SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
JT No doubt most of us know that Zechariah, as well as Haggai, helped the builders on the return from the captivity. Zechariah is thus, while a prophet, representative also of the Christian in a practical way — one who could not only convey the mind of God, but show how to apply it.
This chapter deals with the Spirit in His activities, in our own time — a day of small things. “As a man that is wakened out of his sleep” Most of us will, no doubt, discern that this has a present application, for most of us are as persons wakened out of sleep in order to see what God has here to carry on and maintain His testimony. As wakened, and seeing what God has, we turn away from man’s machinery for the carrying on of the work of God.
Ques What do you mean by practical?
JT You will remember it is said of Zechariah and Haggai that they helped; see Ezra 5:1,2. They prophesied to the Jews, and then we read they began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God helping them. They were with the builders and helped the builders. They went forward and participated in the practical side for the service of God.
It will be observed that, in the New Testament, the foundation is said to be that of the apostles and prophets. The Lord Jesus said that He would build on a certain foundation; but when we come to the epistles, the foundation is by the apostles and prophets. At Corinth, Paul said that, as a wise architect, he had laid the foundation there, and every one was [p. 250] to take care how he builded on that; that is the practical side. The lampstand in this chapter was all of gold; it was not what was of man. There is much laid under tribute now nominally to carry on the work of God that is not of gold, but the very opposite, so that Christians, as waked out of sleep, need to see that the work of God must be carried on by means divinely provided. Indeed, it is as of God ourselves that we are to have part in it; as John says, “We are of God” 1 John 4:6 and elsewhere, Paul says, “of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God” 1 Corinthians 1:30 That is a matter of light for us, and as beginning with it, our safety lies in disallowing all that is contrary to it. It is better to have a little that is genuine than much that is adulterated. I suppose there was much going on at Corinth that would be otherwise, inasmuch as there were leaders of parties there with their partisans, and that would open the door for material described as “wood, hay, stubble” which would not stand the divine test. Although they had written to the apostle Paul about several things that exercised them, they omitted the things that stood in the way of their prosperity, and these were local division, and party feeling. They did not write to him about these. But that is the first thing he mentions in writing his letter, when he comes to criticism of what there was at Corinth. Hence the work of God was necessarily hampered there, and the door opened for extraneous material; so the apostle calls attention to the divine test that should apply. Anything that could not stand that would be burned up. Having gone over the ground thus, he wishes them to know that they are not to let their hands hang down, notwithstanding all that; they were to labour, and their labour would not be in vain in the Lord; 1 Corinthians 15:58. Labour otherwise is sure to be in vain. “Gold, silver, precious stones” 1 Corinthians 3:12 represent the good material.
[p. 251] Ques What relation has the gold to the golden lamps here?
JT Gold usually alludes to what is wholly of God, particularly righteousness. In Scripture it is, in general, a type of what is of God.
Rem It seems connected with the oil here.
JT Yes, with the oil and the olive trees, so that the things of God may be maintained independently of what is of man. If we think of the candlestick — the lampstand — it must, in our own dispensation, allude to the saints as of the assembly, and we have to take it up in that way — that all is of God. The foundation is laid stress upon in Corinthians, but every one is to take heed how he builds.
In 2 Chronicles 3:3 we have Solomon’s foundation. We have to understand what Solomon’s foundation is. He began to build on mount Moriah, which means “shown by Jehovah” It is not something that man arrives at by study, but by being shown. In Matthew 16 the thing was shown. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” Matthew 16:16 Jesus answered, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens” Matthew 16:17 God Himself indicated the thing. That is the general idea underlying the foundation; the site is shown. We have Solomon’s foundation and the measurements of it. In Matthew it is the Christ, the Son of the living God — Peter’s confession; but in the epistles it is what the apostles have done. There has been practical work, so that in Ephesians it is the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In Corinthians, the foundation was laid by Paul. It is more than being shown now; when the foundation is laid, you have something concrete for God. At Corinth it took the form of “Jesus Christ” I think Solomon’s foundation is the general thought, like Matthew 16, but local conditions would bring out certain features of it, so that what the [p. 252] apostle stresses at Corinth is that it was Jesus Christ. Referring to his actual preaching he says, “The Son of God that was preached”
The prophet here is a sort of type; he says, “And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep” I think that is an allusion to the time in which there is an awakening; it does not refer to the beginning of things. It supposes a lapse: “they all slumbered and slept” Matthew 25:5 Then there is an awakening, which leads us to see what God has. Man has built up much, but what we see now is the means that God has of doing things. If we are wakened, it is to see what God has; it is not that the candlestick is restored, for we hear nothing of it after Ephesus; Revelation 2. No doubt it was lost in Thyatira; the Lord does not put on the remnant there the burden of maintaining the public testimony; but no one who loves the Lord would want to stay there; he would go back to the beginning, to see what the vessel was that God used to disperse the light, and he would desire to walk in the light of it, though not pretending to be it.
