HOW WE ARE TO APPEAR BEFORE GOD
W. McKillop
Deuteronomy 16: 16, 17; 26: 1–4; Psalm 84: 5–7
We spoke in the earlier meeting about the Lord appearing to us, what that has in view and what the spiritual result should be in all of us. I would like now, with the Lord’s help, to speak about our appearing before God. It is a very dignified thought that we should appear before God. In this book Moses is speaking and unfolding what is in his heart. One of the things he brings out under God is that “Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God”. Moses is a type of Christ in his affection for God. His speaking throughout this book is to bring, home to us this great thought of appearing before Jehovah our God. We have a far greater privilege because we are not limited to three times in the year.
There were some in Israel who limited themselves even more than this. Elkanah, you remember, only went up once a year. He was a man who was outwardly in touch with things but inwardly was lacking the spiritual spring. He understood nothing about the exercises of Hannah, nor her desire that there should be a man child for Jehovah. Obviously he was content to live largely in his business and once a year to go up to Jerusalem, but to go up without any real inward priestly feelings and without any understanding of the exercises currently in his locality that Hannah would represent.
Moses would have in mind that persons who go up should not be like Elkanah, but be marked by readiness to respond to the divine requirements; so he says “all thy males”. That would point to what is masculine among us, involving sisters as well as brothers. Sonship, which is a masculine thought, includes the sisters as well as the brothers. It would hardly seem necessary at this time in the recovery of the truth to say that, but as the apostle said even to the Philippians, “to write the same things to you, to me is not irksome, and for you safe”, Philippians 3: 1. It is safe for us to remind one another of these things because we tend to forget them. When we forget them, they cease to have power in our souls, and if they cease to have power in our souls we shall quickly become like Elkanah, self-satisfied with the very minimum, and it may be that we shall be worse off than Elkanah. We shall become completely inert Godward. Even to such a company as the Ephesians, the apostle had to write, “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee”, Ephesians 5: 14. The fact that I may attend some meetings and may even take some part does not indicate that I am very vital Godward. What this passage would stimulate in us is urgency that we should lay hold of the divine requirement and that we should answer to it fully. So you have three times and three feasts mentioned. These threes, I think, are to point to an experience of spiritual power known in our souls. The apostle Paul knew what that was. He said, “according to his working, which works in me in power”, Colossians 1: 29. He could speak of that consciously and emphatically because there was evidence in him of Christ’s working in him in power. I would like to raise the exercise with all of us as to whether we are ready for the divine requirement in the full sense.
Here we only have three of the feasts. In Leviticus there are seven, but the three here at least bring out what God is specifically requiring, and you notice it is in the place which He will choose. The service of God cannot be carried on wherever persons want to carry it on. We have had the experience in recent years of persons setting up to break bread here and there wherever they liked and that is all contrary to the divine requirement. It is “in the place which he will choose”. The first is the feast of unleavened bread, and that is the feast that we need to attend to. The apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, said “let us celebrate the feast ...
with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”, 1 Corinthians 5: 8. It may be that we can beguile one another and outwardly appear to be more true, and committed and spiritual than we really are. The sobering thing that we should keep before us is that we are having to do with God. We are having to do with the One who searches the hearts and the reins, the One whose word is living and operative and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It is always a test for us as we come together in these days whether we are truly and fully committed. When the Lord said to His own in John 6, “Will ye also go away?” (John 6: 67), He referred to their secret intention. Some had gone back and we have that sorrow from time to time, but the Lord would say to us each time that He speaks to us, What is your intention?
Are you with Me until the finish of the dispensation, or is your secret intention at some point just to drift away?
It is well for us to face this because our hearts are very treacherous. That is no doubt the reason that Jehovah said through Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things”, Jeremiah 17: 9. We really do not know how treacherous our hearts are naturally and we need to be continually searched by the word of God in order to judge our intentions and our motives. The feast of unleavened bread is intended to promote sincerity and truth. You remember that Jehu said to another, “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?”, 2 Kings 10: 15. That is a good question for us to have in mind; not that we would regard one another suspiciously, but, Is my heart right? Is your heart right? And are our hearts right with one another? The feast of unleavened bread is intended to bring about reduction and to prevent spiritual inflation. That is a very important matter because one could easily become inflated through a simple thing like giving an address. There is nothing intended of the Lord to inflate the one who speaks in an address. The great test is, Is the Lord having His way and is He able to convey His mind in what the speaker is saying? Well that, taken to heart by anyone who is privileged to serve his brethren, would drive him to maintain the feast of unleavened bread.
Then we have the feast of weeks, which alludes to the time of the Spirit. It is the one feast that had no time limit because what we have to do with in the Spirit runs right into eternity.
