THINGS NEW AND OLD SECURED IN CHRIST
[p. 121] THINGS NEW AND OLD SECURED IN CHRIST
I think there can be no doubt that one of the peculiar marks of the gospel of Matthew is the bringing together of things “new and old”, I do not know that you get even the expression elsewhere. The Lord uses it at the close of the passage I read: “Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old”. Both are found in the kingdom of heaven. It is one of the results of God’s ways in the bringing in of Christ.
The church, which is new, has come in by Christ. And yet God has been in no sense unfaithful to what has been. You get the two brought together; the “old” is substantiated and confirmed, and yet God brings in “new” things.
It is this bringing together of things new and old in a divine way that marks Scripture. I have no fear for all that man may do to Scripture, because all through it you have a living, powerful voice speaking in the same moral tones from beginning to end. One voice makes itself heard in strong moral accents. You cannot find a parallel to it anywhere else. It is not the voice of man speaking, or even man’s conduct, that is the prominent idea; though there is a moral apprehension of things that are happening here; but it is one living voice making itself heard. And that is not going to be easily set aside. The voice of God is not to be set aside by the puny attacks of man! “The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon”.
Another reason why Scripture could not be set aside is, that things which are present and come under our observation are intimately connected with things that have been; we have, for instance, one peculiar people in all parts of the world that has a long previous history.
[p. 122] The present condition of the Jew so links itself with the past that it remains as a standing witness of God’s past ways. And yet, though the Jew be set aside for the time being, as Scripture predicted, God has never been and never will be unfaithful to His promises. He will remember the Jew. That has been my point in the previous lectures: the fidelity of God to the Jew, and yet His bringing in other developments.
Have you thought what the epistle to the Romans means? I believe it to be the fundamental epistle. It is essential for every one to be established in first principles, and they are God’s righteousness and God’s fidelity. If you look abroad in the world, you see what calls in question the righteousness of God and His fidelity — you see the rights of God contested on every hand by the spirit of lawlessness prevailing. And you see another thing: the chosen people of God scattered all over the earth in contempt and reproach, not enjoying the promises made to the fathers; they are aliens, trodden down of the gentiles; all that seems to call in question the faithfulness of God. The epistle to the Romans is the answer to all that. The beginning of the epistle is the unfolding of the righteousness of God in Christ; and the latter part the unfolding of the faithfulness of God in Christ. So the christian has in Christ the answer to all here that seems to call God in question. I cannot see anything more important than that our hearts should be established in the knowledge of the righteousness and faithfulness of God. Lawlessness may prevail for a moment, but it is not going to set aside the righteousness of God; nor, on the other hand, can anything interfere with His fidelity. No failure on the part of man can alter the faithfulness of God.
You may not see all this at first. The ways of God take a certain time to work out as men judge, but in the end God will vindicate Himself — He has done it already. God has proved His fidelity to His people. In the introduction of the church, God took care to make provision for the believing remnant of the Jews. In the [p. 123] beginning the church was entirely composed of such. The gentile did not appear in the first instance. It was a further unfolding on the part of God when Cornelius and the gentiles were brought in.
I take up these parables now, for they are remarkable in this way, that you get things old and things new. You get the bringing together of things new and old, the new has not set aside the old, and the old does not interfere with the new. My main thought is that in the kingdom of heaven you get the church — that was new — and yet you get the kingdom of the Son of man — that was old.
The Jew was very restricted in his thoughts. He had carnal ideas with regard to the Messiah and the glory He would confer on the people nationally; he ought to have apprehended another thought, that is, the kingdom of the Son of man. The Jew will never be restored except in connection with that kingdom. It is a world-wide dominion. When God establishes it in a public way the Jew will get his own position nationally in Christ, and not till then. In the kingdom of heaven you get the idea of the kingdom of the Son of man, which is not a new thought; but we also have what is new, in the parable of the treasure hid in the field and that of the pearl of great price. These are not made manifest in any previous communications of God; they are new. It is to that the Lord alludes, I think, in speaking of things “new and old”. We can understand it all now, because we have some intelligence with regard to the pearl and the treasure. In some way, too, the net was new; you do not get the idea in the Old Testament of casting the net into the sea and putting the good fish into vessels.
Before we go on to this we will just look at the exposition that the Lord gives of the parable of the tares (verses 36 - 43). I call your attention first to verses 24 - 30.
