WHAT PLEASES GOD
[p. 181] WHAT PLEASES GOD
Matthew 3:13-17; Hebrews 11:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:1
I wish to occupy you all and myself in this service, with what pleases God. In His abode above there is nothing displeasing to Him. The creature cannot compass the divine realm, because it must of necessity take on infinite proportions. We read of “the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2), which is, I suppose, the limit of the creature’s approach. We have the expression “above all the heavens” (Ephesians 4:10). How many there are is not stated. I suppose third would imply gradation, leading to what is wholly spiritual, a gradual leading to what is uncreated.
It is so in our own persons, we are very conscious of the physical, but we progress to the wholly spiritual condition. We must, of course, always remain creatures and never go beyond created conditions — the heavens being included. I think we always stand related to the physical, involving our bodies of glory, but there may not always be the consciousness of this. In earlier days, there was at times unconsciousness of the physical. Paul said he did not know whether, as in paradise, he was in or out of the body. That extraordinary experience he had fourteen years before he wrote the second letter to the Corinthians. There would be increase of spiritual consciousness as he entered on the realm beyond the first and second heavens, reaching the third. How he knew it was the third, I cannot say; he had no doubt about it, however, according to the way he records what occurred. It is a most remarkable incident, especially as he says he did not know whether he was in the body or out of it. God knows, he says. Clearly the experience was intended to affect his service and testimony, and would give increased spiritual body and power to it.
I refer to these matters to increase our interest in what is spiritual; interest in the realm of God, in the heavens. Solomon spoke of the heaven of heavens,
[p. 182] that it is not capable of containing God, and we have the wonderful statement that He dwells “in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see” (1 Timothy 6:16). The nearer we approach God in His own realm the more we are conscious of infinitude, and our own smallness. I am speaking of what pleases God, and I am sure Paul was conscious of that when he got there. Jesus went beyond all the heavens. That is a glorious thought. He is our Priest, “For such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). How much higher is not stated. He has gone beyond all heavens, so that man now has a wonderful place in the divine realm, and, as in Christ, fills the heart of God. Jesus as up there that “he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10), is personally the same as He was on the banks of the Jordan.
The place man in Christ has in the divine realm certainly should appeal to us, because we are men. Paul says that Christ has given gifts to men; He had every saint in His mind in those gifts, so that we should all be equal to the position designed for us up there; and the time is nearing when we shall be eternally there. It is finishing time now; the gifts and the Spirit remaining here, with a view to finishing us for the wonderful place we are to occupy, where we are to please God. The heavenly city, one of the greatest conceptions, is presented as a cube. It is solid and would be altogether out of the question if it were merely physical. Myriads of men are required to fill what is described as the heavenly city. It is composed of men, not angels; although angels have to say to it at the gates; we compose it, they do not. All shall fit according to the divine design; there will be nothing to displease God. God and the Lamb are there, there is no discrepancy whatever.
Now the verse read in Matthew bears on it. God has found what pleases Him. John the evangelist uses that word considerably; in chapter 1 particularly, where we [p. 183] read of persons being found. I wonder if everyone here has been found, for you have been sought. The divine eye has moved to seek and to find you. Take the sphere of glory John depicts in John 12. The Lord was about to enter Jerusalem; it was a great movement, and there was great interest in the matter; crowds were there and the Lord said in effect, ‘ There is something wanting in this display ‘. What was wanting was the young ass. Can an ass add to the glory of Christ? Yes, if you look at him according to what he is symbolically. The Lord found what was needed, so that we may be sure that if any one of us is needed by the Lord, He is looking for you, He will find you if you are available. He needs you to complete the position. We are not yet finished, and whilst unfinished there is something needed. These last days are very interesting days to heaven. God is going on with His work, looking for and finding souls in spite of all that man is doing. He found the ass. The Lord must be carried into Jerusalem. It is not simply that you should get blessing, but there is a place to be filled and you are needed to fill it. The Lord is looking for you. We do not want you to miss it. Perhaps I am speaking to someone who has not been found. The best place to be found is in a meeting like this. There is a place to be filled and the glory requires you should be there to fill it. The Lord found a young ass and used it. If God finds what He needs He uses it at once. The question is what pleases God; the ass evidently did and the Lord had no difficulty in riding on it. The Lord rode on the ass into His capital, in glory. What became of him afterwards, Scripture leaves; symbolically that ass is of great interest to heaven.