You will remember that in 2 Corinthians 5 when the apostle speaks about our house from heaven and about the change in our bodies, and that whole wonderful line of things, he comes to a point at which he says, “God, who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit” (2
Corinthians 5: 5). The Spirit is the Earnest of eternal conditions. The Spirit is not limited to bringing to us the moral conditions of the world to come. He does that, of course, but He puts us in touch with what is eternal. While, because of our creature limitations, our meetings finish at a certain point, even the precious service Godward finishes because the Lord goes out and we are conscious that we are not able for any more, yet the Spirit of God is the Earnest and He brings to us what will fill eternity; that is the knowledge of God and the enjoyment of the love of Christ. Then we have the feast of tabernacles which would mean that we are able to be close together and that does not involve discomfort or unpleasantness.
In the feast of weeks there is no limit, so to speak, because what is in view is eternity. We sometimes sing it in that hymn, ‘Eternity is now in view’, and reference was made in the reading to
‘And see the Spirit’s power
Has ope’d the heav’nly door’. (Hymn 74)
That is a door into eternal conditions. That is another precious thing to keep in mind that, as the Lord comes in and makes Himself known, He leads us not only into what is heavenly but into what is final. He brings us into touch with finality according to God.
Then the word here is, “they shall not appear before Jehovah empty”. So I would appeal, especially to my beloved younger brethren, about what you may have in mind for this evening after the meeting finishes, is it just some natural activity? Something that the flesh enjoys? Something that does not distinguish you as one of the males of Israel? Or are you thinking of not appearing before God empty tomorrow? I speak feelingly because as David said, “I have been young and now am old”, Psalm 37: 25. I have some understanding of what natural impulses are. I am not as old as Methushelah, so I still remember what natural impulses are. But are you thinking about the impulses of the Spirit which would rise up in you and maybe change what you were thinking about doing after six thirty pm tonight? We have to be out of here by six thirty pm and what do you have in view? I bring this up feelingly but urgently because the continuance of service Godward rests on the younger brethren. We spoke in the reading about the fact that we do not know when the Lord may come for persons individually. As you look round this room you see persons who are old, and some who are older than that, and, in the ways of God, they may soon be with Christ. Then the burden of the testimony and the privilege of carrying on the service of God will rest on you.
So it says, “each shall give according to that which is in his power to give”. Now we have power to give Godward because we have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit of God and He is in you crying, “Abba, Father”, it may be that you do not have much sense of spiritual liberty, you may not even have much taste for spiritual things, but the Spirit of God is active in you crying, “Abba, Father”, and He is waiting for you to take up that cry yourself as a son of God. It says, “according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee”. It is what God has given you. He has given you the forgiveness of sins. He has given you justification, He has given you the Holy Spirit that His love may be shed abroad in your heart. He would give you the sense of reconciliation, that is, as in Christ before Him there is no distance between Him and you. You can be like one of those—who went up and saw the God of Israel, who in going up were ennobled spiritually, who “saw God, and ate and drank”, Exodus 24: 11. That is really a figure of reconciliation, but involving eternal life conditions.
Well I appeal, especially to my beloved younger brethren, because you are so needed in the testimony, you are so essential to the service of God. The whole matter soon, if the Lord does not come for us all, will rest on you. I am sure that if you love Christ in incorruption, it is your desire, however weak it may be, that the holy service of God should not be impaired by coming into your hands but that it should be enriched. David said as to Solomon, “Solomon my son ... is young and tender” (1 Chronicles 22: 5), and many of our younger brethren are like that, but David also said to Solomon as to the wealth he had prepared for the service of God, “thou shalt add to it”, 1 Chronicles 22: 14. I believe the Lord would say to you tonight, You are going to add to it. It is not going to fall to the ground because you will be true to My work in you.
I referred to the passage in the Psalms in order to show how God assures us. You notice that this is to the Chief Musician, that is Christ as the Minister of the holy places, and it is of the sons of Korah. That is ourselves, recovered persons, and the word is, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee”. That is, we come to it that there is no strength in us to carry on the testimony and service of God but our strength is in the Holy Spirit.
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee”. And then “they, in whose heart are the highways”. You notice how quickly the Spirit proceeds from what is individual to what is collective. We must prove His power individually but immediately we find that we are with a company of persons in whose hearts are the highways. All the great highways of the truth are in these persons. They are not just in the Bible, they are not just in the books on our shelves.
They are in persons, and the spiritual highways are seen in the liberty and spirituality that characterises this company. “Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a well-spring”.
The saints have gone through many valleys in recent years and doubtless some are still going through valleys. I suppose, anyone who is with Christ is frequently in the valley because he feels assembly sorrows. In a certain sense, we might say, that valley is always current, but those who are going through it make it a well-spring. You can see there is a correspondence with that and Numbers 21. The princes, the ennobled persons, dug that well and the company was responsive to it. The word was, “sing unto it”, Numbers 21: 17. It is a striking thing if we think about it carefully that in singing to the Spirit we are really singing to Him as in ourselves because that is where the well is. The well is not in heaven, it is not somewhere else, it is in the saints. So they make the valley a well-spring; they are not overwhelmed by what they are experiencing.
