking them in.

I have often considered that christians do not think enough of the Son of man; we are very much more familiar with the thought of the Son of God. It is important that we

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should not allow one or even more aspects of the truth to obscure others. Satan has from the beginning, I suppose, used certain parts of the truth to obscure other parts. In the gospel of John, where we see the Lord most in His glory as Son of God, we see Him in His positional glory as Son of man. We see the importance of dwelling on every character in which He is to be known; in connection with the throne it is particularly as Son of man. It is important for us to apprehend Christ in that character. It is the particular character in which He exercises judicial functions in regard to the assemblies. It is as the Son of man that He walks in the midst of the assemblies, so that in our standing in relation to the assembly we have to do personally and directly with the Son of man. It is not a past title but a present title. And it is a future title, for it says, "The Son of man ... shall ... sit down upon his throne of glory", Matthew 25:31. But we have to do with Him now as Son of man. He is walking in the midst of the candlesticks, exercising discrimination in the assemblies; He exercises the function of the throne in relation to the assemblies; it is essential to the whole position. The throne in connection with Solomon is spoken of as the throne of judgment, and we are told in Kings that he built a porch of judgment. This presents the function of Christ in relation to the assembly. It is not with the thought of punishment but of divine appraisement, of appraising things at their true value; so that He appraises all He can in the assembly. At the same time He says what does not please Him. We have to do with the Son of man in that character.

What a comfort it is when we look around at the confusion in the world to know that all is going to be administered according to God! It is going to be so actually. The moral confusion is greater than the material, terrible as that is, and we should feel the moral state of man as away from God, under Satan's rule and under death -- these are

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the dreadful things. We need to feel not only the political confusion, but the moral confusion. Now who can adjust this moral state? The Son of man, who will sit on the throne of His glory. The first thing He will do will be to adjust every moral question; and He is doing that now in the assembly. It is a present action now of the Son of man.

I think there is nothing more beautiful than to consider the steps up to the throne. There are six steps, indicating that the One that occupies the throne has reached it by a certain progress, by certain stages, and it endears and magnifies Him to our hearts so that we worship Him. It requires the seventh step to complete it; the throne is the seventh step. The end God has in view upon the earth is the Son of man upon His throne, and He will reach the throne. The throne here is not occupied. It was left to us to put the only Person into it that could fill it.

The steps fall into a certain setting in my mind. To speak very simply, God has introduced Christ into the world by prophetic testimony; that is, I think, the first step; it covers the Old Testament. The others follow quite simply, though they are stupendous in their character. The next is incarnation; it is an immense step. The Old Testament prophecies bring out His character, His sufferings and death, and His glory; but what a wonderful step up this is, and all in view of the throne -- of His being in the place of supremacy! The incarnation is the beginning of the working of it all out in manhood, "taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man ...", Philippians 2:7, 8. He could not have been Son of man without it; His humiliation here was on the way to the throne. His lowly pathway of obedience led to the throne. Then there was His death, His accomplishment of redemption. That was most essential, for He could never have been Son of man without it. Then there was His resurrection, and His ascension -- these are all steps to His throne,

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divinely laid out steps to the throne. There is one step left to come, that is His coming again -- the sixth step. It seems clear to me that all that is presented in the Scripture indicates the steps by which the Lord Jesus is going to reach the place of supremacy in the universe of God. The title of Son of man is unlimited, it extends to the whole human family. I believe the Spirit of God would have us ponder these things. It has pleased God to give them to us symbolically so that we may take them in better, because it fixes them upon us as interesting our minds as well as captivating our hearts.

A footstool of gold was fastened to the throne. I think the throne and footstool go indissolubly together, which is important to notice. We have various scriptures which speak of the Lord's enemies being made His footstool. He is sitting at the right hand of God until His enemies are made His footstool. That is what marks the present period -- "until". That is to say, anything that refuses His rights will have to submit, and that is a principle that applies to you and me; everything that rebels in our flesh now will be made His footstool. We must learn to make every action of the flesh subjugated to His footstool. Until this is brought about, as the psalm says, there can be no thought of worshipping at His footstool. It is a mockery to talk of worshipping Him unless I am subjugated to Him. Both the arms and the footstool would suggest a restful position. Once the throne is occupied nothing more is required.

The throne shows the superlative character of the kingdom; there was not anything made so great in any kingdom. If we can venture to compare divine things, the ark, I think, is greater than the throne because it is fully on the divine side, "there will I speak with thee". That God should speak to us and reveal Himself to us is greater than the throne. But we must not weaken the character of the

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kingdom. In all the precious types there are no duplicates, there is no such thing; every type stands in its own majestic solitude; it has its own voice and we must not mix them up. The ark is the inside position and the throne is outside. The thought of supremacy is connected with the throne, and I think we need to cherish the thought; we are so apt to lose sight of it. But we see all this carried through with undeviating divine power; we see in the lions a power that cannot be defeated or turned aside from its object. God would have us deeply impressed with the thought of the majesty of Christ. Peter says, "having been eyewitnesses of his majesty". We like to think of His power, His grace, and His love to poor sinners, but we need to ponder His majesty; it is connected with the throne. Matthew's gospel gives us the thought of the throne; He is born King in Matthew.

