THE FIELD, THE GARDEN, AND THE HOUSE
[p. 439] THE FIELD, THE GARDEN, AND THE HOUSE
Genesis 27:26,27; Song of Songs 4:12 - 16; Song of Songs 5:1; Luke 15:25 - 28
These scriptures speak of the field, and the garden, and the house. They are peculiarly applicable to the assembly, applicable to the Lord’s people; the more familiar we are with any scripture, the more it yields to us. We can understand how the writer of Psalm 119 meditated in the law continuously, and how patiently too he put down his thoughts; exhausting language, as it were, and yet not exhausting it, but taxing it fully: and, of course, it should be taxed. One of the most remarkable things in the creation is human language. Man is not the first to use it, for, according to Scripture, “God said, Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). He had entered upon a piece of work which He was to accomplish by the day, and it began with light. Ever since that, light is shining: “God is light” (1 John 1:5); indeed, He has come into it, and is it Himself, He is light. So that language should be taxed, especially in setting out the mind of God, His word, His commandments, His precepts and ordinances, all that in any way bring to us what God is. The word field has a remarkable place in Scripture and it occurred to me after dinner, to be simple, in what we regard as a rural district, that it would not be out of place to bring in the agricultural side of the truth. The word field is used in a variety of senses: the Lord Himself used it to designate the world, the world in which as a field He was operating; for although He came to His own, He never lost sight of the fact that He was in the world; for it is said, “He was in the world ... and the world knew him not” (John 1:10). It was made by Him, but knew Him not. As its Creator, He could not but be affected as coming into it, coming into it with the sensibilities of a man; able to think of its mountains, its hills, its rivers, its [p. 440] lakes, and its seas; nothing was made without a purpose, so that certain commitments entered into the incarnation which extended beyond Israel: and so He so spoke in His service in Israel that the ministry could be used later as a wider area was taken in. The field might be small relatively or large, if God intended to call out a people for His name from the western nations; He prepared them for that. If He intended to form an assembly out of this people, He prepared a field for that; so that, understanding every field, He knew the kind of crop to sow: agricultural knowledge requires that we should understand the various soils; and God had selected the west, obviously, to work out His greatest thoughts. So that the idea of a field comes to us peculiarly. It would not be the field in which the elder brother was; no doubt his field was limited: he was in it, preferring to stay there and refusing the house; for, after all, the field is subservient to the great divine thought. As it is in any man’s possession, it is to be worked for a crop; its value lies in the crop, for we are told in the types that the value of the land was in the crops. If the land was to be sold in view of jubilee, it was a question of the number of crops. So God, as I was saying, has taken up this western part, and He knew what it could yield. He makes much of Israel and what that land could yield, though it was very much more limited. He has the great east before Him too, yielding little or nothing for all these centuries; but, still, it is part of His field, and He knows the kind of crop it will yield and will sow there accordingly. So the thought is very wide and instructive too as to our outlook, and as in the Lord’s service it is for each to select his field. The virtuous woman selects a field; she acquired it, a field that she could use in her service. So the word is applicable also to military affairs. As we know, Scripture refers to the fields of battle, and these too are to be selected; for success often depends on a right selection. If we are forced to fight in a [p. 441] certain position, we are at a disadvantage, whereas, if we select, we are at an advantage. God makes His own selection in every case; He never allows the enemy to circumvent. We are told that, in the battle between David and Absalom, Israel were out in a field, which was right; but eventually it is in the wood of Ephraim, which was not right; more people were destroyed by the wood than by the sword. So the idea is very wide and varied, and may apply to any one of us or any number of us together, as to what use we are making of anything that may yield in a spiritual way. Are we making the most of it?
Another thing that arises in the actual facts, of course, is that certain parts of the earth are exceedingly barren. We have to make allowance for that; so that judgment is required as to the thought however we look at it. Whatever comes to our hand that may yield, we are to see to it that it has all that is necessary as far as possible for success.
Well, now, all this enters into this verse in Genesis where we have a boy, a young man, older than some of us think, perhaps, at this time, Jacob; he is likened to a field. Then, again we have a person, the spouse, in Song of Songs likened to a garden; and in Luke, the house introduced incidentally. It must be there, that is the obvious thought; but it is only mentioned as it is marked by what is attractive, especially for young people. The moral is obvious; it is the prodigal, that kind of a man; in other words, it is composed of men like that. What interesting men they are! Were I to go up to heaven and be introduced to all the angels, I should find none like those persons who form the assembly. The Lord took his disciples, on the principle of selection, up the mountain in order that they might get a view of the persons, not of angels, they were not in view at all, but of two men talking with Jesus. Luke mentions the men first and gives the names afterwards. The point is, they are men. Matthew mentions the names [p. 442] first; that is to bring out the kind of people that are up there and that enter into the assembly; for that is what is in mind in Matthew, that there are such great personages as this; and that the conditions are so free and happy, felicitous. The greatest Person, the Lord of glory, can be talked to; you can go and speak to Him; they were speaking with Him. I refer to that, dear brethren, to substantiate what I said as to Luke 15, the sort of people that form the house, for Hebrews 3:6 tells us expressly: “whose house are we”. It is a most concrete thought in the epistle to the Hebrews; it is formed of persons, but persons of a certain kind, those who continue in boldness, and boast in hope. That is the kind of persons; not ordinary christians so-called: “if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:6). Those are the persons. They do not droop: they are buoyant. They are already in this boldness, at liberty with God, on holy, happy terms with God and with one another. They love one another, and they boast too in the hope of the glory of God, not in what they are after the flesh; they are full of holy boast.
