THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD AND HIS COMMUNICATIONS
[p. 195] THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD AND HIS COMMUNICATIONS
There is a connection of thought all through this chapter. The first part is taken up with discipline. The Hebrews were, I suppose, suffering under persecution, and God was using it in the way of discipline. Many things that happen to us down here in circumstances are discipline on the part of God. These things are trying to us. They were so to the Hebrews, involving the spoiling of their goods. In those days people did not gain by christianity in this world; they lost continually. The spoiling of our goods would not be a pleasing experience to any of us, but the apostle presented it to them as discipline on the part of God, and the end of discipline is that we might be partakers of His holiness, and yet that is not quite the end, for there is another point, that we may get the gain of His communications. God brings us into circumstances in which the springs that work in us are brought to light. We become aware of things in us of which we had not much idea previously. The process through which we go may be painful, but the result is good, it leads to self-judgment, and in that way we become partakers of God’s holiness, and that is by entering into His love. If we enter into the life of God, that is all good, but we have the painful lesson to lean, that is, there is no spring of good in us. All our springs are polluted and contaminated. We have to learn, “that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing”. All goodness is of God, and as we learn that it assists us in our education; we become partakers of God’s holiness. A family is never well brought up if there is no discipline. If children are independent and take their own course, it will be prejudicial to them in the long run. We bring our children under discipline because there are certain [p. 196] tendencies in them which in after-life might hinder them a good deal. You want to show them the distinction between right and wrong, and where the springs of right and wrong are, so that they may discern between the two, and choose the good and refuse the evil. And if that be so with us, how much more so with God. He brings us under the influence of His love to promote holiness in us, and He assists it with discipline. You get a striking instance of it in Job. He was brought under discipline, and the result was that, seeing God, Job loathed himself. He learned the rebellious springs that existed in him; that he had put himself on a level with God to argue with Him, and he came to abhor himself. So does any one of us when we see the terrific presumption and rebelliousness which lies in the heart against God. We repent in dust and ashes. Job learned, too, the end of the Lord, that He is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and, in result, he got twice as much as he had before. If we answer to the discipline of God we get divine communications. Discipline is intended to pave the way for communications, and the communications of God are the greatest riches which God can confer upon us. I can conceive of nothing to compare with them in point of value. They are far better than diamonds or gold, or any thing that man can conceive of. There is nothing to be compared with them. See what gracious work it is on the part of God to put us under discipline to prepare us for His riches.
There is a warning at the close of the chapter, which I can understand in the case of the Hebrews, and that was lest they should turn away from Him that spake. There is always a danger of apostasy if we are not kept of God, and the apostle warns them of it here, “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh”. There is a tendency in the human heart to turn away from God, and the way by which we are kept is by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
There are two things against which we are warned; the one is, despising the chastening of the Lord, and the [p. 197] other, refusing the Speaker. It should be an exercise with us that we get communications from God. God has His own way of bringing communications home to us. There are no fresh revelations, but yet God knows how to bring communications to us. Now, one word as to the communications. God’s communications all have reference to a risen Christ. When God spoke to Israel He spoke to man on man’s level; that is, of man’s responsibility and of what was connected with that. At the present time God does not speak on that level. He speaks from heaven, and when He speaks from heaven He speaks of His own things; that is, the things which He has in His purpose to establish in Christ. Any one can appreciate the difference between the two. Everything which God purposes to establish is centred in a risen Christ, who is the Head and centre of the whole divine system of purpose, just as the solar system, with which we are acquainted, is centred in the sun. I want to point that out in a few details, and you might, in that connection, turn again to verses 18 - 25. It is evident that the reference here is to the communications that God made at mount Sinai. There were three steps in regard to the children of Israel: the first was they were delivered from Egypt; the second, God communicated with them, and the third was, He brought them into an inheritance. The first was their salvation, the second was God’s covenant, that is, God making known to them the terms on which He was going to be with them, and all was in view of their entering into the inheritance which God purposed for them. God had told them that He would not only bring them out, but that He would bring them in; between the two you get the covenant. They were to come into the land under the covenant which God made with them, and the covenant set forth the terms on which God saw fit to be with them; the surroundings, however, tended to strike terror into the people. They were greatly awed. The voice was so terrible that Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake”. But the striking thing was, that although all was so terrible, the people soon got [p. 198] away from the influence of it. It was not long after that they completely departed. You have only to read the book of Numbers to see their conduct for the succeeding thirty-eight years. They forgot all the awe. It is most extraordinary that in a people affected by all that was terrible, the voice of God and the blackness and darkness and tempest, the impression should wear off so shortly. It was something like, “many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did”. The impression of the miracles very soon wore off. People are not affected permanently in that way.