In Matthew we have another scene; not Jerusalem, although the Lord had been there. According to Luke He was, as a Babe, taken to the temple at Jerusalem by His father and mother. Now He is about thirty years of age, and He comes from Galilee. There may be persons [p. 184] here who belong to distinguished religious bodies; I do not know. There are some distinguished bodies; some very old so-called christian religions in the world. For such, this room would not be suitable, it would be altogether too mean. The greatest architectural skill has, for centuries, been employed for the abodes of those systems of renown. I mention all that because the Lord, about to take up His ministry, came from Galilee. That is a point for young people in moving to your place in fellowship — whence you came. Jesus came from Galilee, we are told in Matthew, and Matthew never loses sight of Galilee. According to him the Lord meets His disciples for the last time in Galilee. Surely it must have something to do with the pleasure of God. A cathedral has no element whatever that is pleasing to God, in spite of what it may be in the eyes of men. It is therefore important for me to inquire, Do I please God in my initial movements? There are initial movements. First there is God’s sovereign movement toward you, to do something in you, to change the texture of your being. However well bred and brought up, there must be a change in the texture of each if he is to be for God’s pleasure. God moves to do that. “The wind blows where it will” (John 3:8); that is sovereign action; no one can interfere with it; “thus is every one that is born of the Spirit”. This is a divine movement toward you. At the time you were not intelligent about it, but it happened. Then there is the evangelical movement by some one so that your soul might be illuminated by the gospel. The Lord Jesus does that. We are told in Matthew that the “people sitting in darkness has seen a great light, and to those sitting in the country and shadow of death, to them has light sprung up” (Matthew 4:16). That is the light of the gospel. John says “the light appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not”. This refers to judaism. But in Galilee it was apprehended by some, as Matthew testifies. In our chapter,
[p. 185] Matthew 4:18-22, Peter, Andrew, James and John are called and they follow Jesus. This is pleasing to God.
The Lord came from Galilee, the place under reproach. He came purposely every step of the way to the Jordan. He was going to be baptised. The place, the river, the baptiser — all are in the Lord’s mind. I am speaking now of the Lord of glory, and how He moved here below; what He was in heaven’s eye. John sees Him coming. I want to bring out this matter of heaven’s proclamation of pleasure in the Lord, and the connection in which it is found in Matthew. It is a matter of His mind at the time, and of His walk; how He came and whence He came; and how and what He had in His mind as coming. Righteousness is prominent. His mind was full of that thought. Now He is there, and John is there at the Jordan, also others. How heaven watched those steps from Galilee! He is there to bring out the moral question — because in coming to God, and dealing with divine things, we are apt to be very shallow, often mere imitators. It is imperative that we should dig deep in self-judgment, owning righteousness. In 2 Timothy 2:22 it is the first thing we are told to follow. The mind of the Lord Jesus here is taken up with what is suitable at the moment. It is a question of righteousness — of the Jordan, John and Christ’s baptism. He must be baptised by him. John deprecates it, saying he needed to be baptised of the Lord, but what was in the Lord’s mind was to govern the moment. If He has a mind about a matter that is what I want to understand. He says “it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. Now that is most necessary in days of shallowness such as ours. This matter of all righteousness must come up. What a conversation went on between John and Jesus! Heaven heard all that conversation, and observed how the Lord Jesus prevailed over John. He would say to each of us, ‘ I want to prevail in your soul ‘; we shall do well if we let [p. 186] Him have His way. John forbade Him at first, but this attitude did not last long. In having to do with the Lord we must not forbid Him in any way. The Lord is ready to do the best for us and our wisdom is to submit. John suffers Him to have His way; we should also. If we do not, we shall suffer loss. John is subject, he allowed the Lord to prevail in this matter. John baptised Him.