How much the Spirit of God can compress into a few sentences! Let us move in the intelligence of these great and wondrous things!

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 9 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Chronicles 9:17 - 19

The "great throne of ivory" which Solomon made was of surpassing glory, for "there was not the like made in any kingdom". I have no doubt it symbolises what the Lord speaks of in Matthew 25:31 as "his throne of glory". It is as having passed through death and given His life a ransom for many that He will occupy that throne. That may be hinted at symbolically by the throne being made of ivory, which is material that has passed through death. Genesis 1:26 shews that God's thought was that man should have dominion universally. Instead of this, man came under sin and death, and it became necessary that Another should come in to take up the dominion that the first man had lost by sin. So we find the Son of man in Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2, but the latter scripture adds the important fact that the Son of man was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death. But He is a divine Person who was in heaven before He became Man, so that He can speak of ascending up where He was before and this answers to the overlaying with pure gold. We find the Lord speaking of Himself frequently as the Son of man: the disciples were accustomed to this title as belonging to Him: but they had to learn that what He said of Himself as the Son of man could only be true of a divine Person. It was His declaration that He would be seen "sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven"; that was the ground of His condemnation to death (Matthew 26:64). Stephen saw Him standing at the right hand of God, and John saw Him in Son of man character in

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Revelation 1, referring no doubt to Daniel 7:13, 14. This leads us to consider that the throne had six steps, intimating to us that the One who occupies the throne comes to it by successive steps. He is first introduced in the prophetic word of promise, which covers the truth of His Person, His moral perfections and His sufferings and glories. That may be regarded, I think, as the first step on His way up to the throne -- how He appears in the word of prophecy.

Then the second step is the incarnation. He took His place in the likeness of men and was found in figure as a man. All that wondrous lowly life of devotion to God and of service to man brought out His moral qualification to be in the place of supremacy.

Then He accomplished redemption -- glorifying God in bearing the judgment of sin, and making purification so that the sins of all who believe on Him can be remitted righteously without compromising any attribute of God. The vastness of atonement, propitiation, reconciliation, with all their eternal results in blessing, come in as another step to the universal supremacy of the throne.

Then the fourth step, we might say, is His resurrection, shewing that death has been annulled, the penalty resting on man through sin is borne, and a scene of life opened up by One coming victoriously out of death.

To follow out this thought, the fifth step is His ascension. He has gone to the very brightest spot in the universe, awaiting the moment when He will be brought as the First-begotten into the habitable world.

His present place is not final. He will presently rise up and leave it and will appear in the clouds of heaven. This I take to be the sixth step, after which He will take His seat on the throne of His glory.

God would impress us with the irresistible power by which every step is accompanied. The two lions at each

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step and at the sides of the throne are symbolical of this. Every step has been, and will be in divine power. Nothing can turn it aside.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 9 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Chronicles 9:9 - 20

The Spirit of God directs our attention to superlative excellence in this section, both with regard to what is brought to Christ and with regard to His sufficiency. For "the throne where he judged" (1 Kings 7:7) would set forth His appraisement of things; it is the last thing mentioned as being made by Solomon; "there was not the like made in any kingdom". Before we have the throne we have the thought of surpassing excellence in what was brought to Solomon: "Neither was there any such spice as that which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon", and of the sandal-wood brought by the servants of Huram and used by Solomon it is said, there was "none such seen before in the land of Judah". It is of deep interest to see that Solomon calls forth the very best that can be rendered from human hearts. The spices carry our minds back to the ingredients of the holy anointing oil in Exodus 30, myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet myrtle and cassia. They represent holy features such as can only be found in the Spirit (Colossians 3:12 and Galatians 5:22). The quantity is noticed in Kings and the quality in Chronicles.

The sandal-wood was used for stairs and for harps and lutes. It provided material suitable for ascending movements and for instruments to accompany song. There never was such ascent or such music Godward as there is today. "Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones", 1 Corinthians 15:48. There were never any such before, nor in the same sense will there ever be such again. We are made alive by the last Adam, and He is the heavenly One.

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In that sense we have come from a far-off clime: as made alive by the One in heaven we spiritually lend ourselves to upward movements. The spices come out in their fragrance down here, but the sandal-wood shows its quality by enabling saints to move upward. The patriarchs sought a heavenly country but they were not made alive by a Man in heaven. They wanted a heavenly place but we have it as our native land. So the saints move upward from Romans to Colossians and then to Ephesians.

We get the house of the forest of Lebanon mentioned in verse 20. It is well to note the three houses (1 Kings 7:1 - 8): the house of the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon's house, and that of the forest of Lebanon. The first is a house in relation to God; the second in relation to Christ and the third is viewed as in the defensive position indicated by the shields and targets. "I am set for the defence of the glad tidings" (Philippians 1:16), and "In the defence and confirmation of the glad tidings ye are all participators in my grace", Philippians 1:7. Sometimes the great service is to stand in defence of what is of God. This is really a greater matter than getting people converted. To hold the glad tidings in their purity and fulness, as Paul did, is the true testimony of God.

