A WILLING PEOPLE
H. W. Jensen
Exodus 35: 4–9, 22–26; Judges 5: 1, 2, 9; 1 Chronicles 28: 9; 29: 3–5, 9; Psalm 110: 1–3; Song of Songs 6: 11, 12
As you may have discerned it is in mind to speak about willing-heartedness and a willing people. It is a remarkable scripture in Exodus 35 where Moses is requesting of the people to come forward willingly in relation to this matter of the heave-offering, God does not use the word ‘willing’ in Exodus 25 but Moses does in Exodus 35. God gave the commandment about the heave-offering in Exodus 25 but it has taken all these intervening chapters before Moses tells the people that it is time to bring the heave-offering. At the very outset, when God began to speak to Moses about the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and setting up the system of things that would be for His glory as the children of Israel went through the wilderness. He spoke of this matter of the heave-offering. But oh, what a great deal had intervened in the meantime. Moses was up on the mountain and he received the whole pattern from God as to what the tabernacle system should be like, beginning with the ark. In every detail God showed him the pattern there on the mount.
Now what were the people doing? Down below, as Moses received that pattern, they were turning to idolatry. As Moses came down from the mount he had the two tables of stone in his hands. God told him to go down there because God had seen what was taking place among the people. They had taken off the golden rings from their ears and given them to Aaron and he had fashioned a calf for them to worship. Aaron fashioned that calf for them to worship instead of the mighty God who delivered them out of Egypt in His majesty and power and glory. There they were eating, drinking and
rising up for sport. Aaron said that the calf just came out. No, it did not just come out, he had fashioned it. That is what they do in this world; people fashion their own god and chisel it like Aaron did. That is what people do instead of worshipping the blessed God who has revealed Himself in Jesus. So as Moses came down with the two tables of stone he threw them down and they were broken. God had established His covenant and the people had already desecrated what God had in mind for them as His people in the wilderness. Moses had to go up again but this time to intercede for the people. He said, “I will go up to Jehovah: perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin”, Exodus 32: 30. So he did go up, and God was ready to be propitious.
Oh, how the wondrous grace of God has affected us. How unfaithful some of us have been, like the children of Israel had been! Yet God was so prepared to show mercy, as He said to Moses, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy”, Exodus 33: 19. That is what He told Moses when he asked to see God’s glory.
That is how Moses saw His glory. Wondrous glory of God for us, dear brethren, is it not, that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy? We are among those who are the recipients of His mercy. How fine that is—the sovereign mercy of God! Moses said, Let me see Thy glory, and he saw it in the mercy that God was prepared to administer to His people.
How wonderful that is! All that had intervened between Exodus 25 and chapter 35. And he had two new tables of stone written by God. It is like the new covenant; Moses came down with a new covenant. For us that is what it would be, a new covenant resulting from the service of Christ to His own. That is what Moses represents, the service of Christ on behalf of His own. God was prepared to commit Himself to go with the people, even though they had sinned so grievously, and turned their back on God so fully. Yet God was prepared to show them mercy and take them on because of the intervention of Moses.
Now here in Exodus 35 Moses brings out this great matter concerning the heave-offering and he says to them, “Take from among you a heave-offering to Jehovah: every one whose heart is willing”. Then he names all these things that are going to be required for the tabernacle system.’ You might say, How could he expect the people to have these things? Here they were, out in the wilderness. They had been brought out of Egypt, and you might have thought they were brought out with nothing, but they had all these things that Moses mentions, the gold, and the silver, and the copper, and the blue, and the purple and the scarlet. God knew they had them, and He knows what each of us has. To each one has been given a gift by God Himself. You look around at the brethren here and think of the blue that is here, the heavenly character of things among the saints and the purple, that royal line of things that is there because of the work of God in the saints. People might look on us coming into this room and say. What have they?—There is no wealth among them. And yet what wealth there is—the blue, the purple, the gold, the silver, all these things in the saints because of the work of God.
You might say, How could they have these things? The work of God was there. They had put the blood on the doorposts in Egypt and they had been passed over and they had been brought through the Red Sea. All this had been the means of their accumulating this wealth. That has been the means by which the saints at the present time have accumulated wealth. Their experience with God in redemption and in deliverance and in bringing them into the wilderness in the power of the Spirit produces wealth and colour. They had it, and the remarkable thing is they were willing to give it. Oh, how God loves it when His people are willing and willing-hearted to provide what is for His service and for His glory. That is what the tabernacle system was to be, for God’s glory in the wilderness.