Well, dear brethren, we see, therefore, what the house is and how attractive it is, especially to young persons. It is no dead, lifeless place, but a crowd of names. It began with persons of distinction; every one of them could tell you wonderful things as you conversed with him. You say to yourself, I cannot find anything like this anywhere else! I will come to that at the end.
But this thought of the field: it is one person, evidently; it is not the thought of the world, not the field as described in Matthew 13: it is a more limited thought. It denotes a certain kind of soil, a certain kind of fruitfulness; it has got a smell, and it is not only fruitful, but blessed of the Lord. This may be likened to a young christian, indeed, such is in view; and how the patriarch, dull as he was as the context shews (Isaac [p. 443] was dull spiritually, but he was not too dull to smell this matter), says, “The smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed”. The idea of the exercise of the senses is mentioned much in Scripture, and smell is not the least; Isaac is not wanting in this sense. His affections are aroused by the man he is speaking to. He has testified about him, but he has not testified as to the actual substance that is there; a remarkable thing, shewing how the work of God links with the work of God. No doubt Isaac afterwards often judged himself that his eyes were not in relation to his sense of smell. We may often feel a thing is right and yet we go against it, perhaps because of our appetites or selfish desires. If there is a sense of smell, and other things do not agree, wait awhile and the Lord will make it plain; so we may be saved from turning our backs on a real field that God has in mind for great blessing, great results. He prepares His field without: we are to do the same. I was alluding to the west; undoubtedly God prepared this field. “Prepare thy work without, and put thy field in order”; God did that too and then got His house: “and afterwards build thy house” (Proverbs 24:27). That is about all I had to say about Jacob; much more could be said of a brother or sister who has given evidence of potential fruitfulness; not only that they possess ability, education and following graces, but that the Lord has blessed them. Without that, all else is nothing; it may be a field for the world, for Satan, in such a person. Indeed, we may be sure if there is any thought of one of us being a field for God, Satan will seek to get in too, as we learn in Matthew 13.
Well, now, that is the great general thought in Genesis. We have a garden too before we have a field in the way that I am speaking of it, but I go on to Song of Songs for the idea of the garden, because it is what is special; it is what the field, as it were, may develop into. The field, being a wider thought, develops into the garden, at least, spiritually. Jacob, subsequent to this remarkable [p. 444] word, scarcely yielded unselfishly; the fruit was not very quick in coming. He went off into a place and circumstances that would tend to preclude the crop that God had in mind; at least, he stayed too long there. Had he confined himself to the orders given him, to seek a suitable wife and return, there would have been no interference with the crop; but he remained twenty years instead of remaining a few days. That is to say, he made way for the enemy, and the enemy did not fail to sow the tares, both in himself and in his family; bitter results followed, until he is back again in Bethel where God could again stand beside him, where he is conscious of divine favour, the blessing of the Lord that makes rich; he was a field which the Lord had blessed. But the blessing, the true riches that were in mind, really belonged to Bethel and Canaan, so that the blessing of the Lord began as he returned to Bethel. His name was changed. The kind of fruit he had been bearing was not such as Isaac smelled. So it is with many in early life after conversion; the young ones get away, although the blessing is there potentially; other crops come up and cause the greatest sorrow as it was with Jacob. “The blessing of Jehovah, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it” (Proverbs 10:22). Why the sorrow then? I have done it; it is my own addition. How many have had that history! Instead of pursuing the line of grace with which we began, we have made room for the enemy to come in. The Lord says: “A man that is an enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28). That is the sowing of the tares: the parents may not see it, but God sees it; God sees just where the enemy got in. Now Jacob is back at Bethel, and, as I was saying, the garden develops into something for Christ, some positive result unselfishly kept for Christ; definite headway may be made. So He says in spirit here: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed”. We see now how in the individual saint there is the thought of a garden which [p. 445] involves quality and is not exactly for the sustenance of the house but rather for pleasure; so the feminine personage is alluded to: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse”. There is the definite recognition by the Lord of family relationship. There is a certain loyalty and conservation in the idea of a garden viewed thus. She is a sister; the sister must come before the spouse. This is not the field; this describes the development of love, a known relation with Christ; indeed, He owns it, and it is much better that He should own it than that I should claim it. We should claim it; until we claim it we hardly can come into the benefit of it, but still, we are on more solid ground when He owns it. So the wives of the patriarchs were to be sisters; and it is certainly a mark of progress when the Lord owns this relation: “my sister”, and then “my spouse”; and then the thought of jealous guarding of what there is. Much indeed there is, much contemplated: “Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna, with spikenard plants; spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: a fountain in the gardens, a well of living waters, which stream from Lebanon”. One would appeal to all as to this remarkable result of the work of God, the conservation, as