Although a day of small things, the divine thought was still effective; Zerubbabel had laid the foundation, and he should finish the house. The work is all one piece. Now the point is the finish. It is the same hand that lays the foundation that lays the headstone, crying, “Grace, grace unto it” That is very encouraging, because the finish is going to be with victory.
God has His own way of wakening people. We have been as persons who have been asleep. The sight had been lost of what God had, and what is of man was set up instead. The Reformation called attention to much, but one wonders whether the candlestick was seen then, whether the idea was laid hold of. It may have been, but men did not act on [p. 253] it. In a later day the awakening was to that, and particularly to the Spirit. God has the same means for carrying on His work that He had at the beginning. It gives it a dignity in our minds when we see that we are labouring at the same thing that the Lord and the apostles laboured at.
Zerubbabel is a type of the Lord. He is like the Lord in His authority; he is the governor. You find him in Haggai specially referred to as the governor. The Lord, who is the governor of the universe and the upholder of it, is content to be governor to such small things. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, but in the meantime He is content to be governing a few of us. The governor and the priest go together. “Who hath despised the day of small things?” The Lord has not; He is content to be the governor of a few feeble people who have no place in this world. Each of us has to be submissive to the governor. He is the priest on His throne; He has authority, but He is sympathetic.
Ques What is the objective in the work?
JT The topstone, I think. “He shall bring forth the head-stone with shoutings: Grace, grace unto it” That is the end in view. Then in verse 9 it says, “the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; and his hands shall finish it” It is a great thing to see that we are at the finish, and that it is to be in accord with the beginning. It lies in the Spirit; the quality is the same; the supply of oil is not going to run out; we have the unlimitedness of it. The setting of these two books is in Ezra and Nehemiah; these were the circumstances in which Haggai and Zechariah ministered.
There are things brought to our attention that we do not understand. Understanding is more a faculty than something acquired in the way of knowledge, so it says, “The Lord will give thee understanding in all things” 2 Timothy 2:7 The understanding comes after the thing is presented to us objectively. As you are awake, the Christ shines upon you, and you have understanding. We read in Proverbs, “Through wisdom is a house built” That is the general principle. “By understanding it is established” Proverbs 24:3 you see how the thing is carried out; “and by knowledge are the chambers filled with all precious and pleasant substance” Proverbs 24:4 In Luke 24 the Lord opened their understanding, in order that they should see that all the Scriptures were centred in Him.