I did not read it, but in Deuteronomy the worshipper brings his offering and he says, “I have not eaten thereof in my mourning” (Deuteronomy 26: 14). He has not deprived God of what He is entitled to because he is under pressure or in sorrow. And “They go from strength to strength”. Think of going along with persons who are gaining in spiritual strength regardless of family sorrows, household exercises, local assembly issues. Here are persons in whose hearts are the highways and they are going from strength to strength. This can be, beloved brethren, our current experience. There is no moral value in going from strength to weakness or from weakness to weakness. They go from strength to strength—each one will appear before God in Zion”. Notice that, each one will appear before God in Zion. You ask, How can that be?
God would say, I have committed Myself to that, each one will appear before Me in Zion.
That is a great thing to get into our souls that “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”, Philippians 1: 6. In spite of outward appearances, the work of God is going on and it will be completed according to the divine thought; “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”, the day of display.
What pleasure God will have in bringing out the product of His work, even though it involved the valleys and all that they suggest. I am sure God will have great pleasure in saying, What have promised has come about, each one is here before Me in Zion. Well now, we come up tomorrow and we have come to Mount Zion; that is, we are in touch with Christ as out of death and “whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us”, 2 Corinthians 1: 20. That is the great result of our being before God in Zion, “Glory to God by us”.
I refer to Deuteronomy 26 because it brings out how we appear before God. “And it shall be when thou comest into the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein”. Notice that, God has given us an inheritance, we have possessed it, and we are dwelling there. We are not living in Egypt or Babylon, not living in the wilderness, we are living in the land that He has given us. We have possessed it and we are dwelling there. It says, “thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground”. Notice, now, it is not creatures, not a lamb or a bullock or two turtledoves. It is something that has been sown. We have sown to ourselves in righteousness, as Jehovah says to Hosea, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness ... break up your fallow ground”, Hosea 10: 12. That is, the process has been going on inwardly and now the first-fruits are appearing; the great subjective result of death working in us. So “thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket”.
Now I would ask you to learn to think of yourself abstractly as a basket. The man who brings this puts it in a basket. It is what he is abstractly as a result of divine workmanship. We have in Ephesians 2, “For we are his workmanship” (verse 10). Tomorrow as we sit down together, we need to regard ourselves and one another as His workmanship. And so “thou shalt put it in a basket” is in yourself. You are not going to appear empty; you are taking the first-fruits of your spiritual exercise. You have sown to the Spirit and of the Spirit you have reaped eternal life, and you can put that in the basket and you bring it to “the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there”. Think of God having identified places where He has put His name, caused His name to dwell there! He says, “thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days”; you are really coming typically to Christ. He is the only Priest there is, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. The language here, of course, had in mind that there would be a succession of priests in Israel because they would die one after another; but our Priest lives in the power of an indissoluble life. And so you come to the Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you put the basket down before Him. I want you to notice what the man says, “I profess this day unto Jehovah thy God”, not my God but thy God.
Think of bringing what you have acquired through exercise, and bringing it in what represents the work of God apart from other considerations, the basket, and handing it over to the Lord Jesus and saying, “I profess unto Jehovah thy God”.
If we think of Christ as Man, God is His God. How that should affect us. He is our God too, but Moses is emphasising that you are thinking in the highest spiritual way as you have to do with the priest; you say, “Jehovah thy God”. Then it says, “And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God”.
I did not read the rest because it would be inappropriate for us to begin to say to the Lord tomorrow morning what is said here. That is something that you can say tonight, “A perishing Aramaean was my father”. I came of a dying line, that is really what it means, and so you come to that soberly tonight. Then when you come in tomorrow morning your basket is full, your heart is full, and you bring it to Christ and you say, “Jehovah thy God”. It is a wonderful thought to have before us. You might say we are hardly equal to it spiritually, but remember that God is able to make us equal. David said, “in thy hand it is to make all great and strong”, 1 Chronicles 29: 12. God is able to do “far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us”, Ephesians 3: 20. It is not just some historical matter, the power of God at the Red Sea or something like that, it is the current known working of God in us, according to the working of His power in us, and what a wonderful result. You can see really that as you work this passage out typically it directs your mind to the end of Ephesians 3, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages” (Ephesians 3: 21). May these things, beloved brethren, fill our hearts and lift us up and stir freshly in us a desire to come up more richly, more freely, more spiritually tomorrow morning than we have ever done before. God will help us in that for He loves to do so. May God bless the word.
Address at Aberdeen, Scotland
21 August 1999