Now, the same principles apply to us. There are three steps; the first is to bring us out of the world. Egypt corresponds to that. The next is to bring us into inheritance, and between the two God brings us under covenant, or, to put it another way, He makes known the terms on which He is pleased to be with us here. Otherwise we could not have liberty with God. In any employment workmen work happily and cheerfully if they know the terms on which their master is with them. The new covenant is intermediate, in a way, in view of our coming into the inheritance which God has purposed. There were two things presented in the gospel which Paul preached: forgiveness of sins and inheritance. The Lord sent him to the gentiles, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified”. God has in view an inheritance for His people. He had in view an inheritance for the children of Israel, and His purpose was to bring them into it, and so God has regard to us to bring us out of the world into His inheritance. The New Testament speaks of inheritance. We are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise. Then, as I said, between the deliverance out of the world and our being brought into the inheritance, God establishes with us His covenant.
Now if you will look at the latter part of Ephesians 1, verse 18, when you understand what it means to head [p. 199] up in one all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth, you will know what is the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints. In Israel the land of promise was God’s inheritance in the saints. For us it consists in all that is put under Christ. That is the inheritance into which we come in Christ, and in view of that God makes known what are the conditions on which He is with us. If you will turn to Romans 5 you will see the conditions of the covenant, verses 1 - 5 and 11. I call your attention to two or three expressions in that passage as indicating the terms. The first verse brings in the thought of peace. God is with us on terms of peace. In the second verse we have grace and the hope of glory. Then further on we get tribulations. God allows that; it is not the terms exactly, but it is necessary, and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. Then, afterwards, “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (reconciliation). Peace and grace, the hope of glory, love and reconciliation, are the terms on which God is with us at this present time. This comes in between deliverance out of the world and our being brought into the enjoyment of the inheritance. Nothing can be more important than that. If you want any enjoyment of liberty with God, it is all-important to learn the terms on which God is with you. And those terms are expressed in a risen Christ. Christ has secured peace. He is peace. Christ is full of grace; Christ is the hope of glory, so too the love of God is made known to us in Christ; and Christ is the blessed point of reconciliation. All these terms are set forth in a risen Christ. All God’s communications centre in Him.
If you turn to the epistle to the Hebrews you see that side of things spoken of, verses 22 - 24. I want to show you that every one of the expressions there centres in a risen Christ, and that apart from a risen Christ you cannot enter into any of them. Take the first, mount Zion. It is evidently a contrast to mount Sinai. In mount Sinai [p. 200] there was no idea of a risen Christ. Mount Zion, on the other hand, you cannot understand except in the thought of a risen Christ. The true mount Zion is this, that whereas in the crucifixion of Christ all was forfeited on man’s part, yet, after all, the will of God was accomplished in redemption, and in a risen Christ all is given back to man. The idea is taken from Psalm 68. The ark was taken into war by the children of Israel when they fought against the Philistines, and was taken captive by the Philistines. Every link with God was broken, when the ark was taken captive. He delivered their glory into the enemy’s hand. It was the darkest day in Israel’s history, but God employed David to bring back the ark, and David brought it to mount Zion. Then they sang the refrain, “His mercy endureth for ever”. That is, the people had forfeited everything in their folly and wickedness, but in the sovereignty of mercy God brought back the ark. So it is in the sovereignty of mercy to man that God has raised Christ from the dead. Hence it is you get mount Zion. That is the first part of God’s ways in regard to us.
Now I come to another, that is, the heavenly city. The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is dependent on a risen Christ. I will tell you my idea of a city — a city is the seat of legislation. Take London or Washington. It is in that way the most important city. So of old, Jerusalem was the seat of legislation; if difficult cases arose they had to be brought to the priests at Jerusalem. God had placed His name there. Now if the city is the seat of legislation, the people of the city ought to be the first who are formed by the legislation. They should be a pattern. The city should be an example, and in that way exercise an influence on the whole country. Now where is our legislation centred? Where is the seat of it with us? I have no doubt it is a risen Christ; and as the children of the heavenly city we are the first to come under the influence of the legislation. How does that work? We come under the law of Christ. What comes before you as light is bound sooner or later to become to [p. 201] you law. Christ comes to us first as light, making known the mind of God, but He becomes to us law. You will find that principle in Psalm 19, you first get the light, then the law. And we are the first to come under the legislation, under the light and law of Christ. The apostle said to the Galatians, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”. If you want law, Christ is law to you. The Lord Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls”. The point on which I am speaking is one of immense importance. Christ is the covenant to make known the disposition of God, then He becomes law to us, we are married to Him. We come under the influence of the legislation in order that we may be a light, like a city set on a hill, the light of the world. That is what I understand by the heavenly Jerusalem. I read one word in regard to it, Revelation 21: 22 - 24, “the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it”. There was no room for the light of man’s mind. The city is intended to be the great luminary of the universe. It is expressed in Ephesians 2, “That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”. Then it goes on to say in the Revelation, “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it”. I speak of these things as showing what the thought of God is in regard to the heavenly city, the children of which have their character from being brought under the influence of a risen Christ who is God’s law, I mean God’s law to a christian. You cannot be without law. The apostle says, “not as without law to God, but as legitimately subject to Christ”. Nothing is more abhorrent to God than lawlessness, and the way in which we escape from lawlessness is in being duly subject to Christ. What is the effect of it? We would be like Christ, meek and lowly in heart.