John the evangelist seems to know John the baptist in a special way. He tells us that John the baptist saw Jesus coming to him and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). There is no forbidding in John the evangelist’s account. He says, “But he who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:33,34). John the evangelist is always aiming to get souls to come to the knowledge of the Son of God. This great Person coming to do things for God, baptises with the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus does wonderful things. Just now, as regards the assembly, He is doing the finishing things. There are positions to be occupied, and He is filling them, baptising believers into the body. He wants some who are here tonight with this in view; and He is perfecting those of us who are already in the body. All is for the Father’s pleasure. Here “the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him: and behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. God had been looking for it and He found what pleased Him, and He proclaimed it.
I want to point out that in Mark and Luke, the Lord Himself is addressed. He is to have the sense of heaven’s delight in Him. The voice says, “Thou art my beloved [p. 187] Son, in thee I have found my delight”. Here in Matthew 3 the voice says, “This is my beloved Son” — it is addressed to others. When the Father intimates His pleasure in the believer, there is the understanding that it has to be maintained; it is to be a continuous matter, but it can only be by the Holy Spirit. Matthew says, “Then Jesus was carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). Will He be pleasing to God then? Yes, every moment! Never more so. Mark 1:12 says, “And immediately the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness”; the Holy Spirit takes the initiative. The position here is that things are thoroughly against you. Many do well when things are favourable, but recoil from what is adverse. Mark says the Lord “was with the wild beasts”, but He was never more delightful to God. The Lord is a divine Person, but He is here as Leader for us; a guide for us. If I am to continue in the pleasure of God, it is only as I let the Holy Spirit have His way with me. The Lord, as perfect in manhood here, let the Spirit have His way with Him. That is very remarkable. Mark says, He was driven into the wilderness; Luke that He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. As to believers, we are instructed that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
My next point is Enoch in Hebrews 11. It is a question of the pleasure of God before translation. If I am to continue to be pleasing to God, it is to be by the Holy Spirit, and His presence and support must be accompanied by self-judgment. The word to us is, “but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). That is self-judgment making room for the Spirit. Now Enoch is representative of the saints as about to be translated. He lived only a little more than one-third of the average life of the patriarchs mentioned before him. He lived only three hundred and sixty-five years. In these years he [p. 188] was pleasing to God. No doubt the allusion would be to the three hundred years during which he “walked with God”. The life of Jesus was short, it was taken from the earth. It was infinitely precious to God. What delight God has in the presence of Jesus up there all the time! Enoch is in a certain sense a type of Christ; but he is more exactly a type of the assembly; that is, as translated — not going through the great tribulation — and expressing what pleases God before the translation.
Jude tells us in his short epistle what no one else tells us, that Enoch was a prophet. He prophesied about wicked people. In verse 14 he tells us that Enoch was “the seventh from Adam”. So in Genesis 5 the names of those that preceded Enoch are mentioned. Enoch would seem to mean one disciplined or educated. To be properly educated you have to take account of what preceded you. The seventh from Adam is Enoch according to the fifth chapter of Genesis, not according to the fourth. He is on the line of education. Now Cain’s son is called Enoch too. Cain’s world would say, We have an Enoch as well as you. Our people are just as well educated as yours. But the education is different. The curriculum is different. If you look at Cain’s world it is a question of so-called science; iron, brass, music, and all that goes with these. Not so with Enoch the seventh from Adam. He is in the line of faith and so belonged to God’s world. Cain’s Enoch was the first from Cain, and his father made much of him in relation to his world. The first use of the word son in the Scriptures is in connection with Cain. That is a remarkable thing. Cain built a city, such as would afford scope for the arts and sciences, and he called his city after the name of his son Enoch; but our Enoch has to do with discipline and education, not in the sense of greatness in worldly institutions, but in the school of God. No one can please God who has not taken up that course.
