JOY RESULTING FROM COMMITTAL
JOY RESULTING FROM COMMITTAL
Hebrews 10:25; Exodus 33:[p. 302] 11; Psalm 122:1
A Word Given At A Meeting for Ministry What has come before us already will help, I think, to make clear what is in these scriptures; that is, Exodus 33 presents a young man remaining within the tabernacle — as it says, “his attendant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from within the tent”. It has been said that the evil of mixtures is met by adherence to the assembly. The assembly is the residence of holy thoughts, thoughts exclusive of what is unholy. The tabernacle represented the house — the residence of what is of God, indeed God Himself, inclusive of the holiest, where God speaks conveying His mind. And it is for us to find our home there; as one desired, “that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, [p. 305] to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple”, Psalm 27:4. It is our privilege to have recourse to the house; not occasionally, but in principle to be there always, as Joshua was. So that we come under these thoughts of God; full thoughts, as I said, concrete in themselves and intrinsically exclusive of admixture. Our minds are thus kept pure.
The young man Joshua departed not, we are told, from the tabernacle. It was pitched outside the camp. It was greater morally than the camp; in fact, all that sought the Lord went out of the camp unto the tabernacle. So that the application is, I think, in the exhortation in Hebrews: “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”. One is thankful, in looking around, at the goodly number here at this time, for it affords pleasure to God. But when goodly numbers should be here in this hall, very [p. 303] often there are few; and this, alas, applies to other meeting places in the city. There can be no doubt that the poor attendance at our gatherings is, in measure, a cause of much that happens that discredits the testimony with which we are connected.
So the epistle to the Hebrews opens up to us what these books in the Pentateuch set out, and particularly the house: “whose house we are”; (Hebrews 3:6) bringing it down in a very concrete way to the saints at any time — if we continue — not if we are casually hanging on, as it were, putting in appearances occasionally or at set times, but as of the thing, as being the thing; as Peter writes, “first from us”, that is, the house of God — the judgment begins from the house of God; (1 Peter 4:17). Peter confirms what the writer of this epistle sets out, that the Hebrew Christians were themselves what the types had indicated; namely, the tabernacle — the greater and more perfect tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. The epistle to the Hebrews makes it very concrete in its application and, dear brethren, while one would not be critical, we are enjoined to “convict, rebuke, encourage, with all longsuffering and doctrine”, 2 Timothy 4:2, that what we profess might not fall flat as we are together. It is the great thought in Christianity, in the concrete sense, that the saints are marked as together. The dispensation began with the thought that all that believed were together. It began with them all together in one place (Acts 2:1), the Holy Spirit honouring the position; and those that were there, I may remark in passing, are called earlier “the crowd”, chapter 1:15.
We began this meeting with the hymn, “Where the saints in glory thronging”. The word ‘thronging’ gives a beautiful thought, because it contemplates the distinguishment of each person in the throng and the liberty that belongs to us as in heaven. There is no need for special, as one might say, religious [p. 304] garb; the saints are in perfect liberty there, and ornamented too, but in the mutual feeling of love; “where the saints in glory thronging”, corresponding with what I have spoken of about the crowd of names.
The crowd and a throng are much alike, and it occurred to me that it was a beautiful suggestion of what there is for us in the way of enjoyment even as coming together, instead of tardily strolling in — a most humbling thing! Where is the sense of liberty and joy and holiness in each other’s company? “In glory thronging” — that we are really the occasion of joy to each other; the meeting together is there, to be enjoyed now. It is the circle in which the Holy Spirit promotes the elements of eternal life. That is what is intended. How can we do without it — deny ourselves of it, is beyond my understanding; that is, if we are spiritual, and hence this word, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”. Why should a little rain, or a little frost, or a little something in the house, or the like, detain us from what the Spirit of God lays such stress upon? The word is, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some”. How humbling to belong to this class — those who forsake the assembling of themselves together.
Then in the Psalm we get experiences, for in principle the Psalms are a counterpart of the Pentateuch. There are five books in the Pentateuch, and five in the Psalms; and the Psalmist here says, David himself (no surer witness or testimony in these matters than David), that he would not give sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids till he found a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. But the God of Jacob was not to be there alone; He was to be in the house with His people. And so David says, “One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple”, Psalm 27:4. It is not casually, dear brethren; not in a perfunctory way, as though you would just as soon not be there. The irregularity of the attendance of our meetings is most humbling — pardon me for saying it, but it is true; and it is most humbling for the Lord particularly, because it shows a disregard for what He has provided. “I rejoiced when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of Jehovah”. “When they said unto me”, who are the “they”? Where are they going? A festive multitude; they went on the way like that, dear brethren, into the house of Jehovah. That is what I had in mind, not in the sense of being another speaker, but in the sense of having before us what there is provisionally in the way of a circle of affection, not even to speak of the great thought of God’s service, but the happiness, the joy that belongs to the assembly as the residence of the Spirit of God; the residence of God Himself, where He makes room for us. “I rejoiced when they said ...”. Who are the “they”? Those who go. In Luke 2 is the record of one old sister who did not depart from the house. She was there serving night and day; she did not miss the greatest thing that could have happened, that is, the presence there of the Lord Jesus.
So, as I said, Joshua did not depart from the tent; that is a characteristic thought for a young man. And so, “I rejoiced”, the Psalmist says; and, let us be glad! Even in that we will be glad; before we leave our houses, and on the way, and when we sit down together, there is the holy sense of the Spirit pervading. It is the scene of eternal life, and we cannot afford to be without it. If we sow to the Spirit, we are told, we shall reap from the Spirit life everlasting, and that is peculiarly true in the assembly.