Then the "great throne of ivory" refers, I believe, to the position which Christ occupies as in supreme oversight of all things, but especially in the kingdom. Everything is going to be tested by what is due to Christ -- His supremacy.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTER 13 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Chronicles 13:1 - 22

Every reader of this book must have noticed how the principle of recovery runs through it. It is seen even in Solomon because before he began to reign he had married an Ammonitess. His purpose to build the house therefore was evidence of personal recovery.

In Rehoboam we see one humbling himself under the government of God, and obtaining mercy so that he was not destroyed altogether. But we are told that "also in Judah there were good things", 2 Chronicles 12:12. This was after they had all forsaken the law of Jehovah and Jehovah Himself. So that we see a movement of recovery. But in Abijah there is, in this book, very decided evidence of recovery. In Kings we see nothing but evil in him, but here he is seen, as a man of faith, holding firmly to divine order and to the priestly service of Jehovah. So that he will not compromise at all with Jeroboam, who is simply, in his eyes, a rebel against the kingdom of Jehovah and the king of His appointment. The defection of the ten tribes was God's government upon the evil that had come in and, outwardly, it was occasioned by the folly of Rehoboam. But it did not, and could not, set aside the fact that Jehovah had given the kingdom over Israel to David and to his sons. Abijah went back to the divine order, and this is always a mark of true faith. Faith would always fall back on the lordship and headship of Christ: all rights belong to Him. All the departure that has taken place, and the solemn results in the government of God, which we may have to own and suffer from, cannot set aside the original

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appointment of God. All Israel should have known that Jehovah gave the kingdom over Israel to David and his sons for ever. Whatever rose up against this was an act of rebellion. "The kingdom of Jehovah" was in the hand of the sons of David. We see authority usurped by popes, patriarchs, bishops and clergy and ecclesiastical bodies of different kinds, and all this has come about by God's government upon terrible departure.

When recovery is granted all this is seen to be rebellion and to be accompanied by idolatry. It all sets aside the divine order, and the service of those appointed to carry on the divine service.

Abijah dwells on the priests, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites. All had been replaced in Israel by a human order of priests, but not with those to whom Jehovah had granted recovery. There is no more striking case of recovery than we see here from verse 5 onwards. There is recovery to God, and to all that rightly belongs to His service. The priests are there spiritually kindred with Christ, and the Levites are the firstborn ones who serve as having their portion in heaven. It is said "the Levites are at their work". That is, the whole order of service, as appointed by David, was going on. The morning and evening burnt-offerings, the incense, the loaves upon the pure table and the candlestick of gold with its lamps. The things were all actually going on: it was not a poor, second-rate substitute. The most Rehoboam could do was to replace golden shields by bronze ones (2 Chronicles 12:10). But all here is at the highest level, each day beginning and ending with the most blessed sense of acceptance in Christ, the sweet incense speaking of continual intercourse with God in prayer and the loaves expressing what the saints are as sustained in the life of Christ before God. Finally, there is the ministry by the Spirit of all that is in God's mind to bring about for His

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own glory: "For we keep the charge of Jehovah our God". It is nothing to our credit if we do: it is simply by His mercy in granting recovery. We simply answer to what is in His mind for all saints.

Then he says, "We have God with us at our head". That is in a military sense as leading against all that is opposed, with the trumpets sounding an alarm against all enemies! It seems as though God exercises His power in a remarkable way to show what He could do in recovery at a time when apostate conditions had apparently overwhelming power. It was "because they relied upon Jehovah the God of their fathers". His presence before them ensured that they went into battle with a shout of triumph.

It would be very interesting to have the treatise of the prophet Iddo who recorded the rest of the acts and ways and sayings of Abijah. But its absence shows that the true chronicles are written in heaven and we must wait to read them there. God would impress us with His ability to bring about recovery. The book is full of that suggestion, and perhaps Abijah is the most striking instance of it.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 14, 15 AND 16 (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

2 Chronicles 14:1 to 16: 14

Asa maintains and carries forward the recovery granted to his father, and for ten years he had rest. He faithfully dealt with all the religious abominations that had come in after the house had been built. He also felt the need for building fortified cities, using the time of rest from war to prepare strength in view of future danger. In a time of recovery we have to see that nothing is allowed that is not in line with the recovered truth, and we have also to see that the military position is strengthened against any forcible movement of the enemy. In a time of quietness the assemblies are to be built up (Acts 9:31).

Zerah the Ethiopian represents the hostility of the natural man in his darkness against what is of God. The faithfulness of Asa called out this opposition so that the question was really between God and man. It was a clear-cut issue. So that it made no difference whether there was much or no power with them who were attacked. It was Jehovah and His army. So there is absolute victory; none of the enemy were left alive, and very much spoil was secured. It is always so when the enemy is met in reliance upon God. Every form of opposition brings out the truth more clearly, so that the saints become stronger at the very points which have been attacked. I doubt whether we really stand intelligently in any truth until we have to meet darkness as to it, either in ourselves or in others. It is a real help to us when Zerah comes with apparently overwhelming power because we are acting faithfully in a day of recovery. We see also that there was offering to God out of

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the spoil, so His service was enriched.

