1 CHRONICLES 29 (FROM CAC'S NOTES)
1 CHRONICLES 29 (FROM CAC’S NOTES)
Solomon, in being charged and in having the pattern given to him represents the truth of sonship as having taken form in the saints so that there is ability to do the work for the service of the house of Jehovah and to finish it. The truth of the house can only be worked out in a practical way as the great thought of the assembly predominates. It is learned in Christ glorified, but it is intended to take form in the saints so that there may be the working out of what is in the divine mind. Everything is finished in the way of material and personnel and the affections of the people are brought into the matter in chapter 29 and God is worshipped as the Head and Source of all.
We have to understand these types spiritually to get the present mind of God as to His house. David is a type of Christ as the One who has the pattern and who really prepares everything for the building. But it has to be all subject to the work by the hands of artificers. Then God is worshipped as Head above all. And, finally, Christ gets His full place in view of the house being built. When God gets His true place He will magnify Christ exceedingly.
We have to see the greatness of Christ as the true David, preparing everything for the house and having the pattern. In one sense nothing can be added to what Christ has prepared and the impression of God which He has brought into human hearts by declaring God and by accomplishing the wondrous work of redemption. But then He is to be known in a new way as Solomon, representing Him as glorified, before the house can be built. Then we find that [p. 263] there is room left for the affections of sonship to come out in the saints in their offerings. Christ glorified being apprehended leads to great wealth and richness in offering. Then Solomon appears to be, in a certain way, representative of the saints as apprehending sonship, and as encouraged to go on with the service of the house of God. It is the saints as believing on Jesus glorified who alone can understand the greatness of the palace which is to be for God. There is headship in David and in Solomon and in God. Saints have part in all that David has prepared, and in all that Christ is as Solomon, and in the vast blessedness of God as Head above all.
Both David and Solomon are reigning together, but it is clearly seen that Solomon is to build the house. It is Jesus glorified who gives the Spirit and the responsible side of the work must evidently work out in the saints who have the Spirit of the glorified Man. But in this chapter it is what David does in His affection and what the saints do in their affection; God is the source of all. It is hardly Christ personally until verses 22 - 25.
The result of David’s reign is that everything is secured Godward. He was spoken of by Samuel in the words “Jehovah has sought him a man after his own heart” (1 Samuel 13: 14), “of whom also bearing witness he said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will”, Acts 13: 22. This is not a precise quotation from Scripture, but a spiritual summing up of what God found in David, which came to full maturity in the close of 1 Chronicles. That is, we see everything secured for God Godward in the pattern of the house, the preparation of the material for it, the bringing of all spiritual elements amongst the people into line, and then the wonderful utterances Godward in which He is owned as Head above all, and all that was secured is attributed to Him. It is one of the most worshipful utterances [p. 264] which the Old Testament contains. It is all God’s will reached in spiritual power (John 17: 3.) though it has yet to take form in the house. It is what is brought in by Christ, but viewed as extending to His brethren, for “all the congregation” are brought into it (verse 1). Things are viewed as brought to completion under His Headship. There is no discrepancy or failure in view: the will of God is brought to pass, spiritually speaking, before the house is built.
All this results in Solomon being made king the second time. It is all passed on to Solomon as the one who would “do all” and “build the palace”. He “sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father”. David brings in the will of God in a patriarchal way so that it could be passed on in completeness to his son: he is called “the patriarch David” in Acts 2. What distinguishes him is that he has a son who can take up all that he brought in, and give it form and substance as put together in the palace. David does all the will of God but Solomon sets it up here for the pleasure of God in the light of his own sonship. It is divine power in administration for it is the throne of Jehovah, but it is characterised by sonship. This great divine thought is seen, and all obey and submit themselves; Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly. It is Christ seen as glorified, not now seen as doing God’s will, but having all now in His hands in view of it being set up here in testimony. I say testimony in contrast with display in glory. But it is not a question in this chapter of what He sets up, but of His own transcendent glory. It is like Paul’s heavenly vision. Before he got his commission, before the ministry was committed to him, whether of the glad tidings or of the mystery, he saw Christ glorified. The whole thought of God was there in a glorified Jesus: it was all radiant in Him. The ministry made it known and brought man into it, but all that man was brought into was there in [p. 265] the glorified Man before they were brought into it. David does the will of God, but Solomon is the wisdom of God. Now the great thing is to be obedient in heart to all that God has magnified in Christ glorified as the Son. David is Christ as magnifying God, but Solomon is Christ as magnified by God. His being glorified is God magnifying Him exceedingly and in surpassing measure, so that it is transcendent. The whole of Paul’s ministry answers to the building of the palace: it is for the bringing of the saints into this great thought of God, so that they might take form for His pleasure in men.
When it is a question of the will of God being done it is Christ as David. This covers all that He was here in incarnation, death and resurrection. But then the completed glory of all that passes over to Solomon: He is invested with it all as the glorified one. So that [p. 267] the ascension of the Lord is the point of transition from David to Solomon. It is not that the Solomon aspect is greater than the David aspect because all the latter passes over into the former. But it is the present glory of Christ that all that He has brought in as David is His subsisting glory as Solomon.