1 KINGS 6 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 KINGS 6 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC I think the consideration together of the material of which the house was built would give us to see the exalted character of what has come under the hand of Christ as the great Builder, and it would help us to apprehend the dignity of the service that belongs to such a house. I am thinking more particularly of the materials mentioned in this chapter — the stone, the cedar-wood, the cypress, the olive wood and the gold — all marked by excellence. When the tabernacle was finished it was all anointed, but in the house that Solomon built the materials were of such excellence that they did not need to be anointed. When we consider that the saints are the materials with which Christ builds it gives us an exalted thought of the place which they have in relation to Christ as the Builder and in relation to God as the One who dwells in the house when it is finished.
JS In that sense the material is worthy to compose the house. We need that view a little more perhaps?
CAC Yes, I think we do. The material is all suitable for Christ as the Son of the Father’s love to handle in His constructive operations. There is nothing mean or common about it. The material itself is of great importance. The stone is mentioned first because it is that which underlies the other materials although it was not to be seen (verse 18). What underlies and supports everything in the house of God is that which is not seen. It says distinctly that “there was no stone seen”; what was seen was cedar, but the stone was of basic importance, it was the strength [p. 70] and stability of the structure, though not coming under the eye of man.
WG What does the stone speak of?
CAC My impression is that the stone represents what is solid and permanent; it regards the saints as the subjects of divine purpose and calling. The stones come from an elevated region, the mountains, which would answer to Romans 8: 29, 30 and Ephesians 1: 4.
VG Would that be indicated in the Lord’s word to Peter, “Thou art Peter” (Matthew 16: 18)?
CAC That shews that the Lord was thinking of building material; when Simon came first into His presence He said to him: “Thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone)”, John 1: 42. It was not exactly what Peter was then actually, but what he was in divine purpose — “Thou shalt be called Cephas”.
Rem So Peter has that in mind in his ministry, “To whom coming, a living stone ... yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”, 1 Peter 2: 4, 5.
CAC I thought so. When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16), the Lord said: “Thou art Peter”. He had come to it constitutionally then. He was a stone in purpose in the first chapter of John — “Thou shalt be called Cephas” — he was material in the eye of the Lord for His building work, but when he came out as a confessor of Christ as the Son of the living God he was a stone constitutionally and in character so the Lord said, “Thou art Peter”. It was not now simply what he was in purpose but what he had become as the subject of the Father’s revelation, and this was a matter of sovereign divine work outside responsibility. It was what the Father had done; flesh and blood had not revealed it to Simon but the Father. Looking at the stone in the light of this it is exceedingly dignified material, and permanent, because [p. 71] nothing can undo what the Father has done.
Ques Would you say a word as to the tool and the hammer not being heard in the house?
CAC The point is evidently that the stone was “entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built”. There is not only the thought of basic and permanent material in the stone, but a certain process of making ready is suggested, but all is done, as it were, behind the scenes.
Ques Does it suggest God working?
CAC The best illustration of it that I know is the company of 120 persons in the first chapter of Acts, who were suited material for the Lord to use in His building operations. He actually built the house, we might say, in the beginning of the second chapter of the Acts, but the material was all prepared before. The Lord in His ministry on earth was preparing the material in secret; that is, what He was doing did not exactly come under the eye of man at all but He was making the material ready. As it says here, it was “entirely made ready”. It is interesting to consider that in the ministry of the Lord while here He did a great deal which was afterwards the work of the Spirit. Whatever one divine Person can do, Another can do.
VG Is what you say confirmed by the remarkable way in which these vessels functioned in the ten days before the descent of the Spirit?
CAC I think so. They shewed that they were “entirely made ready”, and it had been brought about by being in the company of the Lord in the days of His flesh and also in resurrection. So that when they had to select one to take the place of Judas, Peter laid it down as a condition that he must be one who had assembled with them “all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John [p. 72] until the day in which he was taken up from us” (Acts 1: 21, 22); that is, he must be a man whose formation had been completed in the company of Christ.
Ques Would that thought be included in the Lord’s word “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”, John 17: 4?