The point to my mind in this parable is, that you get the thought of the kingdom of the Son of man. It is a very important thought. The kingdom of the Son of man is not existing in any manifest form at the present moment, but there is a form in which it does exist. For [p. 124] the moment it takes the form of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of the Son of man has reference to God’s dispensations upon earth, hence you get twice over the thought of “the completion of the age” (verses 39, 40) That refers to the dealings of God on earth. A change will take place in God’s dealings. The Son of man will purge out of His kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity. That is remarkable, as it puts together the age to come and the present age. “Things that offend” are finding their place at this time in the kingdom of the Son of man; they will be gathered out, and the kingdom will be taken up in power and glory. You get an allusion to this in Hebrews 2: “The world to come, whereof we speak”.
The kingdom of the Son of man connects itself, too, with what has been. The mind of the Jew overlooked the kingdom of the Son of man. That was the idea prophetically conveyed, it was not new at all.
The thought of it comes out in Psalm 8. In Psalm 2 we get the King in Zion and authority over the nations, but in Psalm 8 we see the universal dominion of the Son of man. “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands”. And in the comment on that in 1 Corinthians 15, we find there is nothing that is not put under him. There is no exception save in regard of Him who put all things under Him. It is the universal dominion of the Son of man based upon redemption.
In Hebrews 2 we find Jesus “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death ... that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man”. I take it, that is the character of the kingdom, a universal dominion, characterised by grace because founded on redemption. It is by the grace of God Christ had to taste death for every thing. This is not a new thought. A Jew ought to have known of the universal dominion of the Son of man. A moment came when the Lord prohibits the publication of the testimony that He was the Christ. He speaks of Himself as the Son of man who should suffer and rise; but that was not new. The thought of the [p. 125] Son of man stood out distinctly in the Old Testament. The promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be fulfilled in the kingdom of the Son of man. It is an old thought. It appears plainly in Psalm 8, and is the principle of the world to come, the universal dominion of the Son of man.
In Hebrews 1 you get the establishment in the Son of the throne of God — a most important point — and in chapter 2 the kingdom of the Son of man. The world that had been was put under angels, but the world to come is put under the Son of man, because, I take it, it is founded on redemption. That is not new.
It is striking that directly we get the kingdom of the Son of man we have in view the enemy, the devil. It reminds one of Revelation 12. Directly the man-child is born, the dragon is there ready to swallow him up. The enemy, the devil, is against Christ, against the universal dominion of the Son of man. The world-wide authority of the beast comes in antagonism to the Son of man and His kingdom. The wicked one is ever opposed to the Son of man.
We are told that “the field is the world”. What I understand by the field is not the earth but the world, which, in regard to the people in it, has been bought by Christ. It all belongs to Christ. In the parable it speaks of the Son of man sowing good seed in His field. From that point of view all men belong to Christ, whatever they may think. He has acquired a right over all, and is Head of every man. It is a point of great moment to apprehend. If people reject Christ, they reject One who has divinely-given rights in regard to them. The distinction between those who are christians and those who are not, is that the christian recognises the right of Christ, and one who is not a christian does not; but the right of Christ is the same over both. The field is His.
He sowed good seed in His field. The good seed we are told are the children of the kingdom (verse 38). I call attention to a verse in chapter 8 of this gospel (verses 11, 12). The children of the kingdom there are spoken of [p. 126] as cast out. Here in this parable the good seed are the children of the kingdom. The thought in the seed is different from what we find in the parable of the sower; there the seed produces children, so to speak; here it is the good seed are the children. In chapter 8 the children of the kingdom are cast out. As far as I understand it, the children of the kingdom, or sons of the kingdom, are those who are recognised by the King. The Jew had expectations in regard to the kingdom. They stood on that ground in the sight of God. They were tested by Christ when He came, but did not answer to the test and were rejected. It could not be imagined that God would set up the kingdom without regard to the moral condition of those who were to be in it. Man may do such a thing, but you cannot conceive that could be the case with God. He must have regard to the moral condition of those in His kingdom. The Scripture spoke of the kingdom, and the Jew had the Scripture and was recognised by the Scripture; but when tested by Christ there was no moral capacity on their part to enter into it. They were not subject to the moral sway of God and did not answer to the test of Christ. They did not receive the light and were cast out.
