THE CITY OF GOD
J.G.Chalmers
Psalm 46: 4,5; 48: 1-3,8; 87: 3-7
I have read from these three well known Psalms because of the references in them to the city of God. As far as I can see they are the only three Psalms in which the city is formally mentioned as the city of God, and it is interesting to note that each of them is written by the sons of Korah. The language they use would show to us that they had a great appreciation of the city of God. In New Testament language the sons of Korah would be vessels of mercy. I trust the sense of being a vessel of mercy is deep, very deep, in the soul of every person present, for as we review our responsible histories in a priestly way we have much to be ashamed of and we should really appreciate that God is rich in mercy and that behind his actings in mercy is the great love wherewith He loves us. What a God - rich in mercy! and the God who loves us. It is a great comfort, too, to take account that, at the present moment, God is working out something very precious and very choice in those very vessels of mercy. Think of us, vessels of mercy, being engaged with the great subject we have been engaged with today as to Christ and as to the assembly - the assembly for the heart of Christ; the assembly, too, for the pleasure of God. These are the greatest thoughts and God is working them out in vessels such as you and me, vessels of mercy. That expression comes into Romans 9 at a time when God is enduring "with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction" (v 22). God does not fit vessels for destruction, they fit themselves for destruction and God is enduring them. But at the same time He is making known "the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy... prepared for glory". We would have said, the riches of His mercy or the riches of His grace, but Paul says "That he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy". Think of that, God making known His own choicest thoughts of glory in regard of Christ and the assembly and working that out at the present time in vessels of mercy. It affects our hearts that it is so.
The sons of Korah loved God, they had great affection for God Himself and they love the city, that is, what is here of God. If someone said to a son of Korah, There is no collective position today, what would he say? - "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God" and he would show it in his face. His countenance would radiate the joy and satisfaction he finds in this sphere in which are all his springs. It is the sons of Korah that say of the city of God "All my springs are in thee" and they would show it in their expressions that "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God... God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved". Mr Raven said that what is of God here is as impregnable as God Himself. God has established something here and it is impregnable, it is going through; and thank God that we, vessels of mercy, are linked with it.
Psalm 46 shows that their appreciation of the city stands over against what is happening in the world. Verses 2 and 3 show us that things are happening which, naturally, would be very disturbing - the earth being removed and the mountains being carried into the heart of the seas, the waters thereof roaring and foaming, the mountains shaking with the swelling thereof. I think the mountains there would refer to institutions which have been providentially set up by God for the benefit of humanity and yet the masses of men as energised by Satan are trying today to overthrow these established institutions. They are trying to overthrow governments. The mountains are shaking and the waters roaring and foaming, men becoming more beastly in their features and trying to overthrow everything that is providentially established by God for the sake of humanity. We feel these things. Mr Darby speaks about the insolence of power. Think of these unions usurping power and the insolence they are showing even towards government, saying, We are going to rule; and what a mess they will make. Thank God we belong to the assembly. We turn away from it all and say "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God." What a comfort, what a relief, to be in this wonderful system where the Spirit is free! The river is a reference to the Spirit. The Spirit is here. To say there is no collective position is, to say the least, an insult to the Spirit; it is virtually saying that the Spirit has broken down in His commission. But "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God". Thank God for the city. Over against this insolence of power there is an area where there is light and rule and order. That is God's thought of a city, where these elements are, and that is where the Spirit is flowing; He is working in local assemblies. The habitations (verse 4) refer to local assemblies and "the streams" to the way the Spirit is acting through vessels, through channels, through persons who are helping us. These persons are making us glad, are they not? You rejoice to be in this sphere, you feel your heart is being gladdened. You get gladdened in your local assembly; and at fellowship meetings; and you come to a time like this and, as the Spirit acts through persons and brings on to view such choice thoughts as to Christ and as to the assembly, the hearts of the saints are gladdened. There is sorrow in the world, there is distress out there. You come here and find the Spirit free, operating through vessels in whom He has liberty, and you find that He gladdens your heart with thoughts as to Christ and as to the assembly. That is what we are experiencing: "He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to “you", John 16: 14. It is in that way the Spirit gladdens the hearts of the saints.
Psalm 48 is their appreciation of the assembly but it does not seem to relate to anything else. Their appreciation in Psalm 46 seems to stand over against what is happening amongst men but it seems that these sons of Korah in Psalm 48 appreciate the city just because of what it is in itself. They say "Great is Jehovah". We can say that - He is great! God is great - a pardoning God, a God who is rich in mercy, a God who has loved us, a God who has preserved us to this moment and preserved us in the position we are in - He is great, is He not?, and He is greatly to be praised. The service of God is in mind in this great thought of the assembly, the city of God. Then I think verse 2 is choice: "Beautiful in elevation". We have had our thoughts elevated today as to the local assembly. I never saw Damascus in the light in which I have seen it today; it is fresh and living, the local assembly, "beautiful in elevation". Every moral feature of the city is worked out now in the local assembly - what elevation! Beloved brethren, how do we regard the brethren? To be more pointed how do we regard the local brethren: "Beautiful in elevation"? Are they elevated in your thoughts? They should be today. We have seen Damascus in a fresh light "Beautiful in elevation". Paul would elevate the saints: "the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother", Gal 4: 26. He answers the awful meanness of legality coming in in Galatia with elevating thoughts, shewing that the city is "beautiful in elevation". "The Jerusalem above" is a moral thought, it is above everything here and she is free. Then God has taken each one of us from the dung-hill and set us among nobles, among the nobles of His people (see Ps 113: 7, 8). You look round upon your brethren and say "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth". It is not that yet but it should be the joy of our souls - our local brethren! Then we gentiles are elevated to sonship: "Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon," Gen 48: 5. That is what Mr Taylor sen said of that scripture. We gentiles "being dead in your offences and sins" and "having no hope and without God in the world" are elevated to sonship, God in His grace conferring sonship upon us! As we look round upon these faces we say "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth".