[p. 189] Experience with God is what is needed. It is the beginning, and it is the end. It is a question of knowing God and walking with Him. Do not forget the walking with God three hundred years. Enoch would pray to God; a walk with God includes prayer, for the believer is dependent on Him. God has lesson books. Adam and all the others, six of them, that preceded Enoch were like these. He would seek to learn what was to be learned in Adam, and in Seth, and all the others. These were the lesson books. Christians are to remember their leaders: “Considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). I would urge all to recall our own leaders for the last hundred years. To be simple, we are perhaps “the seventh” from them. God’s book is full of examples. He would not write down one, two, three, four, five, six, on the line of education, save as there is something for us to learn. Each one of these six afforded some lesson for Enoch to learn. The passage cited from Hebrews 13 conveys the idea. I learn more from persons, consistent, intelligent christians, than I do from books. Such persons are living witnesses of the mind of God; it is portrayed in them, The point is, that there are to be disciplined people who have learned from their predecessors and contemporaries.
The testimony comes down to us in persons who appropriated it and were formed by it. The true believer wants to take on their traits. Wisdom in young people will seek companionship in older and more experienced christians. The testimony is in living persons. The Bible is authoritative, given by the inspiration of God. The Holy Spirit is in the persons. Enoch the seventh from Adam would learn from Adam and the others mentioned. He would also learn negatively from Cain’s line or others who turned away from the truth. He prophesied of wicked men (Jude 15): “Behold, the Lord has come amidst his holy myriads, to execute judgment against all”. The Holy Spirit reserved this for Jude. Jude says in effect,
[p. 190] I am pointing you to persons. I am not writing much. His epistle would teach us from personal examples, positively and negatively. And then there is the great and blessed thought of companionship with God. Enoch was a companion of God. Thus before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God.
Then finally, according to the verse read in 1 Thessalonians, we are to do something to please God. Heaven looks for naturalness in the saints; that we should be what God has made us. God loves His own work. Paul now says to us, “For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, even as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and please God”. The point is the manner of the christian’s walk — that it should please God. (J.N.D.’s footnote in the New Translation is instructive here — ‘I do not say ‘ to please, ‘ because then pleasing God would be a distinct object. Here it is rather ‘ to walk so as to please. ‘ The point is, the ‘ how, ‘ that is, the manner of doing it, not that it ought to be an object, however true that may be. ‘) God has made us spiritually. The Lord Jesus uses that word ‘ made ‘. God made the lion, the horse, the goat, the sheep and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. They were God’s handiwork. What Adam called each, that was its name. They stand according to the names he gave them. The name given each would convey the feature of life seen in it. They are all, as it were, a vocabulary of divine thoughts, because the names are representative of the workmanship of God. In Proverbs we are told of certain creatures that are comely in their going. They are not regarded as on parade, but viewed according to what each is by nature. When a lion turns not away from any, that is characteristic; it is a type of a christian — a courageous christian. He turns not away from any in contending for the truth. He is not simply looking up to see if God is looking at him. It is naturalness, as it were. When he is natural, that is, as God made him, God is [p. 191] glorified in the gait of the creature. Thus it is a question of how you walk; and in effect you please God. You are a subject of the work of God, and true to that, you do what is right. You are a kind of creature that God needs and you are a testimony in your walk. God has made you, and every day that that marks you, you are a testimony to everybody and you please Him. It is what you are as the workmanship of God, your gait; you are comely in going. Every step taken pleases God. So the walk in the Lord Jesus; John sees Him coming to him and calls Him the Lamb of God. Enoch walked with God three hundred years. It is a question of walk, how we walk and please God. The apostle says, “even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more”.