And there was, in addition, a great confirmation by the Spirit of God through Azariah. God's fixed principles of acting come in as a great encouragement in a day of recovery. Verse 2 of chapter 15 indicates fixed principles answering to 2 Timothy. Every victorious conflict is a source of strength, and the prophetic word gives intelligent assurance. "There is a reward for your deeds" (verse 7).

So we find there is a further putting away of abominations (verse 8). This occurs repeatedly as though to remind us that there is always something which may be found out as inconsistent with the holy service of God.

Then there is a covenant -- a definite committal to seek Jehovah.

It is beautiful to see Asa acting with such decision and faithfulness for 35 years but this makes it the more sorrowful that he did not rely upon Jehovah when Baasha came up and built Ramah. This is a warning to old saints who may have had a fairly good record in the past. There is often a tendency to drop down to reliance upon human means even after proving God's faithfulness in a remarkable way for many years. Something occurs which restricts our liberty, or is a check in some way, and we do not turn to God about it but we make use of some human expedient and it apparently succeeds, but God has something to say about it. He knows exactly when we depart from reliance on Himself, and He feels it. The more we have relied on Him in the past the more He feels it if we cease to rely on Him. His eyes run to and fro to shew Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect. He is ever looking out for an opportunity to shew Himself strong. When we rely on human resources in a difficulty we rob Him of a pleasure.

We are not told just how Asa's failure came about. It would appear that he had no consciousness of having

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ceased to rely upon Jehovah. He was "wroth" and "enraged" with the seer and put him in prison. His will was seen strongly at work. It is a sad spectacle! An old brother in a remarkable time of recovery allowed to fall back into himself so as to deny all that had once been precious to him. We may be sure that there was a sorrowful working of the flesh. It is put on record as a warning to us that Satan may trip us up even at the end of a long and faithful life. He resents the word of God; he oppresses some of the people, and in the last two years of his life he was diseased in his feet until his disease was extremely great. There is no recovery -- a very solemn thing.

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2 CHRONICLES CHAPTERS 22 AND 23 (SUMMARY OF A READING)

2 Chronicles 22:10 to 23: 21

It is sad to think of Jehoshaphat, in whom there was much that was commendable, bringing into his household such a person as Athaliah. She was the daughter of Ahab, who "wrought evil in the sight of Jehovah more than all that were before him" (1 Kings 16:30), and who took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, a worshipper of Baal. It was when Jehoshaphat had "riches and honour in abundance" that "he allied himself with Ahab by marriage", 2 Chronicles 18:1. Outward prosperity, accompanied by spiritual decline, led to this unholy alliance. Jehoshaphat did not foresee that Athaliah would prove to be the inveterate enemy of all divine rights in Judah, but this turned out to be the case. There can be no doubt that true saints have often been used by Satan to bring in principles and practices that are really lawless because they have not their origin in the will of God.

Paul made known to the Thessalonians that "the mystery of lawlessness already works" (2 Thessalonians 2:7), and he intimates that it would continue to work, though with a certain divine restraint upon it, until the lawless one, the personal antichrist, should be revealed. It is a serious matter for consideration that the mystery of lawlessness is working at the present time in every part of the christian profession. Of course it is not declared to be such or it would not be a mystery. It is like the leaven which the woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. It is working all the time bringing man's will into the sphere where God's will alone should

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be found. True saints have helped it on by bringing in, under various pleas of necessity or expediency, many things which are completely at variance with God's will as made known in the Scriptures. When things have gone on a long time, and particularly when persons esteemed for piety have set them up or countenanced them, they get so established that to many it seems to be wrong even to question them. And so this insidious evil works until, like Athaliah, it dominates the situation and reigns over the land.

But God does not suffer such a working of evil without providing a counter action in His own gracious working, so, following upon the passage quoted from 2 Thessalonians, it is written, "only there is he who restrains now until he be gone". We can thank God that the restraining power is not yet gone, and I believe He would have us to learn from the Scripture before us how it works.

Athaliah's real character and object soon came to light. She "rose up and exterminated all the royal seed of the house of Judah". She could not bear that there should be any rival to her own supremacy. The will of man in the sphere of divine things is never harmless or neutral; however unwittingly it may be introduced it is always hostile to the authority of the Lord and to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. The royal seed was representative of that which would maintain divine rights as against all that was lawless, and the mystery of lawlessness exposes its true character by its hatred of that which expresses the will of God. Two conflicting forms of man's will may agree to tolerate each other, but they will unite to oppose, and, if possible, to destroy what is set to maintain the will of God. The mystery of lawlessness works in such things as putting christians under the law, attaching life-giving efficacy to sacraments, setting up episcopal and priestly authority, or forming believers into sects each of which has its own

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distinctive rules and order. It is even thought sometimes that each company of believers can regard itself as independent. But none of these things are expressive of the will of God and, if brought to the test, they are found to be hostile to it.

