Hebrews 8:1 - 2; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:15, 19 - 20; 1 Corinthians 10:18; 2 Timothy 2:22 - 23

I wish to speak about the divine system, the divinely established position, and the divine way. Most of us have been accustomed to these words in connection with things which have been built up by men. Having come out to the Lord, we need to be occupied with what is according to God: the divine system, the divine position, and the divine way.

The divine system is what is spoken of in Hebrews 8 as "the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man". Note the last words -- "not man". It was never conceived or established by man. It is the Lord who has pitched it, and therefore we may be assured that it will stand for ever. It was pitched at Pentecost. The Lord had gone up into heaven, the disciples had seen Him carried up into heaven, the great High Priest, His hands outstretched in blessing. He has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, and gone into the immediate presence of God in the power of His own blood. On earth was the human material that He had gathered; human material, men and women, but all born of the Spirit. Upon them, the Holy Spirit was poured forth, and thus the true tabernacle was pitched. God had come down to dwell in it, God in the person of the Spirit. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with what was proper to the new system, filled with joy too. Men said that they were full of new wine, but it was the heavenly wine, the joy of heaven, the joy that no one could take from them. In Nehemiah we

read that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off, but it was not like the joy of Jerusalem at this wonderful moment when the true tabernacle was pitched. It has been here ever since, always existent, ever increasing, and going through to eternity. In Revelation 21 we read that the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and God will wipe away every tear, and usher in a scene of everlasting and universal joy.

As Christians we belong to this: we form part of it. And our part in it is the most privileged part, what Hebrews calls the "holy of holies". This is true Christian ground, for no other family will ever enter there. "That they may be with Me where I am", the Lord says in John 17the immediate presence of God. We were singing about "the person of the Christ" as demanding our praise. He is gone into the holiest as Forerunner for us, and in going in He has made the "new and living way" open for us to go in too. It is not our offerings or our prayers that will get us in, but His offering, His service. We have boldness because of His blood to go in where He is:

"Like Him to know that glory beam
Unhindered, face to face!" (Hymn 72)

Let us go in as often as we can! May we know it in reality, daily, as Paul was habitually beside himself to God -- 2 Corinthians 5:13! How wonderful to be outside of ourselves with God! To be there in contemplation, in adoration, in prostration! To see Jesus glorified in the presence of God! To be in the presence of the One in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily! As Priest, the Lord supports us so that we may go in. Our names are on His heart and on His shoulders; and there is no reason why my head should not be where my name is, on the breast of Jesus in the Holiest. This is the sphere from which we come out to serve. Our service flows from having been in: His service brings us in. Our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies washed all over

with pure water means that we have truly accepted the gospel. God views us as washed all over, so that we are not viewed as linked with the first man at all. If we are burdened, or hampered, there is the throne of grace available. If depression, or weariness, or perhaps temptation would keep us away, let us approach with boldness to the throne of grace. Divine love has appointed it, so that we should get just what we need at the moment, "that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help", Hebrews 4:16. As coming boldly thus to the throne of grace we find ourselves in the holiest. In the gospels Jesus says, Come unto Me. But where is He now? In the holiest! We come now to Jesus glorified.

But if our place is inside the divine system, it is also outside of man's system; and the two cannot be mixed. So in Hebrews 13 we are exhorted to go forth to Him outside the camp. Jesus is still outside of man's work. The world still casts Christ away as worthless: how devoid of moral discernment is the world! All that man brings in -- even religious man -- is to please man, not to please God. Jesus is not wanted in man's systems. They will talk about their great men, but what have they to say about Christ? And in the religious world the Jesus that is meek and lowly in heart is not wanted. Yet that is the only Jesus. He is faithful, of course: His eyes are as a flame of fire -- Revelation 1:14 -- but that is to search the hearts to see how far He Himself has been the Centre and the controlling Object.

If we have known what it is to go in, we shall be able to come out, and as coming out to serve, "We have an altar". An altar is firstly where we eat, but then it is also where we serve. It is all outside: we serve as in communion with the altar, and prove the wonder of the service, the joy of doing good, communicating of our substance, and so on. It is really what will characterise the world to come, but known in reality now.

The tabernacle is called the temple in the time of Samuel. The word for "temple" means the innermost shrine -- the holiest. The apostle Paul says, Do you not know this? This is the position divinely given to every Christian. In chapter 6 I find that my body is part of the inner shrine of God's house. Light from God should therefore be radiating from my body. Also our bodies are members of Christ. Every believer who has the Spirit is a member of the body of Christ. When Christ was here, His own body was the temple -- John 2 -- but now we and all true Christians form the temple, because we are His body. God can only dwell complacently in a vessel which answers to Christ. This is what I would call the divinely established position, and it is true of all Christians. It is not man's making.

And now the way. The way involves fellowship. Thousands of believers do not enjoy the privileges of the temple and the body because their feet are not in the divine way. God never lowers His standard, and if I lower the standard, I shall be grieving the Spirit, and robbing God, and robbing my fellow-Christians. It is the way of faithfulness to the position, and it involves fleeing certain things, and pursuing certain things. We are to flee youthful lusts: don't let them overtake you. They overtake all natural men sooner or later: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. But we are to flee these things, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart -- 2 Timothy 2:22. A pure heart will always keep my face in that direction. If you and I are pursuing the same things, we shall get on together. It is pursuing -- we can never say that we have got possession! Righteousness means that I act like God, always. Who has done that? Only Jesus could speak of fulfilling all righteousness. But if our hearts are pure, all our energies will be bent in that pursuit.

These four things form one whole. You cannot have righteousness without faith, even by imputation; nor can you have practical righteousness without faith. Practical righteousness is the fruit of walking in the Spirit, and if you are walking in the Spirit you will be walking in faith -- the two will coincide. Nor can you have righteousness without love, because it is love that is the fulfilling of the law. God would have us to love our neighbour as ourselves, and also to love the stranger as ourselves -- Leviticus 19:34. And righteousness, faith and love lead on to peace. If you ask me the ground on which we can walk with Christians, I would say that it is on the simple ground of right and wrong. And that means that I am walking in love, and pursuing the things that make for peace, and leaving my own cause with God, and not having respect for persons in judgment. God has no respect for persons, and neither must we. Nathan had to learn that lesson in respect of David: he had to say, "Thou art the man", 2 Samuel 12:7. God is not mocked, and His judgment is a serious thing, and it begins at the house of God. We shall never be eternally lost, but we may lose the enjoyment of divine things now. The only way to help one another is to judge without respect of persons. Be kind, of course, but do not fail to point out what is wrong. And let us not fail to acknowledge what is wrong. Anything contrary to the truth of the body, or to the truth of the house of God is wrong. To have anything to do with what has been built merely by man is wrong; and it is wrong to link on with what disregards what God has established.

The way of happiness is for me to walk consistently with the position in which God has placed me, sustained by keeping the divine system before me in living faith, and entering the holiest as often as possible. May we be concerned to provide God with conditions corresponding with what we find in the holiest!

St. Leonards -- February 1, 1962, G. R. Cowell, Address, Green Haddad Booklets, The Divine System, 3: 21 - 25