In the wilderness the tabernacle system was made up of all these things that the people had.
So it says in
verse 22, “And they came, both men and women”. How fine that is, brothers and sisters all coming with the things they had. That is what the heave-offering is; it is the inner feelings of the saints coming out, heaving toward God in response to His command and to His word. But not as forced out of them, not as irksome, but rather as willing-hearted. Oh, how God must have loved to see persons willingly bringing these things! Then it adds about the women spinning, “every woman that was wise-hearted spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun: the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the byssus”. How much the sisters have spun in the testimony for Christ! How much they have devoted willingly to the interests of Christ! It says of the woman of worth that she works willingly with her hands (Proverbs 31: 13). How willingly she worked for the glory of her husband according to Proverbs 31.
That is what the assembly has done; that is what willing persons have done in the assembly throughout the whole dispensation. They have worked with their hands and have done all those things typified in the woman of worth.
We can think of those beloved disciples in the gospels, how willingly they came to Jesus right at the beginning. It says in John’s gospel, “He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him ...” (John 1: 11, 12). Think of those who received Him willingly; Peter, and Andrew, and James, and John are wonderful examples as they left everything willingly and followed Jesus. I have often said to myself. Would I have done .that if Jesus had called me? I do not think I would have been like Peter, and Andrew, and James, and John, because I know my own heart a little bit anyway. But think of those men willingly doing so. Nathanael was a little more reluctant in John 1, but he came when the Lord told him how He had seen him under the fig-tree before Philip called him. He came willingly then. So it has been all through the dispensation. It has been so in God’s ways with His people all along. In Genesis 24 in relation to Rebecca
the servant said to Abraham, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land”, Genesis 24: 5. Abraham said, “if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be quit of this my oath” (verse 8). But when the test came to Rebecca, “Wilt thou go with this man?” (Genesis 24: 58), what did she say? “I will go”. She had never seen Isaac. It is like ourselves, we love Christ and yet we have never seen Him, and we are prepared to go with the Spirit and say, I will go. Rebecca, as prepared to be led by the servant to Isaac, whom she had only heard about, and whom she learned about, no doubt on the way, is really a type of the assembly as led by the Holy Spirit to Christ.
I read in Judges because Deborah and Barak sing this song about the willingness of the people in days of great trouble, in days when the enemy of the people of God had to be met.
There were persons who were willing to offer themselves in relation to this great matter of defending the people of God and dealing with the enemy. How often we have been remiss in meeting things that the enemy brings in that would overwhelm the people of God. But here there were people willing to follow the lead that Barak and Deborah gave, and they are rejoicing in it in this song. It is a wonderful song that Deborah and Barak sing. They sing about certain tribes that offered themselves willingly. They sing about Ephraim and Zebulun and Issachar, inconspicuous tribes, but they are the ones who offered themselves. They speak of Reuben who made great resolves of heart, but it says, “Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds ...?” (Judges 5: 16). That is what oftentimes marks us, we hold back when things need to be met. The tribe of Reuben apparently held back, but Issachar and Ephraim and Zebulun all answered the call. In Judges 4 you see how they answered the call that Barak made for them to come forward, willingly, and not as forced upon them. That is what I am seeking to convey. We often do things by necessity and no doubt God is pleased that we do it.
It reminds me of the parable that the Lord spoke.
where the man sent out his servant to invite many to the great supper and they began to excuse themselves. Finally he said, “Go out into the ways and fences and compel to come in”, Luke 14: 23. Many of us have been compelled to come in. But it is of far great value in heaven if we come willingly.
Thank God for every believer who has been compelled by the gospel to come in, but then God says, Will you offer willingly? That is what He is looking for amongst us. Thank God for those who have willingly devoted themselves, like these governors in verse 9, and the people who willingly offered themselves during this recovery period. Since Mr. Darby’s time think of how many willing-hearted persons there have been who have served sacrificially for the interests of Christ. It says here in this song, “For that leaders led in Israel”, Deborah and Barak are praising God for that. We can praise God too for the leaders we have had in the days of recovery who have offered themselves willingly. They have been the means by which the Spirit of God has brought light to our souls in relation to the present testimony.