But God works, as we have said, to preserve what is of Himself and I believe this has been seen particularly during the last hundred years or a little longer. There has been, first, a hidden work of God in the affections of saints leading them to value and cherish what is of Himself as seen in Christ, and then a spiritual movement that has secured in the way of public testimony what is due to Christ, so that in result, the service of God according to His will might go on in the very scene where the mystery of lawlessness has well-nigh dominated everything. Not that we see this on a very large scale. The prophetic picture of it in the Scripture before us does not lead us to expect that for it centres in a babe who was entirely dependent on the care of others. But for his aunt and his nurse, Joash would undoubtedly have been slain, but a secret working of God in a faithful remnant secured his preservation.

"But Jehoshabeath the daughter of the king took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bed-chamber". It had been written that "the sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and to him will be the obedience of peoples", Genesis 49:10. Athaliah's object was to set aside the sceptre, that is, divine authority, in Judah so that her own lawless will might prevail. But God used Jehoshabeath to counteract Athaliah by preserving one of the royal seed, who became a remarkable type of Shiloh as the gathering centre of an obedient people. Jehoshabeath would not give up the word of God as to the sceptre not departing from Judah, and, though the only representative

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of the royal line she could secure was a babe about a year old, she put him and his nurse in the bed-chamber, and hid him from Athaliah in the house of God for six years. To others Joash might be of small account but to Jehoshabeath he was the one person to be considered. At the present time what stands on God's behalf over against the mystery of lawlessness is a remnant being kept by the Spirit in the faith of Christ as the One who holds the divine sceptre, who alone has title or competency to establish the rights or authority of God.

God would have us to see typically in Joash one who is distinctively the king's son, and in whom, as such, there is power for the maintenance of what is of God notwithstanding the presence and mighty working of the mystery of lawlessness. That is, he is typically Christ viewed as small and of little account in men's eyes, but discerned to be most precious by certain persons who cherish and safeguard Him, first in secret, and then in a more public way, until His ascendancy brings about the complete overthrow of lawlessness. In its full result this will be accomplished publicly at the coming of the Lord, but this is not what is set before us in this type, but rather the present spiritual result as known in the realm of faith of Christ getting His true place in the hearts of His lovers. It should be evident to those taught of God that the true royal seed is Christ for He is the only One absolutely free from the principles of lawlessness. The work of God in human hearts leads to Him being preserved and defended and honoured; this is what we see in the scripture before us. Joash was a type of Christ as recognised and honoured by faith and love at a time when evil is in ascendancy amongst the people of God. We do not get a type in this chapter of what Christ does for faith, but of what faith and love do for Him. We see here, in picture, assembly affection and care for Him, the result of His being known as the One in

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whom God delights. There is a remnant marked by appreciation of Christ, and by cherishing Him in secret with God, as aware that the dominating influence all around is most definitely hostile to Him. He is cherished in secret by those taught of God; He has no rival in their eyes. If we have come into this it is evident that the mystery of lawlessness is exposed for us, and its power as a ruling principle is overthrown in our hearts. In secret with God we disavow the whole principle of creature will and we delight in the One who always did God's will. If we love and cherish Him as thus known there is a base of operations for God in this world, something from which He can work to bring about what is in His will in the very scene where the mystery of lawlessness is active.

We must have the secret exercises of the bed-chamber first. We must learn to transfer our allegiance from what is lawless to One in whom all divine rights are centred. And we must learn to do this in the full recognition that divine rights are not owned, and will not be owned, where the mystery of lawlessness holds sway. Joash's nurse in the bed-chamber represents those gentle and tender influences under which the thought of Christ in His true worth and excellence in relation to God's will is developed in our hearts in secret. The One who is of no account outside becomes of all account to those who get right impressions of Him in a secret place which is beyond the reach of the mystery of lawlessness. It requires spiritual sensibilities to discern this, and those sensibilities require to be nursed. Our apprehension of Him needs to grow and we shall value every service that promotes this. He does not, of course, grow in Himself, but He grows in our apprehension and appreciation, and this is what is set forth in the type.

Joash represented the true royal line which would maintain the rights of God, and it was those rights which

