PREPARATION

^[p. 388] PREPARATION

Luke 22: 7 - 13; 1 Chronicles 15:1-4; 1 Chronicles 15:11-16

What is in these passages is the idea of preparation in relation to the things of God, indeed the thought of preparation is very prominent in the Scriptures. We read of the preparation of the heavens (Proverbs 8: 27) and the Scriptures speak of things prepared for those who love God, which eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. This is a very affecting thought, for it shows the divine forethought in regard of those who love God! Those who love God have the first place with Him, and the Scriptures speak of things prepared for them; things, as I said, which eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. They are disclosed, however, as the apostle further says, “But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God”, or “the depths of God”. The Spirit has access to all there is, not only provisional things connected with Israel, and which are now taken up in the assembly, upon whom the ends of the ages are come, but hidden things also. The Spirit emphasises things connected with the kingdom which come in in a provisional way in the assembly, but He has access to the hidden things. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and He had concealed the greatest things, the “better things”, as Paul says, but these have now come out, the Spirit who is in us as those who love God searches all things. He searches the depths of God. He would not leave one iota untold; He would bring them forward to those who love God, but I refer to them because they are prepared of God.

The idea of preparation is not simply creation.

^[p. 389] We have the idea of creating and making in the beginning of Genesis, but there are the things which God has prepared for those who love Him; these are not mentioned in Genesis. They were hidden then, but the apostle speaks of “hidden wisdom, which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory”. So we see the unique place which we of this dispensation have and how the idea of preparation enters into it. In Hebrews we read of a city which God had prepared for the men of faith we read of in Genesis; that is one of the things which appear in the public ways of God, but there are the “hidden things” which are outside the range of men and men’s minds, but divinely prepared for a special class — those who love God. One might say much in regard of the thought, but I want to confine what I have to say to preparation for the service and testimony of God at the present time.

The Lord Jesus in coming into this world was to be the pattern of everything, and all preparation in regard of the service and testimony must originate and take its pattern from Him; He had the full divine thought in mind. He knew what would be the outcome of His great work which He undertook; He knew there would be expansion and development out of it which would require forethought to prepare for it, and hence the great activity of the Lord not only in public, preaching and teaching, casting out demons and healing the sick, not only that part of service which had to do with the revelation of God’s goodness, but also that service which had to do with the preparation of a vessel, or I may say of a system, which is a better word, which should be great enough to accommodate, to protect, and to preserve all the results of His death. He foresaw the results perfectly. He measured them and in no sense would there be anything omitted in the preparation so that there should be in a spiritual way accommodation,

^[p. 390] comfort, food, shelter, housing, clothing — in a word everything, every requisite for the result He had in mind.

Now I take up Luke because it conveys what I am speaking of. He sends Peter and John to prepare; in Matthew and Mark the suggestion of the preparation arises from the disciples — very commendable and in place, but in Luke the Lord takes the initiative Himself. When the time had come that the passover must be killed He sends Peter and John to prepare; it was imperative and He knew it, and He knew what would be the outcome of it. He says, “that we may eat”. There should be the eating, and, dear brethren, Christianity depends on eating; I mean that if we are to be sustained here according to God, we must eat, and not only that, but there must be suitable surroundings in which to eat. I do not deny that all Christians to some extent eat, that is, they appropriate Christ in some sense. One has great compassion for many, for their food is so meagre, and their surroundings so incongruous. The Lord would not only supply the food, but suitable surroundings also. In feeding the five thousand He makes the people to sit down on the green grass; He would have them to eat with as much comfort as possible. He ordered the arrangements even there in the desert; there was no house, no tables, nor ordinary utensils, but He used what was there. He makes the best possible use of what there was. If there were no tables, there was at least communion in companies of fifties and hundreds. The food was distributed; He gives it to the disciples from His own hand to give to the people. What was available He used to the utmost in divine forethought.