"On the sides of the north". This is the suffering time. The reigning time is coming and so is the dwelling time, but meantime is the time of suffering and I think all the saints are affected in some way of suffering, some in their bodies, some in their circumstances, some in their families; and then there are the sorrows linked with the testimonial position. What sufferings there are - "the sides of the north"! God is working out His choicest thoughts in a poor and afflicted people, a suffering people, but oh, there is nobody like them, "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth... on the sides of the north, the city of the great King". Not one of the cities of the world with their millions is the city of the great King, but the Lord says in Matthew "For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them", chap 18: 20. Just two or three and they become morally the city of the great King. How wonderful these things are! It is filling my soul as it comes to me as I speak, what these things mean; it just means your local brethren and you rejoice in it, these two or three become the city of the great King.
Then "God is known in her palaces as a high fortress". The city has palaces. Do you young people know that the city has palaces? If you went to London I suppose, like the rest of us, you would want to see Buckingham Palace but you would only get to the outside of the gate. But "God is known in her palaces as a high fortress". What are this city's palaces? Ah, it is that aged brother alongside of you or that aged sister. I say in all sincerity that our brother who is serving us here is palatial, God is known in him. I look upon these older sisters here, they were in the testimony, standing by things faithfully, when I was in my sins. They are palatial! God is known in them. Get alongside of these aged persons and you will find the knowledge of God acquired through experience that we young persons do not have. God is known in these palaces as a high fortress. How palatial Jacob was! We think of him as crooked but how palatial he was when he took Joseph's two sons and said "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day, the Angel that redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads", Gen 48: 15,16. Jacob shines in his palatial glory; God is known in that palace as a high fortress, and you will find it the same in your local brethren. You younger persons keep near the older brethren and get the gain of their knowledge of God. God is known in them, in those palaces, as a high fortress. Then it says "As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God". These persons had heard these things ab out the city and they had come and seen it; they had experienced it and, like the Queen of Sheba, they would say "the half was not told me", 1 Kings 10: 7.
Then we come to Psalm 87 and it says "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God". It does not say who is saying these things, it just says "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." Well, divine Persons are saying glorious things as to the assembly. Think of Christ saying "my assembly"; we have heard Him saying that today; "my assembly". The Spirit is calling attention to the assembly as for the heart of Christ; and as a great vessel, too, that is to be for the pleasure of God. Think of all that Paul says as to the assembly. "I speak”, he says, "as to Christ, and as to the assembly" Eph 5: 12) - glorious things. Think of all that Mr Darby said as to Christ and the assembly; all that Mr Raven said, glorious things as to the assembly; they even accused him of making too much of the assembly. He said, What else is there here to make much of? He saw that the saints had the truth doctrinally and he laboured to get them into the experience and enjoyment of all that was here in the Spirit. Then we have had over fifty years of Mr. Taylor's ministry as to Christ and as to the assembly and he said some glorious things as to Christ and as to the assembly. Think of how God would effect the knowledge of Himself in our souls, "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ", 2 Cor 4: 6. God would effect in our souls the knowledge of these things. How attractive the glory is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Mr Taylor says in the last paragraph in the readings on Divine Names: 'That lovely face in which the glory of God shines' (N.S. Vol.50, p.425). The face of Jesus, beloved, is a lovely face. As looking on it by faith, beholding His glory, we are transformed by the Spirit. So that glorious things are still being spoken of as to the city of God. It is still extant. The Spirit is still here, through vessels He is still speaking these glorious things as to the city of God. The Psalmist goes on, "I will make mention of Rahab"; that is Egypt, the world of man's independence of God; Babylon is the world of religious veneer; Philistia is the world of religious intellect; Tyre is the world of commerce; Ethiopia is the world of darkness and carelessness. One of the prophets says "Careless Ethiopia", Ezek 30: 9. We want to be free of all these elements. Men are boasting in their part and place in these spheres, the commercial sphere, the religious sphere and so on, but it will all come down. Even Babylon in all its greatness will be brought down in one hour. But, oh! think of being vessels of mercy. In Psalm 87 they appreciate the city as over against all that man is boasting in. It says "of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her". Think of that, you and I born in this great system of mercy, this great system of grace; it is our mother city, the Jerusalem above. Let us rejoice in that. "And the Most High himself shall establish her". The Lord said "hades' gates shall not prevail against it ", Matt 16: 18. There is that there, and God is in relation to it, Christ is in relation to it, and the Spirit is in relation to it, and "hades' gates shall not prevail against it".
Then it says here: "Jehovah will count, when he inscribeth the peoples, This man was born there. Selah". You will notice the distinction between verse 5 "This one and that one was born in her" and verse 6 which says "This man was born there". I understand verse 6 to be a reference to Christ; it is something distinctive, something special; it is the place of Christ in relation to the assembly, the place of Christ in His pre-eminence, in His Headship, in relation to the assembly. Think of belonging to a system that Christ is in relation to as Head. It rejoices your soul; and then to know that God has put everything in this city to satisfy us and make us happy and joyful. So vessels of mercy can truly say "All my springs are in thee". We need nothing from Egypt, we need nothing from Babylon, we need nothing from Philistia, we need nothing from Tyre, we need nothing from Ethiopia. God has put everything into the assembly to sustain us, to satisfy us and to encourage us. May we then say from true hearts "All my springs are in thee". May the Lord be pleased to use the word for our help and encouragement. For His Name 's sake.
BUCKIE
10th May 1974