I was saying, in view of Another; not for oneself, for one would not have the brethren think him spiritual; if one is spiritual it will become known. There is no question about that: if there is one thing one can testify about the saints it is that in the long run they know who is who. It is not here that one should have a reputation amongst the brethren; the more spiritual one is, the more reputation one will have. The saints in general, in the long run, come to discern who is who and what one’s measure is. We may as well make up our minds for that. So the speaker here is not thinking of that; the record here has not that in mind: the Lord in spirit contemplates that all this is [p. 446] here conserved in view of Himself; as much as to say, It is not for another. I may even make spiritual adornments an object so that I might be attractive to others. It is a most deceptive and insidious thing to acquire ability in divine things, and so adorn oneself and then think of oneself, that one is attractive in it. There is nothing of the kind here; it is what is for Him: and what a variety there is, dear brethren: “pomegranates, with precious fruits; henna with spikenard plants; spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: a fountain in the gardens”. It is a remarkable description of prosperity in one to whom Christ is all, and in all; in fact, in Colossians 3:11, He is “everything, and in all”. If He is everything objectively, He is in all I have got. He is there indisputably with no rival; and that is what gives it its greatness, its attractiveness, that it is Christ “everything, and in all”.
Well, now, she speaks of the north wind in verse 16: “Awake, north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden”; that is, the Lord is speaking about all this from His point of view, but I should not be satisfied without examining myself in everything. The Lord is never behind in impressing us with what is due to us, but yet, I know what I am, and I had better look in and look around; so she actually calls for the north wind to awake, and nothing will bring out what is there like that; it will bring it forward. The north wind will bring out the spices. She needs that, the discipline of God. She knows well what is there; and, dear brethren, it is right we should look around inwardly. Romans teaches us the idea of inward analysis, and I doubt if any of us will be a garden without that. Whatever any faculty is capable of, it is to be that “Christ is everything, and in all”. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). So that one has a good conscience and can stand up in the presence of the [p. 447] Lord without a tremor, without any uneasy feeling, and, as has often been remarked, without meeting a rebuking gaze, a most precious thought; all that is in mind. So she says, “My garden”, and “Let my beloved come into his garden”; it is everything to Him, so let the north wind bring it out: it is for Him, and Him alone. So He says: “I am come into my garden”, meaning the Lord is ready to keep what is conserved in love and in the sense of the holy relationship with Him, His sister, His spouse; He comes in happily and partakes of what is there.
Then, as to the house, just a brief thought for the young people here, that there is more in christianity than they have been accustomed to think. Any confused thought in young people may be due to conditions in the place where they have been. Now the material of the house, what it is composed of, is: “yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). Who are these people? Those who come to Christ, ‘living stones’, that kind of people. Paul says, as I was remarking, “Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:6). This is the kind of people! What God is offering to us, young people, is attractive, what He thinks is attractive; you cannot get the like of these people anywhere, even if you ransack the universe. We prove it in our convocations, and those of us who are going on will testify to that; the more we progress, the more the people of God are to us. So Peter says: ‘living stones’, a remarkable designation of persons who are moving towards Christ. You will find them where He is, not in places of amusement and such like. They are moving towards Christ, and He is the living stone. There is nothing else like this in the universe, and Paul makes it perfectly plain that it is ourselves, ourselves characteristically, not merely the brethren here. “Whose house are we”, and then, as if to enlarge on the thought he says: “Ye [p. 448] are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). He uses another word, household: “in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (verse 22). All these things are wonderful to my mind. 1 Peter 4:17 says: “For the time of having judgment begin from the house of God is come”. It is a sorrowful thing if judgment has to begin there, but he was one of them. It does not detract from what I am saying as to the greatness of the people of which the house is formed. There is none like them anywhere; and if that is not attractive to young people, I do not know what can be. And I believe that fits in with Luke 15; it is such people as the prodigal. See how he is clothed! the very best robe, what material! what fashion! Is that not entertaining? There are other things too: those shoes! and that ring too! and then, what musical instruments were there! the music and the dancing; that is to say, it is not a one-sided matter, it is a two-sided matter. The Lord says: “We have piped to you, and ye have not danced” (Luke 7:32). That is a one-sided thing but He has the music and the dancing here. It seems to me to be an adjunct of the gospel, and young people may say, That is my place, where the music and the dancing are; that is the place.
It seems to me these three things together are to consolidate us in our position. There is what God is doing in the gospel, and then there is the more immediate thought of what He is doing for His own pleasure, as the Lord says to His Father, ‘what is Mine’: “all that is mine is thine” (John 17:10). Then He would say to you, ‘It is yours too’. He shares it with us; He loves to do it. He comes into His garden and eats His pleasant fruits.