But the passover was not only that their bodily needs should be met; that feast extended back centuries. The Lord would have in His mind all that entered into it; it was a divine institution; it was ^[p. 391] instituted in Egypt before Israel became a nation and so extended back to their beginning. (See Exodus 12: 2.) The love of God entered into it. How the Lord would recall the circumstances of its institution, for all was perfectly vivid and fresh in His mind. He was there and had to do with it; He knew the divine love which underlay it, and how oft as Israel came up year after year to celebrate the passover the divine presence would have been realised. He knew all that, and now it was to be celebrated for the last time. The passover must be killed; His heart was full, every divine thought and all the love of Jehovah was there pent up. He had already wept over Jerusalem: “How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen her brood under her wings, and ye would not”. All these divine thoughts were there and would enter into this passover.”With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer”.

Luke alone gives us two cups, the passover cup, and the cup of the Supper. He took the passover cup no doubt; I do not know where the idea of the cup came from with the passover, for it was not in the original institution, but it was there, and the Lord received it. He would not drink of the fruit of the vine again; they were “the Israel” of God to Him, and He handed it to them; He passed over to them, as I may say, all the thoughts of God for Israel; they were not to be lost, they were to live in the affections of the remnant; as one said later he could wish he were accursed for his brethren — for Israel. The Lord loved them, and He knew all the divine thoughts about them, and so He passed on the passover cup to them. That cup remains, if we understand it. No one who loves God could fail to cherish these divine thoughts; we look to see the fulfilment of them in that nation, for He died for that nation.

^[p. 392] Well, now you can understand from what I have said how the idea of preparation enters into the divine thoughts. He says to them after their inquiry as to where they should prepare, “As ye enter into the city a man will meet you ... follow him”. Note, they had learned not to intrude as to suggestions. If we are to prepare, we must learn from Him as to when and where; there must be no innovations; and so they have to follow the man with the pitcher of water. The Lord left nothing to their imagination and device, nevertheless they are entrusted with the preparation, and so it says they prepared; it was done, that is a great thing as to service, it is not half done or postponed.

But to further enlarge — there was a large upper room furnished, that was part of the provision; they did not hire it, they did not even make inquiry for it, they carried out the Lord’s instructions, and so they were shown the large upper room. You may wonder why I bring this feature in, it is just to remind us that God may work, yea, God is working, and if He is working there will be results from His work, and the question is, Are we prepared? Supposing He were to bring in a hundred souls tomorrow in Dudley — it would be a small thing for Him to do — what would you do with them? Oh! you say, we should be glad to receive them; but suppose there is a great gift from God among them, are you prepared for him? If you are thinking of your own importance in the service, you will not be prepared for him; you will not want him. The Lord brought in a Paul. The saints at Damascus were not prepared for such an one; Ananias was not; the Lord prepared him afterwards, but he was not prepared at first. Are we prepared to be small enough and to retain our smallness in order to avoid inflation by any circumstances? You see, beloved brethren, how easily we may be taken unawares if we are not prepared.

^[p. 393] At Pentecost Peter stood up and preached, and there were three thousand souls added that day. Is there the least suggestion that the hundred and twenty had no accommodation for them? No indeed, there was preparation, for the Lord had foreseen it. No doubt Peter knew that the Holy Spirit come down from heaven meant much. The Lord chose Peter and John, He had fitted them for such a service, and He put them forward, and so the three thousand are added. You say, Where did they meet, for there could be no hall in Jerusalem large enough to hold them, but the Holy Spirit says they broke bread in the houses; the Lord had been working in the saints’ houses during His ministry and had prepared them. Such a service as the Lord’s in Peter’s house, as He stood over his wife’s mother, is needed in our houses; He touched her, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them. He rebuked the fever, and it left her, and she served them, not only Him. When those three thousand were brought in there was great need of such service, indeed, all would be taxed in service. Doubtless there were many houses where Jesus had worked and they would be ready for the breaking of bread. If they broke bread in their houses, their houses must have been available, and they were all in it, wives and daughters would be ready. The breaking of bread is a family thought, and so they broke bread in the houses. They persevered, it says, in the apostles’ doctrine, energy was in keeping, and they were continually in the temple, for it was still regarded as God’s house, it was a divine provision, it was not to continue, but the Lord had not yet given it up.