But now in this parable “the children of the kingdom” appear, but as planted in the field. It is not the restoration of the Jew that is promised for the moment. The children of the kingdom are planted in the world. They have to be of God’s planting. It is seed-sowing here; and indeed, if there are the children of the kingdom in the world it is the effect of the sowing of God. You may be sure the field would never of itself produce the children of the kingdom; they are not going to arise from man in the flesh, that is not the divine idea; if they are found in the field they are of divine sowing. They are a seed of God, not a natural seed.
You get that seed brought to light on the day of Pentecost, and in possession of the Holy Spirit — they were the divine seed. They did not apprehend it at that moment, for God had not publicly set aside the Jew and [p. 127] all connected with him; but they were a divine seed; whatever was in them was the work of God. And so with regard to christians at the present time; they have been sown in the field. The children of the kingdom are brought into existence by the work of God. It could not be otherwise. The Lord said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. It is evident that the children of the kingdom are a seed of God, but sown in the field.
On the other hand you get the tares, and they are the children of the devil, from a moral point of view, I take it — they fulfil the lusts of their father.
The children of God are begotten of God in holiness and righteousness of truth. There is a moral resemblance to God. In the children of the wicked one there is also a moral resemblance. We get this at the beginning of christianity — the devil brought in heresies; they were applied to the minds of men, but they could not affect people for good morally — rather in the opposite direction. I do not conceive that tares represent merely unconverted people; I think they are the fruit of heresies sown by the devil, and are really the children of the wicked one. That is what has come to pass in the field. There are the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked one. These are in a sense all in the kingdom of the Son of man. It is a great thing to recognise that by redemption all belong to Christ. I am sure we do not take enough account of this. The great majority of people in the world do not take account of it at all. He sows seed in His field, and all this takes place there.
The two classes have to remain there until the harvest. The angels come in as reapers, and we get the cleansing of the kingdom in view of its being taken up publicly by the Son of man. The rights of the Son of man are for the time being in abeyance. He had to suffer and to come again in glory; but between the two His kingdom is here, and is going to be purged in order that it may be taken up in the world to come. It is extremely important to apprehend the connection of the kingdom of the Son [p. 128] of man with the future, and at the same time the connection between christianity and the time to come. God has not allowed any lapse to take place, but has maintained the links between the past and the future in the kingdom of heaven. That will be purged, in order that it may be suitable to the Son of man.
There is one word of great importance to us: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”. That refers to those who have their part at the present time. They will be resplendent in heavenly light; will shine forth as the sun in glory and brightness.
Before passing on I venture again to press the importance of recognising things as they are. The field all belongs to the Son of man. He has sown a seed entirely of Himself — the children of the kingdom — and the enemy of Christ has come in to sow the tares. If you understand these two things you will have a key to the character of things existing in the world. You will practically divide the world into three classes: the children of the kingdom, the children of the devil and the field.
When Christ sowed the good seed He had regard to His own people. The first that ever were sown were those who were His own, brought into possession of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They had been sown in the field, but then larger thoughts came into view — not merely Israel and the land. That was put aside for the time, to come into view again hereafter — the world came into view and the church.
Now I will just pass on to the new things. These come out in verses 44 - 50. I want to say a word in regard of these two parables. No one will contest the right of the man who bought the field for the sake of the treasure to possess the treasure. The treasure was there, and he bought the field for the sake of it. And so, too, if the merchant man was seeking goodly pearls, no one would be inclined to contest his right to possess himself of the most beautiful pearl he saw. No one could accuse him of [p. 129] unrighteousness. Christ has bought the world for the sake of the treasure. How do you think the treasure is hid there? It could only be by the work of God. But it is hid there. The treasure is not yet brought into manifestation. The field is the thing in view. The treasure is there, and the Man has His eye upon the treasure. Here you get something entirely new.
Israel was in a way the treasure of the Lord, but they were not hid. They were manifest — God’s people in the world, and so, too, hereafter they will be manifest as such. The figure employed here will not have application to them, but it does apply at the present time. I do not think God intended the church to be a great, public, manifest thing in the world. The “mustard tree” is not the thought of God. The treasure was never intended to be conspicuous in the world. The world has taken up christianity as a profession, and therefore stands before God on that ground; but this parable does not indicate that it is the mind of God. Christ bought the field for the sake of the treasure, and having bought it, He hid the treasure. Men could not distinguish the two at the present time.