CAC I think so, because the work given Him to do certainly included the preparation of a company to be material for the house of God, for the temple. In connection with this it was not a question of what might be known to men, because they appealed to the Lord as knowing all hearts after they had appointed two men. They were not prepared to say which was the right one; they referred that to the Lord, “knower of the hearts of all”. This matter of what we are as stones does not actually come under the eye of man; it comes under the eye of the Lord and He has His own way of selecting. The material is the Father’s work, but it is the Lord’s work to make it ready, and in the case of the apostles the work was brought to completion. When the day of Pentecost came the Spirit came down and filled the house, but the material was all prepared before. All this suggests a process which is necessary for us if we are to be as it says here, “entirely made ready”. This process goes on as we are found in the company of the saints. I believe it is a great moment in the history of a soul when one begins to assemble with the saints, when one likes to be with them. Peter speaks of those who had “assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us”. “All the time” — it was a full-time man that was wanted, one that had not missed any impression that the Lord had given to His own when He came in and went out amongst them. As regards ourselves it is well to bear in mind that there is a company still where the Lord comes in and goes out, and so far as our responsibility enters into this matter it would lie in that, that we are [p. 73] found amongst those who assemble with the saints and who come under the personal influence of the Lord as coming in and going out amongst them. The making ready will go on then according to the plan, according to what is in the divine mind. We love to see souls drawn to the company of believers; it is one evidence that there is material there for the house; there is something of “stone” character there, and the Lord can see it before we can. He saw great possibilities in Simon before anybody else did.
Rem So that on the day you mention they were all together in one place.
CAC Is not that beautiful? It was the result of being made ready during the three-and-a-half years.
Rem They had been attracted to Christ really?
CAC Yes, quite so, and it is in being attracted to Him that we give evidence of being living stones. Peter speaks of Christ as a Living Stone, cast aside as worthless by men, but chosen of God and precious, and he says, “To whom coming”. Those who come are living stones; they have vitality enough to come. The test is whether we have vitality enough to come to Christ as the One who is of no account in this world, but who is infinitely precious to God. It means leaving every other man and coming to Him. One is a living stone then; it takes the energy of life to come to Christ, because He is of no account in this world. People may build churches and large buildings but there is nothing living in that. But by living stones being found together a habitation is secured for God. There is material which Christ can make use of. It is a wonderful day when He becomes the one Object attracting the heart away from man’s thoughts and doings and all his religious observances to the One chosen of God and precious. Then there is basic material for the house, something that the true Solomon can use in His building operations.
Ques What is the difference between [p. 74] what the Lord is as a Stone and what the saints are as stones?
CAC There is a certain difference, because as to His Person He is unique, but the saints are the same kind of material morally and that is why they appreciate Christ. No one can appreciate Christ without having something in common with Him; there is a kindred nature. It is instructive to see that in the house “all was cedar; there was no stone seen” (verse 18). What the saints are as “called according to purpose” (Romans 8: 28) underlies everything but it does not come into view. What appears publicly is the cedar. The divine sovereign work in saints on the line of God’s calling and purpose underlies all that we can see. We cannot see all that the saints are as wrought of God in view of His purpose. We are conscious that that mighty working is there, but what comes into evidence is the cedar. There is no stone seen.
Rem Tell us a bit about the cedar.
CAC It seems to me that in the cedar we get what is the product of divine planting and growth. Scripture speaks of the cedars of Lebanon which Jehovah hath planted (Psalm 104: 16), and it is said of the righteous that “he shall grow like a cedar on Lebanon”, Psalm 92: 12. The result is something excellent that can be taken account of under the eye of men. The spouse in the Song of Songs, in describing the Bridegroom says, “His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars”, Song of Songs 5: 15. That refers to the public bearing of the Lord, and it seems to me that the cedar as seen in the house speaks of the excellence of those features of Christ which can be taken account of publicly. What cannot be seen is the basis of all; what the saints are by the purpose and calling of God underlies everything, and many scriptures speak of the saints from that point of view.