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Athaliah the idolatrous usurper wished to blot out. Now this great issue is always present; we have to face it definitely in our time as never before. It is of the first importance that we should be able to recognise what is approved of God. The greatest favour God could shew us is to give us ability to see that His delight is in Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. It was in the exercise of His own rights that God made promises and fulfilled them by bringing in Christ. When we speak of Christ as bringing in and securing all the rights of God we must not think of this in a legal way. When the created man in the garden of Eden became lawless by disobeying God all hope would have been banished from the human race if God had not had rights which He reserved to Himself, of which neither men nor Satan can deprive Him. He had the right to shew mercy and to make promises; He had what Scripture so beautifully speaks of as "the right of redemption". He had a right in due time to bring in His beloved Son, and all that Jesus did in "doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil" (Acts 10:38), was really God exercising His royal rights in favour of man who had no rights at all in respect of God. That is, man had no right to claim anything from God, save so far as God had exercised His right to make promises. But it was proved that men did not believe the promises of God and they rejected the One in whom all the promises were centred. So that nothing remains for men as a hope or ground of blessing but the royal rights of God. And this is the true thought of the kingdom of God which Paul preached; it is the sphere in which God exercises His rights and into which men may come by receiving Christ. The great glory of the glad tidings is that they reveal the righteousness of God; they make manifest that in the exercise of His own rights He will justify an ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus. Our only hope as sinners is that God has rights and He has set

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them forth in His Son; they are rights of infinite mercy and grace and love. But men in general, even though professing the christian religion, do not believe that God is exercising His rights in this wonderful way. They have their own thoughts about the matter, but all man's thoughts about what will please God are really part of the working of the mystery of lawlessness. Men are going about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Even true believers are apt to think that they are free to meet together on any principle that commends itself to their judgment or their tastes and to worship as they choose. This is as much as to say that God has no will as to these matters, or if He has it is immaterial whether we regard it or not! This is just how the mystery of lawlessness is working today. But God would deliver us from it by bringing us to share in the exercises of Jehoshabeath, who represents those subjective features which recognise divine rights in the Lord Jesus. We have to learn that He is the One to be honoured, and to cherish Him in our private affections as the One to whom allegiance is due in all things. "If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord's commandment", 1 Corinthians 14:37.

"So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not slay him; and he was with them hid in the house of God six years". This presents to us, in a typical way, a most important aspect of the truth. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God", 1 Corinthians 4:1. He spoke "God's wisdom in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory: which none of the princes of this age knew", 1 Corinthians 2:7.

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Jehoshabeath and Jehoiada during those six years were stewards of the mysteries of God. They were careful to keep Joash out of the hands of Athaliah. The human mind cannot in any way be trusted with the things of God; they are only known to the Spirit of God and revealed by Him, and communicated by spiritual means to the spiritual. The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians are to be carefully read in this connection. Spiritual things cannot be brought within the range of the natural man; they are only safeguarded and kept in their proper setting as this is understood.

The mystery of lawlessness always works through the natural mind and will of man, but where there is a subjective state wrought by God, represented by Jehoshabeath, and there is priestly intelligence, represented by Jehoiada, saints will discern that the wisdom of this world is essentially hostile to Christ. He must be hidden from it in the sense that it is not permitted to intrude, even in the smallest degree, into the testimony concerning Him. The intrusion of the mind and will of man has proved fatal to the knowledge of Christ and of the assembly in Christendom generally, and it is only where the import of the cross has been, in measure, apprehended, and place given to the Spirit of God, that there has been any return to the truth.

Then in the seventh year under the lead of Jehoiada, the captains of the hundreds "gathered together the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel; and they came to Jerusalem. And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God". This gathering together seems to correspond with 1 Corinthians 11, where we read of saints coming together in assembly, and we learn that such coming together, according to divine order, is to eat the Lord's supper which He has instituted as His appointed rallying place for all His lovers. The Lord has exercised the rights of His love in

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appointing that the assembly shall come together to eat His supper. Every heart loyal to Him would surely say, with Jehoiada, "Behold, the king's son shall reign, as Jehovah has said of the sons of David". Whatever sets aside the Lord's rights savours of the mystery of lawlessness; it is the evidence that Athaliah reigns over the land! The coming together of saints in assembly, if it has spiritual reality, is the recognition of the rights of the Lord Jesus. His rights in love, truly, but still His rights. The recovery of this has specially marked the last century during which, after a very long period of negligence, the Lord's supper has been recognised as the true rallying point of the assembly.

But this has involved taking up certain responsibilities which are indicated typically in verses 4 and 5. "A third part of you that come in on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be keepers of the doors". There must be vigilance to ensure that the evidence of loyalty to the Lord Jesus is found with each one who is admitted. There can be no true gathering on any other footing. The name and honour of the Lord Jesus is the supreme test and this is bound up with every part of divine truth. If a person is lawless in respect of any part of the truth he is not really fit for christian fellowship. Of course persons may be ignorant of the truth and need instruction, but they are really only on christian ground as being prepared to obey from the heart the form of teaching into which they are instructed. It is by this they prove themselves as loyal to the Lord Jesus. This is surely as essential today as was loyalty to Joash in that day!

"And a third part shall be at the king's house". The king's house typifies the assembly as the place where "the commandment of the Lord" is recognised as having supreme authority. All gifts and assumed spirituality are tested by this (see 1 Corinthians 14:37). Along with professed

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readiness to do whatever the Lord wills there is often great reluctance to break away from associations which do not at all correspond with the assembly order laid down in 1 Corinthians. Personal devotedness and earnest service are fair jewels and the Lord values all that is done out of love to Him, but He would have those jewels to shine in their true setting in the assembly order which He has appointed.

