THE GOVERNMENTAL WAYS OF GOD
THE GOVERNMENTAL WAYS OF GOD
Galatians 6: 7 - 9; 2 Chronicles 15: 1 - 9; 2 Chronicles 16: 7 - 10
It was in my mind to say a word in regard of the government of God, not only as against those who do evil, but more especially to emphasise that it is in favour of those who do well. Perhaps we do not always bear this in mind in speaking and thinking of the government of God. When we speak of the government of God, we have in mind that God is exercising control, although in an unseen way, over the earth, and has His eye upon every individual and particularly on His people as moving together, and even upon the nations. In Ezekiel 1 the prophet is given to see a vision, and a vision which conveys that in an indirect and unseen way God is exercising control over what is moving on the earth. The prophet sees, amongst other things, wheels within wheels; wheels whose rims are exceeding high and full of eyes, indicating that there is nothing that escapes the notice of God. Above that, he sees the expanse as a terrible crystal, as though to impress us with the thought that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,” 1 John 1: 5. The heavenly city will come forth clear as crystal, but Ezekiel speaks of the terrible crystal indicating that there is no darkness with God, everything is as clear as possible in His sight. All that is being done, whether by nations or by His people as moving together, is perfectly clear before Him as to its true character. Then above all that, he sees a throne and the appearance of a man upon it. We are reminded that the Lord Jesus is in supreme control, however much things happening in the world or even amongst ourselves at times might suggest otherwise. Faith recognises that the Lord Jesus is in supreme control and considering always for God,
although He is there as a Man who is sympathetic with His people.
The thought of the government of God is a very salutary and sobering thought but an encouraging one if we are prepared to go on with what is good. The apostle says, “God is not mocked; for whatever a man shall sow, that also shall he reap,” Galatians 6: 7. That is, it is an invariable principle with God. It is part of His ways, and I would say that His ways do not interfere with His counsels of grace. He has indeed taken us up sovereignly in His love for the greatest conceivable thoughts of blessing, but the fact that we are blessed in Christ, and stand in the place of sons before Him, in no way exempts us from the operation of His governmental ways. We have to bear that in mind, and as doing so, we shall find we are helped, because that preserves us in the fear of God and preserves us from coming under influences that might otherwise prejudicially affect us. So it says, “whatever a man shall sow, that also shall he reap. For he that sows to his own flesh, shall reap corruption from the flesh,” but then it says, “he that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life,” and that is rather the side which I wanted to stress. While there is the side of God’s government which operates against what is evil, so that if I sow to my flesh I shall of the flesh reap corruption, what I desired to stress is that there is the side of God’s government which is advantageous to me; if I sow to the Spirit I shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
In 1 Timothy we have a similar thing where the apostle says, “Of some men the sins are manifest beforehand, going before to judgment, and some also they follow after.”, 1 Timothy 5: 24. The government of God is inexorable. Then it says, “In like manner good works also are manifest beforehand, and those that are otherwise cannot be hid,” verse 25. That is a most encouraging word to go on with what is good in the sight of God whether it becomes manifest at once or not, for eventually the position is that it cannot be hid. Then in Luke 6 the Lord says, “Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall be given into your bosom: for with the same measure with which ye mete it shall be measured to you again,” verse 38. That is again an invariable principle in God’s ways, that with what measure we mete it shall be measured to us again. So there is every encouragement to sow to the Spirit. It is a question of what we allow our minds to be engaged with, whether we recognise that we have dwelling in us the Holy Spirit of God who is ready to guide into all the truth. He has all the wealth of His Master in His hands (as in Genesis 24), and whether we are prepared to allow our minds to come under the power and control of the Spirit, more and more characteristically so. We shall thus find that of the Spirit we reap life everlasting, the things of God become increasingly real and satisfying to us. They really become our life, and a life that cannot be taken away from us by death.
I read the scripture in Galatians to draw attention to this great principle of God’s government which is always operating in relation to each one of us individually, and it is well for us to face it, for we are either sowing to the flesh or sowing to the Spirit, and it is a question of the lines on which we are going to prosper spiritually. It says, “And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold,” Genesis 26: 12. That is how God operates in blessing towards those who pay respect to this principle upon which blessing is enjoyed.