I only mention all that to emphasise what I was saying as to preparation, that the Lord had foreseen all. At Pentecost Peter and John shine, and in spite of the great influx they go up together to the temple at the hour of prayer; they were not diverted; it ^[p. 394] was a spectacle to heaven, those two going up together. The thought of unity is seen in them, and so if you go through the Acts you see how provision is made as numbers increase; elders are ordained, nothing is left unordered, no loose ends; in Christianity things are to be done. So Paul in speaking to the Corinthians puts before them general principles, and so in chapter 10 he says, “the bread which we break”, but in chapter 11, “as often as ye shall eat”; it is local; some put chapter 11 before chapter 10, which is a mistake; chapter 10 must precede chapter 11, it must be the bread which we break — that is all Christians, for you have not got the Lord’s supper without all. The preparation involves all, and yet it may be brought down to two.

I want now to show from Chronicles how David is a type of the Lord Jesus in the sense of what I have been speaking, that is, not only as King, but as Head. He is the only Old Testament writer who refers to Jehovah as Head. David had failed in the mode of bringing back the ark, but he had judged himself; and if we truly judge failure, we shall have more light after than before. So David became the sweet Psalmist of Israel after his failure in using the Philistine cart, and so it is after he institutes the service of song that he is called a “man of God”, 2 Chronicles 8: 14. Much failure has occurred in Christianity. Uzzah dies for touching the ark, but who is to blame for it? David is to blame. Why should there have been a cart? and then David was indignant with God. Think of a man being indignant with God! You see what we are capable of in the things of God. Have we not been caught in this way? How are we comporting ourselves in our service? Unless the flesh is rigorously restrained, we may sin against God Himself, indignation rising up against God — the rising up of leprosy, I may call it, in divine things. We are wonderfully privileged,

^[p. 395] but how are we comporting ourselves? What underlies our service? How much self-importance? I am not excluding myself; oh! no, for I know something of what the flesh in me is. Think of the mixed conditions in us; Peter one moment, material for the house of God and Satan the next, and yet the grace of God continues which disentangles what is of Himself that it may remain.

God resented the intrusion of the flesh by the death of Uzzah. He knows how to resent it; you may depend upon it where the flesh is indulged He will judge it. How serious it is to allow the flesh! David missed the blessing and Obed-Edom got it. The only way out is to judge ourselves, and so David gathered the sons of Aaron; he understood now what was suitable. Those who have to do with divine things must have the Spirit to discern what is suitable; they must discern that neither a new cart nor an old one is suitable; so David has no thought of a cart now, but calls for the Levites and the sons of Aaron. It means that I must be spiritual if I touch these things, I must not touch them in the flesh. The Pharisees asked a sign, but the Lord left them and departed, and so the disciples were found with Him on the other side; very good, but then the Lord says, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”. You see, you might carry this over with you. The new cart was a Philistine thought.

So David calls the sons of Aaron and the Levites; He had prepared a place for the ark, and now he prepares those to carry it and the ark is taken up to Zion. He prepared also for the service of song. In the Psalms he says he will not give sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he finds out a place for Jehovah; but then there are the priests clothed with righteousness — we must have righteousness. “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy”. Mark the word ‘saints’. Aaron is said to be “the saint of the Lord”. In the midst of a sanctified company he sings. The present time is the outcome of judged failure in the assembly, and so we come back to the Psalms. The melody produced in the saints of God is the outcome of their love to God. So David provides for the song in verse 16, the lifting up the voice with joy. Singing is by the human voice from hearts touched by the Spirit of God. The Lord is the pattern for everything, so after the passover in Matthew and Mark we get, “Having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. The Lord took part in it with the disciples. We should not have dared to say that; we should have said He sang it or they with Him, but it says “they”; it was mutual. It must have been delightful, and then they went to the mount of Olives.

I do not add more. I close with that thought that the preparation for the service of God involves singing. “Her saints shall shout aloud for joy”. May God bless the word.