So with regard to the pearl. I do not think there is the thought of present manifestation. It will come out in the heavenly city. It will be conspicuous then, and so too the treasure. And yet the church was to be known here. The church was to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, and the life of Christ was to come out in His people; but that is another thing. It was not to command the attention and consideration of man; it was a treasure to the man who bought the field, just as the pearl was a great point to the merchantman who was seeking goodly pearls.
I would desire that we should be taken up with what is occupying the attention of Christ. I do not think Christ at the right hand of God concerns Himself very much with the great things of the world. Things there are allowed to run their course, but He is occupied with the treasure for the sake of which He bought the field: and [p. 130] with the pearl of great price, and that ought to be our concern. We are here to “do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith”. The supreme interest which should occupy the hearts of christians down here is that which is of the utmost concern to the eye and heart of Christ. A great many things that are passing in the world, great things as men term them, take up our attention, but they are often very small in the eyes of God. Everything here passes away. How will these events be thought of fifty years hence? It will be found they have produced little lasting effect. Other things come in which set aside these.
The thing is to have the treasure before us. The eye of Christ is on it here. Christ knows where it is. The pearl is priceless in the eye of Christ, as we read: “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it ... that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish”.
I wonder how far we are in the mind of Christ in that respect, as here without spot or wrinkle? We expose ourselves to a good many spots and wrinkles. As I understand it, christians are waiting here for the moment of presentation; and our desire and thought should be to be morally fit for presentation, to be without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. I believe it would be a spring and source of happiness to us here if our thoughts were taken up with that which has its place at the present time under the eye of Christ. He is the Son of man and will come in His glory, and the kingdom will be purged, and great things will come to pass in the world then. We want to understand what it is, in the field, which is priceless in the eye of Christ, so that He gave all He had in order to possess it.
There is only one word more I have to add. In times gone by there was no such thought as we get in the next parable, the net cast into the sea. Scripture pursues the thought of the gospel going out to Israel, as in Isaiah 53, but not this thought of casting the net into the sea and [p. 131] gathering of every kind. Then it is brought to shore, and at the end of the age there is a selection going on; the good are gathered into vessels and the bad are cast away. This is going on, I think, at the present time. The pressure of things about us tends to draw the good together, but also the bad are coming out as bad.
It is much like what it was in the days of Jeremiah: the good figs were very good, and the bad were very bad. And, I think, today the bad are coming out as very bad, unrestraint and lawlessness of mind are rampant; but at the same time the good are coming out in their proper character according to God; seeking to be here according to the mind of God, and to know the divine thought in regard to the people of God.
What great favour God has shewn to many of us by detaching us from things that once greatly hindered us! I am sure I feel for myself very sensible of God’s power in delivering me from associations that detained me. God has shewn us this great favour that we may be brought into the light of and be characterised by the truth. You cannot be characterised by the truth until you are brought into the light of it. But what a wonderful thing to be in the light of the Sun in heaven! Not a person on earth but appreciates the brightness of the sun! What a moment when we apprehend Christ as the centre and sun of a heavenly system! We are permitted to walk in that light here. We are in the light of the Sun of righteousness, under His rule, in the blessed light and warmth of heaven. God has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light. We can truly say, “The darkness is passing and the true light already shines”. We are subject to the great light in heaven which God has set there to rule the day, so that we can walk in that light while down here.
If that be the case, the good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad. The professors are becoming more and more lawless, and the good are drawing together. The sorting is going on in that way no doubt.
It is a great thing if we can be used to bring the truth [p. 132] of God to bear upon those still entangled, and to bring about the disentanglement of any. God is very much bent upon this, I think. Things are much mixed up in the world. It is a great service if the people of God can be disentangled from associations in this world which are not according to God — a great thing if the good can be “gathered into vessels”.
Well, we have these things found together: things old and new. Things old have their place in the thought and mind of God as well as things which He has been pleased to make known now. The kingdom of the Son of man will have its place; the promises to Israel will have their place; but at the same time it has pleased God to make known things which were in His mind previously to all those. They have come now into view and we see a great expanse in which they have been established. Christ has died for all, in order that these great things might be known in reality.
God will prove His fidelity in regard to everything which He has seen fit to establish here on earth, or to speak of in His ways.