Now I refer to the reign of Asa, as recorded for us in 2 Chronicles, as rather enforcing what I have in mind, and that too as relating to the people of God as going on together, because Asa was the king of Judah and really stood as representative of the people. The prophet Oded comes to him and says, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him he will forsake you,” 2 Chronicles 15: 2. We often ask that the Lord will be with us, but I believe it is important to bear this in mind that the Lord is with us if we are with Him; it is a question of whether we are with Him. It should always be our concern to be with Him in what He is doing, to be with Him in His own thoughts, in His own outlook. If He is giving ministry to the saints we are concerned to be with Him in it, not to be inattentive to it, not to think it is too hard for us to understand, but to be concerned to follow it up, to be with Him in it. The Lord ministers to the assembly constructively, not promiscuously, and if we would be led into all the truth, if we are to answer to all that God has in mind for His people, it must be our concern to be with the Lord. The Lord is with us if we are with Him. The same thing also applies, not only in regard to what the Lord is giving in ministry, but in relation to any matters that arise amongst us; our great concern is to be with Him, and He will be with us as we are with Him. That involves exercise as to a suited state of soul. For instance, it says, “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble,” 1 Peter 5: 5, and it says, “to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word,” Isaiah 66: 2. That is the kind of man who can be with God, be with the Lord; one who is concerned to be suitable morally, judging immediately every working of pride and will, and maintained in the presence of God in a humble and contrite spirit. I believe that was what Elijah had in mind when he went with Elisha from Gilgal,
first to Bethel and then to Jericho and then to the Jordan, and at each point he said, “tarry here.” He was testing Elisha as to whether he was prepared to be with him. Elisha responded to the test three times showing that he was concerned to be with Elijah, “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” and thus he was fitted to take Elijah’s place in ministry here.
So the prophet Oded says, “Jehovah is with you while ye are with him; and if ye seek him he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him he will forsake you,” 2 Chronicles 15: 2. Then he goes on to indicate what had for a long time marked Israel, they were “without the true God, and without a teaching priest” simply because of departure from God. God’s government was working out and had been working out until they realised it, and when they in their trouble turned to Jehovah the God of Israel and sought Him, He was found of them. Then the prophet goes on to speak of what had marked those times, “no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great disturbances were amongst all the inhabitants of the countries,” verse 5. It was a question of the government of God working out among the people of God, but Asa had brought in recovery, and in the previous chapter their faith had been tested when an army of one million Ethiopians had come against them and they were only about half as strong, but they were seeking Jehovah and He answered them and gave them the victory. The prophet says, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded,” verse 7. It says that when Asa heard these words he took courage and went forward removing all that was obnoxious to God among the people and it went right on to their taking an oath to serve Jehovah, and “Jehovah gave them rest round about,” verse 15.
The second book of Chronicles is remarkable in this way that it does not only record history, but constantly gives us the moral bearing of it, and frequently shows us how the government of God follows us even to our burial, for there is no book like it for recording the kind of burial certain persons had, and it will always be found to be in keeping with the course they had pursued, showing that the government of God will follow us even to our burial. In 2 Chronicles 16 Asa is again threatened, and this time he does not turn to the Lord but turns to the king of Syria and at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa. This time it is a seer; in the previous chapter it is a prophet who came to him with the word of the Lord. The seer does not speak as having a word from the Lord to communicate to Asa but he speaks as one who sees things. We may see things as observing God’s ways and understanding them, as it says at the end of Psalm 107, “Whoso is wise, let him observe these things, and let them understand the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah.” Observation enters into spiritual things and ability, as observing God’s ways, to bring home to people what the consequences are sure to be of a certain course they are on. The seer comes and says, “Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore has the army of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand,” 2 Chronicles 16: 7. Then in verse 9, “For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him,” a remarkable statement. The seer, though having to reprove the king on account of his defection, brings forward the operations of God’s government in favour of those whose heart is perfect towards Him. That is what he would stress, what he would leave with Asa as if to encourage him to get away from everything that is in the nature of departure from God, and he would find, as going on with God, that he was not overlooked. What a word of encouragement for everyone of us in these days that are becoming increasingly difficult for the people of God, for those who desire to be true and faithful and not allow any compromise of the truth! What an encouragement to think that “the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him.”
Alas, Asa was wroth and had the seer put in prison, and oppressed some of the people; a sorrowful ending of a man whose course in the main had been pleasing to God. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign he was diseased in his feet. After going on for many years with God, it is possible to get away at the end and become diseased in our feet so that our walk is no longer pleasing to God. The nature of Asa’s burial is recorded, “And they buried him in his own sepulchre, which he had excavated for himself in the city of David,” 2 Chronicles 16: 14. Maybe the secret of his defection was that he wanted a monument to his own greatness, that that had been in his mind, and the Spirit of God brings it out now at the end. He was buried with mixed spices, as though there was a certain mixture that entered into it. It is a sorrowful thing that while there is the recognition of all that there has been of God there is also the recognition that there has been something else.
How different is the case of Jehoiada the priest. He was not a king but a priest, but it says, “they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his house,” 2 Chronicles 24: 15. He had simply wrought good toward God and His house and having been marked by that throughout his long life of 130 years he died full of days, showing that he had gone on day by day with God. The secret of spiritual prosperity is to go on day by day with God. Today is the thing that is important, how we get through today, and to watch the beginnings of defection, because every defection begins on one day and if that day had been watched defection would not have set in.
I only wanted to say that for our encouragement. We have to face as long as we are here that the government of God goes on inexorably without partiality, affecting every one of us, but there is great encouragement in it for it is operating in the favour of those whose heart is perfect towards God, and the Lord is with those who go on with Him, “Jehovah is with you while ye are with him.” May the Lord strengthen us to go on with Him to the end in that which is pleasing to Himself, for His name’s sake.
(Word given at meeting for ministry.)