Now I take up the next thing, “an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly”. That is dependent on a risen Christ. I might read a few verses in the gospel of John, chapter 1: 49 - 51. Nathanael confessed Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel according to Psalm 2, but the Lord refers to Psalm 8 as presenting greater things .He says, “thou shalt see greater things than these”. Then He opens up the future and says, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open”, which is an immense thing, because when the heaven opens the universe is established in the light of God; but there is another thing, “and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man”. Heaven and earth are brought into accord, and the angels of God are “descending on the Son of man”. In 1 Peter 3, it says at the close of verse 22 that angels and authorities and powers are made subject to a Man, like the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. Now that you have a risen Christ you can understand the thought of an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly; the heavens are to be opened that they should attend on a risen Christ. Everything is put in place in that connection.
The next point is “the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven”. The church of the first-born, as I understand it, is those who are associated with the risen Christ, and that is where we are, properly speaking, at the present time. He is the first-born from the dead, but the first-born ones, on the ground of resurrection, are risen together with Him. That is the position of the church, and we are come to that, but how could you have come to that except with a risen Christ as the centre? Jesus says, “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. Then He comes into the midst and says, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit”. He brings them into association with Himself; they are risen with Him. They are the church of the first-born ones [p. 203] written in heaven. We have come to that in a risen Christ.
Then “God, the Judge of all”. How can God be the Judge of all except in a risen Christ, for it is dependent on redemption. God could not enter into that relation toward man except through redemption. It is in a risen Christ that He takes up the kingdom. Israel had had many judges after the flesh, but God is now the Judge of all.
I pass on, “to the spirits of just men made perfect”. How are they made perfect? In a risen Christ. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”. These just men are perfect, as to their spirits, because Christ has been raised for their justification, as for ours.
Then, “to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant”. A word in regard to that. If you will look at chapter 9, verse 15, it says, “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance”. I have been speaking of inheritance. God would not bring His people into inheritance without a covenant. It is absolutely necessary to inheritance. How could people get into the enjoyment of inheritance if they did not know the terms on which God is with them? It was set forth in type in Israel in the past. Well, the first covenant brought in transgressions, and these had to be cleared by the death of Christ, and death has come in for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that they which are called, being cleared of transgressions, may come into the enjoyment of the eternal inheritance; and to that end Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, having cleared away all the transgressions. He brings into the enjoyment of the inheritance.
Then you get “the blood of sprinkling”. How could you get the sprinkling, except in a risen Christ? Sprinkling is a term expressive of administration. The passage from [p. 204] beginning to end is dependent on and can only be read in the light of a risen Christ. Whether it is mount Zion, the heavenly city, the innumerable company of angels, the church of the first-born, God, the Judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, or the blood of sprinkling, you can appreciate every one of them, in seeing that they centre in a risen Christ, and in fact every communication which God has to make to us must centre there.
Now, that is the character of the divine communications to us. God making known to us that which is in His purpose to establish, and there is no single thing which God has established but in a risen Christ. You get a vast arrangement when you find the blessed principle of mount Zion. It is the foundation of all. Then the heavenly city, the light of the nations, angels attending, and the church of the first-born, risen together with Christ — God Himself taking in hand the government of the universe, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and the new covenant established, and the earth purged from its blood. The blood of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel, the earth is purged in the eye of God from the blood of violence. All that has come to pass in a risen Christ. It is a great thing to have a risen Christ distinctly before you. It takes you out of this world into the range of divine purpose. Then you get the admonition, “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh”. There is nothing to awe you; all is more in the character of a still, small voice. A great many things passed in the view of Elijah; the storm, the tempest, and the fire, but God was not in any one of them. What affected Elijah was the still, small voice, and these communications come to us in the still, small voice. If we allow the will or lust of the flesh, we shall become insensitive to divine communications, hence it is extremely important that we should be found here walking in self-judgment so that our ears are opened to receive. There is no greater proof of divine goodness than in God giving to His people the spirit of understanding.
[p. 205] The apostle prays that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Himself. May God give us understanding, and may we be attentive to the communications which God has made to us, and prepared to put aside and judge ourselves in respect of anything which tends to make us dull to these communications. The principle upon which God speaks to us is mount Zion, that is, the sovereignty of mercy when man has forfeited everything by his failure and sin.