Then l read in Chronicles about David. He was a most remarkable man, king David, no king like him. He is the standard of kingship in the Old Testament. You read about all the different kings in Judah and Israel and you find that the standard over and over again is how they measured up to David. We read from chapters 28 and 29 of 1 Chronicles, and we can see why God had such delight in that man. God said of him that he is a man after His own heart. Here he is exhorting his son Solomon. Thank God for the fathers among us who have exhorted us when we were young men. We would exhort all the young men today like David was doing with Solomon. He says, “know the God of thy father”. How fine that is to get acquainted with God and we can do that so easily. Our brother has been reminding us of how God has been fully revealed in Jesus, and the
wondrous service of Jesus in opening up for us the access by which we can come into His presence. We can come into His presence so freely and become acquainted with Him through Jesus. And so he says, “and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind”. We may do things and have a certain amount of complaint about them, finding them irksome. Paul uses that word ‘irksome’. He says to the Philippians, “to write the same things to you, to me is not irksome, and for you safe” (Philippians 3: 1); because it was for their safety he did not find it irksome.
Solomon is being exhorted by David to do things with a willing mind. That would be a submissive mind, a mind that is ready to go forward diligently in the things of God. Do we have that kind of mind? Our brother has been reminding us of the mind that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2: 5). Oh, what a willing mind the Lord Jesus had! He was perfectly willing to carry out every detail of the will of God and bring to light the purposes of God. It says of Him, “becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”. Oh, what willingness was in Jesus, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. Did He do them to the Father in an irksome way? Not at all. Was there ever a complaint with Jesus? None. How much complaining the Israelites did in the wilderness, how much murmuring. They are so much like ourselves. But there was never a murmuring word from Jesus, never a complaint. He always did those things that pleased the Father, and did so with perfect happiness and joy. Can we be like Him? Can we serve with a willing mind? That is what David is exhorting Solomon to do. And he says, “for Jehovah searches all hearts, and discerns all the imaginations of the thoughts”. How testing that is! God is searching us all the time; the word of God searches us. Yet Christ, in His wondrous grace, is there to sustain us even when the word searches us; as our hearts are searched the Lord is available to us to sustain us as our great High Priest.
Then I referred to chapter 29 where David indicates what he had prepared for the house of God. In one way he is a type of Christ here providing everything that was going to be for the building of the temple. But think of him in a practical way as a man here and what he had done, as he says, “in my affection for the house of my God”. That is a willing-hearted man that does things out of affection. He laid all these things up. How fine it is to think of a man like this, even though he was not allowed to build the house, yet he laid up all these things for the house: gold for things of gold; he says even it is the gold of Ophir. Now you can explore what that is by looking up the scriptures and finding out what is the gold of Ophir. It must have been very special since David speaks of it. And he says refined silver to overlay the walls, and silver for all manner of work by the hands of the artificers. And then he puts out the challenge, “who is willing to offer to Jehovah this day?” What a challenge that is to us in the day in which we live. Who is willing to offer in the day in which we live? If David were here he would say that to us. He would say. Look at what has been prepared by God for the saints in the present time. There is an answer because in 1 Chronicles 29: 9 it says, “And the people rejoiced because they offered willingly, for with perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy”. What a great joy it must be to the Lord as He sees a willing people prepared to offer what they have for the testimony of Christ in the present time.
What do we have to offer? We have all these things mentioned typically in Exodus, the blue and the purple, the gold and the silver, the copper; they represent features worked out in the souls of the saints. Paul would exhort us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12: 1). We have our bodies at least. You may be destitute but, if you are a believer, you still have your body to offer, and you can do so willingly. Paul beseeches in Romans 12, “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
intelligent service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”
(Romans 12: 1, 2). Sometimes we do not think it is so acceptable, but Paul says it is acceptable, “good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. Have we proved that? Paul says we can prove that by being prepared to lay our bodies on the altar and do what we can for Christ and for His people and for the testimony here. How much that woman of worth in Proverbs 31 would have done for all her household. Can we be like her in our localities? Can we be like her doing things for the saints in the winter time, in the summer time, whatever the season is, doing so, not grudgingly, but willingly? There may not be too many but do what you can for the few that you have. God will greatly recompense those who do so willingly.
