THE BELIEVER IN THE HOUSE OF GOD (3)

^[p. 108] THE BELIEVER IN THE HOUSE OF GOD (3)

1 Peter 2:4 - 6; Hebrews 3:1 - 6; Exodus 25:8,9

JT In these passages we have the thought of the actual construction and of the material for the building. In Genesis, the house of God is considered from the point of view of the understanding of the christian by way of his experience. We arrive at the understanding of the things of God through light, but it is in our experiences that the light is confirmed to us. In Genesis it is not God who gave the names but Jacob, and God did not make known that He had desired Bethel as His dwelling, that name is given to it by Jacob as a result of his experience. Genesis tells us nothing of the building, but in reading the book we have an impression of the interest of the believer and this interest is associated in our minds with the house of God. In chapter 28 there is an idea of distance, because Jehovah is at the top of the ladder, while in chapter 35 Jehovah comes down into the place. He talks to Jacob as if He was standing at his side; it is not the believer brought to God, but God who is coming to the believer, and in revealing to him His name and blessing him, God confirms the believer in the thought of His house. Every thought of material blessing and of flocks disappeared in chapter 35, now it is a question of what is spiritual. The presentation of the house in the book of Genesis has in mind the support of the believer in his journey. Jacob moves on and arrives at Hebron. The understanding of the interest which God has towards us supports us in our spiritual journey in order to arrive at the purpose of God. The same principle comes out in Exodus and in Numbers, where the journey is in connection with the tabernacle.

HD'AC Is there a difference between the thought of the house and of the tabernacle?

JT In Exodus, different expressions are used in ^[p. 109] the types which refer to the tabernacle. God makes known His purpose in the verses which we have read in this book. He says, “they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them”, which shows us that His thought was holiness. In order that God may dwell somewhere, it is essential that He find holiness there. He does not say, They shall build me a dwelling, but “they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them”. The idea of the house is connected with holiness. Actually God dwells in “unapproachable light”: how can He then dwell in the midst of the camp of Israel? That can only be by means of a sanctuary; the holiness of God must be safeguarded. In Genesis God displays His marvellous interest in the believer. In Exodus He shows us clearly that He cannot bear with anything we please. God is faithful to His own thoughts, and He makes known what is necessary for Him. So He says, “According to all that I shall shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the utensils thereof, even so shall ye make it”. The word ‘tabernacle’ means ‘dwelling’. I think that in these two verses you have the general principle of the dwelling of God in the wilderness, the sanctuary and the habitation. It is very touching to see that God would give us the impression of the great interest He has for us, then He seems to say to us, Now, what are you going to do to provide a dwelling for Me? The gospel abounds in examples of persons who have provided dwellings for the Lord. This privilege is open to every believer. God would dwell with us; what are we going to do to prepare a dwelling for Him? Now we should know Him in some measure through our experience. Before Israel knew anything about Him, God says to Moses, “Go up to Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel”: they went up the mountain, and “saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent ^[p. 110] sapphire, and as it were the form of heaven for clearness”. It is as if God had said to them, What you are seeing shews what My circumstances are and what are My surroundings. The believer then has the idea of preparing a dwelling for God, a dwelling which is in accord with the dwelling in which God is accustomed to dwell.

FH “Be ye holy, for I am holy”, (1 Peter 1:16).

JT “If ye invoke as Father him who, without regard of persons, judges according to the work of each, pass your time of sojourn in fear”, (1 Peter 1:17). “Be holy”, He says, “for I am holy”. “They saw God, and ate and drank”. That means that, in the presence of all that glory, there was liberty. “Perfect love casts out fear”, (1 John 4:18) but we must not forget that God is holy, too pure to behold iniquity.

FH At the cross, the Lord emphasises that thought, in speaking to God as to Him who is holy; “And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”, (Psalm 22:3).

HD'AC Burnt-offerings having been offered, it was possible to go up the mountain to Jehovah.

JT And ‘youths’ were brought into the thought of the burnt-offering.