Rem I was wondering whether we sometimes rest in the ‘stone’ character of things without [p. 75] being sufficiently exercised that there should be something seen.
CAC Well, I believe the cedar represents these practical “ways in Christ” which are the product of divine planting and growth and which come into evidence amongst the brethren. Our ways in Christ are a public matter. There was not much cedar at Corinth; it was there potentially because the apostle addresses them as “babes in Christ”, but he reminds them of the cedar as they had seen it in himself. He says, “I have sent to you Timotheus ... who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ, according as I teach everywhere in every assembly”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. It is our ways in Christ that the brethren are to see and that is a very exalted character of things that constitutes material for the house.
Ques You made the remark that in Solomon’s building there was no anointing, but the apostle speaks to the Corinthians of the anointing, does he not?
CAC He does, but I think we can understand that they were hardly up to the elevation of the scripture before us. We must bear in mind that in Solomon’s temple there is no suggestion of deficiency or defect; every bit of it is perfect; the full mind of God is set before us that we may be exercised to come up to it. It is helpful to distinguish between Solomon as a builder and as an intercessory priest. When he builds, the material is all of surpassing excellence without any deficiency, but when he goes down on his knees to pray it is altogether different. On his knees he says over and over again, “Forgive ... forgive ... forgive”. He is considering the people more from the Corinthian standpoint, if we may so say, when he prays.
Ques Does Psalm 29 suggest anything about the cedars? It refers to the voice of Jehovah breaking the cedars, and in the next verse He makes them to skip.
CAC I think the cedar is often used in Scripture as representing the greatness and excellence of man as in the [p. 76] flesh, and God is going to break that. The day of Jehovah will be “upon all the cedars of Lebanon”, Isaiah 2: 13. In that aspect the cedar-wood was cast into the burning of the red heifer in Numbers 19; all that belongs to man’s greatness goes into the fire. But Solomon’s cedar sets forth what is spiritually excellent. The ways of the saints in Christ develop as they grow. A young convert necessarily comes in as a babe in Christ and the saints delight in what they see in him of ways in Christ but that is a developing thing. Paul began by telling the Corinthians that they were babes in Christ but he did not finish without presenting to them the thought of a man in Christ.
Ques What are the “ways ... in Christ”?
CAC I think it is all that corresponds with the anointed Man.
Rem “Righteousness, faith, love, peace”.
CAC Yes.
Ques Would the cedar be seen in Peter when he says, “Look on us”?
CAC Quite so. We ought to be much exercised as to what can be seen. I have heard people who were wrong say, ‘The Lord knows my heart’; but what the brethren know is a very important matter. It is possible to cover up an unwholesome, unrighteous course by saying, ‘The Lord knows my heart’. The saints do not know my heart but they know my ways and they are entitled to see that my ways are in Christ; they are entitled to see in me something of the excellent bearing of Christ. His bearing was always excellent; it always had the cedar character wherever it was looked at. Even as a Boy of twelve, how excellent was His bearing! And at every point, right through to the end there was the excellent bearing of the cedar. Now, that is to be seen, and it surely will be seen if the stone is underlying; the cedar will be put upon it.
Ques As the temple is perfect and we are [p. 77] such creatures of failure, how do we fit the two thoughts together?
CAC Divine thoughts are presented to us symbolically in the temple, and I believe what is set forth here corresponds with what Christ set up here in the power of the Spirit after His ascension. It was there in completeness initially but now that has passed from public view and we have to come back to learn the mind of God from Scripture. We get in Solomon’s temple what gives us the true thought of the house as in the mind of God; so that when we have that view of it before our hearts and minds we do not accept anything less as the truth. If we get the divine thought and have pure and upright hearts we could not possibly accept anything different. We could not accept that any human substitute will do; we may have to repent often in dust and ashes that so little of the cedar is exhibited, but we are not going to accept that something inferior will do.
Rem It is a question of apprehending what is suitable to God.
CAC Quite so.
Ques When Peter in his second epistle refers to what they heard when they were with Him on the holy mount, has he in mind what is excellent, in correspondence with the “excellent glory”?