It is remarkable that David speaks about this matter of willing-mindedness and willing-heartedness and writes Psalm 110. The Lord quotes from this psalm in Matthew 22; He says David wrote this by the Spirit. He challenged the Pharisees, “What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he?” And they said, “David’s”. Then the Lord quotes this psalm to them, saying, “How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet?” (Matthew 22: 43). The Pharisees had no answer because they could not discern the greatness of the Person who was there. A divine Person was there in manhood in their presence and they could not discern that. All they could think of was a natural line of things, generations that came down from David. Here was the Root and Offspring of David in their very presence.
David went on to say, “Jehovah shall send the sceptre of thy might out of Zion: rule in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power”. This is the day of His power, not publicly
yet, but it is still the day in which Jehovah said to Him, “Sit at my right hand”. Think of God saying that to the Lord Jesus when He was received up in glory, “Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet”. The Lord has been waiting for this a long time; yet through the dispensation there have been willing people. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power”. Who knows about the Lord’s power but God’s people. You can go to Washington and talk about the power of Christ and they may not know anything about it.
They know about the power of the United States military, and the power of other countries, but they may not know about the power of the Lord Jesus. However it is the day of His power. It says in John’s gospel that all things have been given into the hand of the Son (John 3: 35). And He said at the end of Matthew, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth” (Matthew 28: 18). Do we believe that? The stock market goes down, do we still believe all power is in the hands of Christ? It is all there. He has control of everything and He is looking for a willing people in the day of His power. We can be among them and I believe we are among them. Why are brethren gathered here in New York where the teaching of the glad tidings, and the truth of the assembly, and the wondrous activity of the Spirit can be enjoyed together? Because we are willing to come here. Thank God for every willing heart.
Deborah would say, “Bless Jehovah!”, and we can say the same.
Then I read in the Song of Songs. I thought it was a fine culmination to think of Solomon writing the Song of Songs. These two men, David and Solomon, together, represent Christ in a more perfect way than either one does alone. Together they represent the Lord Jesus because of the glory of their kingship; the perfection of David morally and the greatness of Solomon in the majesty of his kingdom. These two men are typical of Christ. They both wrote; David writing so many psalms and Solomon writing the Song of Songs plus many other songs. This is one of Solomon’s that we
have, we do not have all the others. But where I read, undoubtedly it is the Spirit of God speaking of the inward feelings of the Lord Jesus Himself. No doubt Solomon wrote it because of his own experience of going down into his garden. He speaks of gardens a lot in this book, but here it says, “I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine budded”. I think the Lord does that quite often amongst us.
Perhaps every Lord’s day He comes to see what fruit there is. Is there any budding in you and me? Is there any verdure? Young people might want to look up that word “verdure”. What does it mean, “the verdure of the valley”? The Lord is looking for that among His people.
Thank God for the vines that are budding among the people of God at the present time. The Lord is looking on and He knows all about every vine that is budding and whether the pomegranates have blossomed. It is not lust that there is fruit, but is there a blossom? The blossom indicates there is going to be fruit from that tree. Then he says, “Before I was aware, My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people”. Can we provide chariots for the Lord Jesus? It is a remarkable thing to go out into a garden and all of a sudden to be swept away by the chariots of willing people. That is what Solomon is saying, and that is what the Lord I think experiences among His people at times when He is looking for blossoming and fruit, and the service of praise and song comes out among His people. I believe the Lord (I speak reverently) is carried away in the affections of His people and He loves it. You can tell from this typical scripture how he enjoyed it, how he loved it.
I just thought, dear brethren, we might be encouraged to be among the willing people; I believe we are, and let us be encouraged to do things willingly. I know how it is with me; I may do a little thing here and there, but sometimes grudgingly, sometimes I murmur
about it and wish I did not have to do this and that. But the Lord is looking for willing-heartedness, and willing-mindedness, and a spirit of affection like David, laying up things in affection for the testimony and for Christ’s honour and glory. May we do so for His name’s sake.
Address at New York
31 October 1997