NKM Would you tell us what this “work of transparent sapphire” suggests?

JT It is as if God was saying, ‘Whereas you see what My circumstances are, I am ready in grace to give them up in order to dwell with you, but not in respect of My holiness or My righteousness.’. God said to David, “Wilt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle”. The sanctuary safeguarded in every way the holiness and righteousness of God, and it made ample provision for the activities of His love. There was “under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire”. Yet God never asked the people to make a floor to the tabernacle; the ^[p. 111] absence of the floor suggests to us love’s sacrifice in order to have our company. His blessed feet therefore journeyed with them in the desert. In Numbers 10:33 we see how the ark goes before them in order to seek out “a resting place” for Him. Both in Exodus and in Numbers God wants to walk with His people and suffer all that they had to suffer.

FH Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle when the glory of God filled it, at the end of Exodus, although he was able to go up the mount and see God. How do you explain that?

JT The end of Exodus serves to bring out the fulness of the divine presence: God occupies the whole place, it is “the glory of Jehovah”. That shows how God intervenes without reserve, it is not to exclude man, far from it, but in order to give the thought of the fulness of the divine presence, how He has come in without reserve. Evidently the types do not reach the actuality. So in the passage which we have read in the epistle to the Hebrews, it speaks of “the Apostle”, and of the “High Priest”. According to the first chapter of the epistle, our “Apostle” is the “effulgence of his glory”, (verse 3) of God’s glory, but the High Priest is equal in greatness to the Apostle, and man can be in the presence of this glory; the Apostle is the Son. It says that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”, (John 1:14): also in 1 John 3:18, “perfect love casts out fear”. In Christ we are qualified to stand and serve in the presence of the glory of God. Instead of being terrified by the glory, we behold, it says, “the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face”, and we “are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory; even as by the Lord the Spirit”, (2 Corinthians 3:18). In Exodus 38 the utensils for the priests were the means of serving God in the glory.

HD'AC In the antitype, the true Moses and ^[p. 112] the true Aaron are equal; as antitype of Aaron, the Lord is as great as the antitype of Moses. As you have said, the High Priest is equal to the Apostle.

JT The epistle to the Hebrews bases priesthood on sonship. He who is Apostle and High Priest is the Son. As Mr. Raven said, The approach is equal to the revelation.

HD'AC God is revealed perfectly in the approach, so that in approaching, there is full response to the revelation.

JT So we are exhorted, as holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, to consider the Apostle and the High Priest of our confession, Jesus. Then it continues to speak of Moses, the one who comes in the first place to the mind of the Spirit in view of presenting Moses in contrast with Christ. The contrast is between a servant and a son: the Son is He who has built the house, and the thought is continued that God has built the house. The Son is God, in the building of the house: “he who has built all things is God”. It is by the Son that all the physical system has been made. So we see the greatness of the house, for the Son has built it, and He is over the house ‘as Son’. That brings us to another thought, that of submission, which the ministry of Moses introduces. David’s ministry is the counterpart of that of Moses, for in David the wisdom of the head is set out.

Rem The house of God is set out in Jacob, in Moses and in David from three different points of view.

JT Jacob is brought into the house through his experience, and as a result he gives names to everything. Moses is placed in the presence of divine claims, and everything has to be in accord with divine requirements. All suggestions on man’s part are strictly set aside by Moses, for it is a matter only of what Jehovah has commanded. In Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers therefore, it says, “Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying ...”: it is Jehovah’s commandment, as if God was saying, I can dwell with you and give evidence of My love for you, but things must be done according to Me. The apostle Paul speaks in this way, when he says, “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment”, (1 Corinthians 14:37). All that is set out in Moses is only a sample of the universe, the type of things in the heavens. Then through David we learn that God is Head, so it is a question of wisdom.

Hd'AC I should like you to develop a little more about David.

JT It is a wonderful day for us when we discern divine wisdom in all things. The epistles to the Colossians and to the Ephesians develop the side of wisdom.