CAC Yes, and there is the potentiality of all this in every saint. It is not like something out of reach. If none of the ways in Christ are seen in a person, you would say he is an unconverted man.
Rem Peter speaks of growing up to salvation by desiring the pure mental milk of the word.
CAC That is it. We grow up to complete deliverance from the man after the flesh when our heart is attracted and filled with what Christ is, and the fact that we are attracted and filled with that shews that we are kindred with Him.
[p. 78] Now we might have a word about the cypress or fir tree. It seems to me that the way the cypress or fir is spoken of in Scripture suggests the thought of grace abounding where sin has been. We read that “as for the stork, the fir trees are her house”, Psalm 104: 17. The stork being an unclean bird (Leviticus 11: 19) would suggest that a house provided for her by God must be on the principle of grace. And we being what we are there can be no possibility of our being in happy relations with God, or having a place in His house, save on the ground of grace. We have, indeed, no claim or title to anything good save that which grace confers. We are justified freely by grace; we are saved by grace; whatever a saint is and whatever he does, it is by the grace of God. The conditions on our side are such that the element of grace is a necessity at all times. This is brought out in a striking way in the last chapter of the prophet Hosea. It begins, “O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips”. And then in the eighth verse we read, “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?”, and Jehovah says, “I answer him, and I will observe him”. Then Ephraim goes on to say, “I am like a green fir-tree”; then Jehovah says, “From me is thy fruit found”. There is no more beautiful expression of grace in the Old Testament. Backsliding Israel, having learned their own character by a long course of shameful failure will eventually turn to God and say, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously”, and He will do so, and then they will say, “I am like a green fir-tree”. In the appreciation of grace they will become characterised by the freshness of life, and grace becomes fruitful in this way.
Rem Looking at the figure of the two trees, the cedar I suppose would speak of stateliness [p. 79] and height and dignity,
whereas the cypress would suggest greenness and freshness.
CAC Yes, the thought of that freshness which the continued sense of grace preserves in the soul. The cedar and the cypress are often found together in Scripture. As we grow up in Christ there will always be a deepening sense of grace. Those who lose the sense of grace will surely get into darkness and bondage. It is noticeable that the folding-doors at the entrance of the temple were made of cypress-wood (1 Kings 6: 34), intimating to us that access into privilege is a matter of grace. We may observe, too, that the floor of the holy place was overlaid with boards of cypress (1 Kings 6: 15). In the most holy place the floor is cedar, but in the holy place it is cypress. It is not exactly new creation in the holy place but what we are according to grace; we are on that footing with God; we approach on the ground of infinite grace. God’s favourableness to those personally unworthy is always an element in the constitution of the material with which Christ builds; He takes up persons imbued with the sense of grace; every one, as the parable puts it, has come in as an eleventh-hour man, and gets what he has on the footing of pure grace. We must always retain a sense of that. We come near to God on the ground of His own grace in Christ; we are on that ground with Him. There is nothing more practically important than that we should retain the sense of grace; indeed there has been enough failure in the history of every one of us to make us value grace.
Rem We have spoken of other features in connection with Peter, and this one is especially seen with him in all he passed through with the Lord. Afterwards he said to others, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied”, 1 Peter 1 : 2.
CAC Yes, how beautiful! So in Luke’s gospel the two who came back from Emmaus had been learning grace [p. 80] and they found the eleven gathered together and saying, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”. The great mark of resurrection in Luke was the grace of it, that He had appeared to Simon, to the one who had cursed and sworn and denied Him! Yes, He had appeared to Simon! That is grace and our souls need to be steeped in grace; we shall fall a prey to the enemy if our souls are not fully established with grace. So we read, “It is good that the heart be confirmed with grace”, Hebrews 13: 9.
We have only time for a brief word on the olive wood. It is apparent that the olive speaks of what is spiritual. Spirituality is a most important element in relation to the material for the house. The cherubim were of olive-wood (1 Kings 6: 23) as were also the doors for the entrance of the oracle (verse 31), and the posts for the doorway of the temple (verse 33).