"And a third part at the gate of the foundation". This suggests that the gathering together of saints in a divine way must be on the basis of what is fundamental. That is, it requires obedience to the truth of the epistle to the Romans in regard of what is individual, and obedience to the truth of 1 Corinthians in regard of the assembly. There can be no intelligent fellowship apart from this.

"And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Jehovah ... but all the people shall keep the watch of Jehovah". Faithfulness to the principles of christian fellowship is what would mark these courts today, and watch has always to be kept against the intrusion of what is contrary to those principles. The object in view is not merely correctness as to matters of principle but to preserve conditions which are suitable to the Lord. "The Levites shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand; and he that comes into the house shall be put to death". The position, as here viewed, is a military one. The Lord's Person and rights are to be maintained as against all who would challenge them. "And ye shall be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out". It is precious to think of the assembly as a place where nothing is suffered that is contrary to Christ and where He has liberty of movement amongst His own, and this at a time when lawlessness is dominant around. So "King David's spears and shields and targets, which were in the house of God" are given to the captains; they represent spiritual weapons which are mighty through

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God to defend the rights of Christ against all adversaries. All the people are set "by the king round about"; he is maintained and defended in the place that is due to him. And then "they brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king". It is, indeed, a true coronation day when Christ gets the place that is due to Him amongst His own. It is to this end that He instituted His supper, for He said, "This do in remembrance of me", 1 Corinthians 11:24. He would unify His saints in causing Himself to fill their hearts and minds in His supreme excellence and worth. I suppose in giving Joash the testimony they had the thought that he was to be king to give effect to all that was in the mind of God, and which He would have to be set forth here.

A valued servant of the Lord used to speak of the day when a great feast was made for Isaac and it was said that Hagar and her son were to be cast out, as a coronation day in the history of the soul, the day when Christ is seen to be the only One to be honoured, and the man after the flesh is cast out as unworthy of any place. We are on this ground assembly-wise when we take the Lord's supper together. His body has been given and His blood poured out, and we call Him to mind as the One in whom everything centres for God and for us. We view Him collectively as God's Anointed, as the One by whom and in whom everything is effectuated that is for the pleasure of God and for our deep blessing and joy. As we appreciate this and rejoice in it we can be said to anoint Him; by the Holy Spirit we collectively say, "Lord Jesus". Where this is a reality the mystery of lawlessness is completely nullified; the coronation day of the Lord Jesus has come. He is the Centre and Object of praise, as Joash was in type, in verses 12 and 13. God's answer to the mystery of lawlessness in these last days is that the Lord Jesus gets the supreme honour that is

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due to Him assembly-wise. It may only be in a few, but the few represent the divine thought as to the assembly, and they carry the whole assembly in their hearts as essential to the divine thought, though the most of them may not be actually present at the coronation.

Rightly honouring the Lord Jesus exposes every form of lawlessness. Athaliah's thought of the whole matter was that it was "Conspiracy!" She realised that it was all over with her. It was inevitable that she should be put to death. The whole system that has usurped the rights of the Lord Jesus is bound to be destroyed when His day comes. And it is morally destroyed where a few hearts really accord Him His place and His rights. Those who do so are God's testimony here. May we have the honour from God of being found amongst them!

Joash being crowned and anointed king, "Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah". Jehoiada, in this chapter and the next, represents a feature which should always be present amongst the saints, a spiritual capacity to enter into the mind of God for the moment, and capability to lead in giving effect to it. He led, first, in securing the supremacy that was due to Joash as king, and then he led to the further thought that the king should be recognised as head for all the people in relation to God. For in this connection the king would be the chief or pre-eminent one on the side of the people Godward. Spiritual leading in the assembly will secure that Christ is recognised as Head of the assembly, so that He is known on the side of His saints Godward. The assembly, viewed as having such a Head, derives all from Him and needs no contribution from any other source; all the body is ministered to from Him. Not that we get this in the type before us; it could not be developed then for it was as yet a mystery hidden in God. But the king, as identified

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with all the people in relation to God, gives us the thought of headship, and we are entitled to bring into this the precious truth of Christ as Head as it is made known to us in Colossians and Ephesians.

It is a blessed moment in the service of the assembly when Christ is known as Head, and the saints are conscious that they are of Him, and independent of every other source of supply. When Christ is known as Head, all the elements of the world and all the paraphernalia of human religiousness are judged and definitely rejected. We do not get this complete sweeping aside of human religiousness in 1 Corinthians; Christ must be known as Head according to Colossians to enable us to break down what answers now to the house of Baal and his altars and images. And this must be done if God is to be served according to His pleasure. It is only what is derived from Christ that can minister to His pleasure; so that the body as viewed in Colossians is one aspect of the worshipping company. Elsewhere it is said that the Sanctifier and the sanctified are "all of one", and the Lord Himself said of them, "My brethren"; they are His spiritual kindred. What a character this gives to the service of the assembly! Jehoiada's leading brought things back to the highest level. All that Moses had written and all that David had appointed were set up again with rejoicing and with singing. The order and the glory of the house were restored. This is what spiritual leading will bring us to today.