Hd'AC In the sanctuary, every human thought is excluded, whereas all that is of God and of Christ is introduced — that connects with Moses. What is the thought in connection with David?

JT In David, we have wisdom expressed in the Head.

Hd'AC The most precious thoughts of God, therefore, are shared with the saints.

JT In David’s time we see a very large number of persons who were engaged in the work.

Hd'AC With a great deal of singing and music.

JBC Moses appears as ‘Lord’, and David as ‘Head’.

JT It does not say that Jehovah commanded David to do this or that; we see what David did of himself. The divisions of twenty-four bring out the service as governed by love.

NKM David is called, too, the man after God’s own heart.

JT We are getting near the heart of God now. It was not David who was to build a house, but his son. The matter is given to us by God, “thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name”, (1 Kings 8:19). In Ephesians 2:22, we are “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. Those who are “chosen ... in him before the world’s foundation” (chapter 1:4) are also “quickened ... with the Christ” (chapter 2:5), “raised ... up together”, and He has made them “sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (chapter 2:5,6); they are the ones who form down here the habitation of God. We reach the full thought, “a habitation of God in the Spirit”.

PL With Moses, all the measurements are definitely given, but there is abundance when it is a matter of David’s ministry. All results from the desires of the heart, “In my affection for the house of my God I have given of my own property of gold and silver, for the house of my God ...”.

JT I think that fits in with the epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians.

Ques What is Peter’s point of view?

JT He speaks of the house in an elementary way, that is, in connection with the material, what is in accord with the declaration which he had made of Christ. The christians to whom Peter was writing had to understand how God viewed them. “To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious, yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”. They had no longer to keep in mind the material house at Jerusalem, they were dispersed, but they were themselves the spiritual material for the house. Christ had been rejected by men, but He is chosen and precious with God. Christians therefore, leaving all and moving towards Christ are considered as material for the structure. Peter says, “Yourselves also ... are being built up a spiritual house”. The epistle to the Hebrews gives us the conditional side, “whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end”.

FH ^[p. 115] Peter had received a great impression of the Lord when He had said to him, “On this rock I will build my assembly”, (Matthew 16:18).

JT When Peter speaks of the saints, he refers to what the Lord Himself had said to him, “thou art Peter”. We should think of that in an abstract way in our days, for the thing is not visible outwardly. “Whose house are we, if indeed we hold fast”.

CR Would you say a few words more about that condition, “if indeed”?

JT We see in the beginning that the company of christians at Ephesus could be considered as being the house of God. We must note well that houses of God are never spoken of, but only the house of God; the idea is never connected with one locality; it is a general, universal expression. Timothy was given instruction so that he should know how to behave himself in the house of God — that refers to the saints among whom he was carrying on his ministry. The public body in general has not the feature of holding the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end. So we could not apply what we are speaking of to any public body of christians.

Hd'AC Nevertheless, the house is in existence.

JT It is in existence from Peter’s point of view, because the believers are here and the Holy Spirit, too, is here. It is a spiritual house, while in Hebrews 3 the thought is connected with persons actually here, persons in their ordinary relations, visible on the earth.

Hd'AC Without these persons, God would not have a house at all down here.

JBC Would you say a few words as to the purpose of the presence of the house down here?

JT The apostle wanted to tell the saints of the dispersion that they had no need to go to Jerusalem as formerly. God’s service could be maintained and continued wherever the saints were found, because the ^[p. 116] saints themselves were the house and the priesthood. As for the sacrifices, they were to be spiritual sacrifices.

JBC I should like to know what is the definite purpose of those spiritual sacrifices.

JT God wants us to know that the old service has ended, and has given place to this new system of spiritual sacrifices. It is not a question of what they are, but that they are spiritual sacrifices. The old system shows the variety of sacrifices which were offered, and the New Testament teaches us their application. In the epistle to the Hebrews it states that we have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.

RGH There is still another priesthood, the royal priesthood.

JT That comes after, “that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”, (1 Peter 2:9).

RGH The purpose of the spiritual priesthood is to offer, while the royal priesthood is to announce.