JS I am afraid we need help as to what spirituality represents, because we are liable to confuse it with sentimentality and a sort of unreal, restrained bearing among the saints.
CAC I think spirituality would preserve us from everything of that character. Spirituality means that we have become characterised by the presence of the Spirit of God; this is in one sense greater than anything we have had before us yet. It is a very great and holy thought that saints, human beings, should be characterised by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God; to be characterised by His presence is spirituality.
It is not supposed in Scripture that the Spirit is a kind of deposit which one may receive without the whole person being affected. Scripture supposes, and indeed enjoins, that we are to be filled with the Spirit. Now, if we are filled with the Spirit we shall be spiritual. A man in whom the thought of spirituality is developed to its normal degree is a man filled with the Spirit. This is not a fanciful idea; it is [p. 81] just normal Christianity that we should be filled with the Spirit. What beautiful material for Christ to handle! And it is within the reach of each one of us! All these things are characteristic of saints viewed according to God; the stone and the cedar and the cypress and the olive wood are all characteristic of saints viewed as such and they constitute material which Christ can handle, so that there may be a house suitable for God to dwell in and where God can be served according to His pleasure.
Ques Does spirituality preserve what is suitable to God?
CAC Quite so, because spirituality is most sensitive. The dove is a scriptural symbol of the Spirit, and the dove is one of the most sensitive creatures. Nothing can be so sensitive as the Spirit of God, and we have to learn to distinguish between natural thoughts and feelings and emotions and those which are of the Spirit of God. It is a mark of spiritual maturity when we can thus distinguish, because we very often mistake our own feelings and sentiments for spirituality. But we have to learn to take on the character that rightly accompanies the presence of the Spirit. The Lord said to the disciples, “Ye know him” — a wonderful thing! “The world ... does not see him nor know him; but ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you”, John 14: 17. Now, how far can we say we know the Spirit? We can perhaps all say we know the Lord, but it is important to know the Spirit and to take character from the Spirit.
Rem In one sense the Spirit has taken the Lord’s place here, alongside of us.
CAC Quite so. The cherubim were made of olivewood, and that is a beautiful thought. It is evident that the cherubim in the temple were quite different from the cherubim in the tabernacle. In the tabernacle the cherubim were made of gold “out of the mercy- seat ... at the two ends thereof” (Exodus 37: 8), shewing that the cherubim in the tabernacle were on the divine side, but the cherubim in the temple represent the saints as having a beautiful service for the protection and the safeguarding of the ark. We find that when the ark of the covenant was brought to its place it was “under the wings of the cherubim; for the cherubim stretched forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above”, 1 Kings 8: 6, 7. This supreme treasure of God was overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim, intimating that now it is not only true that God will protect and safeguard all that pertains to Christ, but that He has got men, spiritual men, under whose wings the ark can be placed with every confidence. Do we covet to be trustworthy persons to safeguard in holy affections all that belongs to Christ as the Ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat? What a wonderful thought it is! What spirituality is needed for that!
Finally, all was overlaid with gold, which I understand to convey that, as Psalm 29: 9 says, “In his temple doth every one say, Glory!” or as the note reads, ‘everything saith’. Every detail in the house is to carry some feature of divine glory. There is to be glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, Ephesians 3: 21. The holy city, Jerusalem, will come down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God (Revelation 21: 10). And the glory is to appear now in all service in the assembly. So we read, “If any one speak — as oracles of God; if any one minister — as of strength which God supplies; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages. Amen”, 1 Peter 4: 11. Whatever is brought about through Jesus Christ, whatever the saints are as in Christ, and whatever service is rendered in a spiritual way will always carry some expression of the glory of God. So that “the whole house he overlaid with gold” and there is added, as though to emphasise this, “the whole house entirely”. The assembly is to be, now and eternally, the vessel of divine glory. So that we gladly sing:
‘O Mind divine, so must it be
That glory all belongs to God!
O Love divine, that did decree
We should be part, through Jesus’ blood’.