Why should not we recognise Christ as Head and renounce all that human religiousness which is no better in God's sight than the worship of Baal? Why should we not know the blessedness of assembly service as Peter and Paul and John knew it, and as they have made it known to us? Not that any of them have described the service in a formal way as following upon the Lord's supper. But they have opened to us the spiritual character of our association

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with Christ as Head, and the place we have as sons with Him, entirely outside all that is of the flesh. They have given us spiritual leading as to our place with God the Father according to His eternal purpose, and as all saints are called to the same blessedness it would be strange indeed if we had no opportunity to enjoy it together. But this requires that we shall move together, first, in eating the Lord's supper and giving Him collectively the place that is due to Him in our affections and the praise that declares publicly that He has that place. As the saints are unified in this and have the Lord alone before them, He comes, according to His own word, to His lovers (John 14:18). If He desires to do so, is He not entitled to expect that His own will welcome Him? He comes to satisfy the hearts of those who want Him. But when He comes there is the fulness there, in Him, of all that is in His own heart and in the Father's heart. How much of it may be manifested, on any occasion, will depend on the spiritual state and power there is to see Him or to hear what He may communicate. That is to say, it will depend on how far we have become conscious by the Spirit's work, that we are His own, "of his flesh, and of his bones", Ephesians 5:30. If we are of Him, as Eve was of Adam, there will be capacity to regard Him as Head, and to get the gain of His Headship in what He may be pleased to communicate. And then we shall find that He moves Godward, for He says, "In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises", Hebrews 2:12. The full height of the service is reached in that. The fulness of the divine revelation, and the whole compass of God's thoughts and purposes in regard to man, are known to the blessed Man who is our Head, and they are the subject of His praise. He is the true David. Our great instruction for the service is to learn how He sings. Spiritual leading will bring us to the understanding of this, not that we can compass all His notes. It would need the

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whole assembly, in complete spiritual formation, to do that. But under spiritual leading we can hear how He sings and become conscious that in singing He identifies Himself with the assembly. He causes the full and varied notes of His singing to resound in that supremely favoured company. May each of us be moved to desire to know more of the privilege that is, through infinite love, available for us in the region of God's blessed will. It is the true antidote to the working of the mystery of lawlessness.

Then in the last two verses of the chapter the king is brought down from the house of Jehovah into the king's house, and he is set upon the throne of the kingdom. We cannot always remain in the assembly as convened; we have to return to the circumstances of our daily life here but we return to them to be as free from the mystery of lawlessness there as we were when we acclaimed the Lord in the assembly as the supreme and only worthy One. Our loyalty is tested, perhaps, more in the everyday path than it is when we are with our brethren. As set on the throne of the kingdom He is supreme in our everyday matters. Indeed we cannot think of saying, "Lord Jesus" to Him in the assembly, and then doing what is right in our own eyes in the domestic or business sphere. It is very significant that it is said, "And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet; and they had slain Athaliah with the sword". It is a reminder, by the Spirit of God, that happiness and quietness depend on the rights of the Lord Jesus being owned in every sphere and that this involves the complete refusal of lawlessness.

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SOME COMPARISONS BETWEEN 1 KINGS AND 2 CHRONICLES (FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES)

There is no overlaying of the house "with precious stones for beauty" in Kings as there is in Chronicles.

Huram was to send sandal-wood trees out of Lebanon. This is mentioned in Chronicles but not in Kings.

The upper chambers are mentioned in 2 Chronicles as being covered with gold.

In 2 Chronicles 3 the veil is described as of blue, purple, crimson and byssus with cherubim. There is no veil in Kings.

There is no brazen altar in 1 Kings except for the brief mention in 1 Kings 8:64.

In 1 Kings 8 Solomon dwells on the promises to David and refers to the deliverance from Egypt and mentions Moses but not Aaron.

The altar represents in Kings, I apprehend, the measure of approach suitable to an earthly people. It is too small for the offerings of Solomon and for the people. It is "all Israel with him" in 1 Kings 8:65.

In 1 Kings 8 Solomon blessed the whole congregation of Israel before his intercession and after. It is like Ephesians, or Paul's farewell to the elders.

The sacrifices are particularly peace offerings. It is like the fatted calf, provision from God's side according to His measure and what He has stored up as suitable for the communion proper to sons. Therefore I do not think that we have any offering at the brazen altar that comes up to the fatted calf. In Luke 14 it is "my supper", "an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour", as is

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stated in Ephesians 5:2.

It is what the king did and all Israel with him. If we think of Christ offering, it is illimitable; the earthly system, even the millennium, is too small. It has been observed that no brazen altar is described in Kings because it is not approach to God, but God dwelling, and His people dwelling, in His chambers. So there is no veil in Kings, nothing to indicate that conditions of distance and restriction exist.

Blessing the people answers to ministry.

The house was finished in the eighth month in Kings, but in 2 Chronicles 5 it is at the feast, that of the seventh month.