If we had heard the apostles ministering when they laid the foundation, we would have been impressed by grace. Take any of the sermons in Acts, beginning at chapter 2. Acts gives us the manner of apostolic service. We see, therefore, how grace marked their ministry, and we want to be so characterised now. It is a day of small things; there is no promise that there will be anything else; but they are to be small things of quality — that is the idea. The Lord is much more concerned about that than about volume. At Corinth the danger was bringing in big things. A cartload of hay is not worth very much; you might buy it for a sovereign or two. Many attach great importance to quantity; but if you set a match to the hay, where is it? With gold it is not a question of quantity, but quality. “The gold of that land is good” Genesis 2:12 You may depend upon it that, as at Corinth, where party spirit is rife, there must be quantity to justify it. As party spirit is rife, there is much made of what is going on. In Christendom they have to make a showing, hence there is room for wood, hay, stubble. These things do not stand the test. You see quantity everywhere — huge buildings, large numbers of people, show of every kind. You may bring that nearer home; but it is a question of show. The secret of it is party feeling — sects. But God shows you what things mean. The prophet says, “What are these, my lord?” That is the kind of man who will get instruction. You want to find out how things work. The angel says, “Knowest thou not what these are?” That is a challenge. Why are you ignorant? It is a wholesome thing to be challenged like that. What you see in the prophet is that the angel is talking with him. That is another beautiful thought in this book; the angel is talking with him; it is a mutual thing. There is no official dignity about the angel, so that the prophet is free to ask questions. That is the difference between the clerical system and the mutual system. The assembly is based on mutual relations, whereas human religion is almost invariably hierarchical. It is those who raise the question who get the answer. I think that things which the Lord graciously accords to us are on that line — the very opposite of the hierarchical system. The ground is mutual. There is room for what the Lord would give, but the ground is mutual. He “talked with me” In Acts 20, after the Lord’s supper, the apostle conversed with the brethren. We may be sure that there was much inquiry and much light. Inquiry brings out the understanding — the knowledge of the working of the thing. “And I said, No, my lord” It is a good thing to be able to say that you do not know; that is the secret of getting knowledge.
“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts” Now we have come to something very specific; it has to do with the builder of the assembly; then it would work out in a practical way in those who would be building. That brings in another matter, and that is, the idea of representation — that whilst we may have part in the building, the building is the Lord’s, and thus the word is for all who are actively engaged in building. The building is the Lord’s, and the work is carried on by the [p. 256] Spirit of God. You want to do everything that you are doing by the Spirit of God. If you are visiting a saint, preaching the Word, attending a Bible reading — you are to be exercised to do it by the Spirit of God. The prophets of God were helping the builders. Things were very small, the difficulties very great, but they went on building.
We want to have the conscious knowledge of things. When the Lord was twelve years old, His mother went a day’s journey and did not know that He was not in the company. She was theoretical; it was mere theory with her; there was no idea of consciousness. We talk much about the Lord coming to us; but is it mere theory, or is it consciousness? They travelled the whole day, and thought He was with them. That is the state of many gatherings. The Lord may not be there, and yet they talk about Him as if He were there. These prophets — Zechariah and Haggai — were practical men.
In the minor prophets we are reminded of the resources of God. Our eyes are opened, as were the eyes of Elijah’s servant, to see how many are on our side. That is a sort of background. We are going on with small things, because that is the government of God on account of the failure of the public vessel; we may as well accept it; the Lord accepts it, and has continued to be our governor notwithstanding. “The government shall be upon his shoulder” Isaiah 9:6 — that is, of everything; not of a few of us. “Thou hast a little power” Revelation 3:8 It is the same kind of power they had at the beginning. Note how the Lord keeps the assembly in His mind. The remnant in Philadelphia represents His mind as to the assembly. The terms indicate that it is the assembly He has in His mind.
In verse 10 there is another thing: “They shall rejoice ... and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven” Now that is a very solemn matter, because the plummet would mean [p. 257] that everything will have to be regulated by what He has in His hand. “Those seven” would allude to the eyes of the Lord. In the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth, there is intimate divine knowledge. Of course, God knows everything, being God; nevertheless He assures us that by the presence of the Spirit He has first-hand knowledge of everything that exists on earth. When men built the tower of Babel, God came down to see what they had built; so too He came down to Sodom. Now in connection with the presence of the Holy Spirit He has come down and has first-hand knowledge of everything. The plummet is the standard whereby everything is to be tested. That is a very serious consideration, because He has not changed His mind one iota from the day of Pentecost to the present time.
John’s writings are to bring in the things without calling them by name — that the things should be present; he emphasises that. John brings out the temple: the Lord calls it His Father’s house, and cleanses it. Then you have the temple of His body in chapter 2; “the house” in chapter 8: the Son abides in the house. The things are there, but not officially. What Ephesians represents to us is a fixed order of things from God’s side. The unity of the Spirit exists; he bases the unity on the fact that there is “one body, and one Spirit ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all ...” Ephesians 4:4 That is a fixed order of things that can no more be interfered with than the universe. There is this — the unity of the Spirit. Now my responsibility is in all lowliness and meekness to keep that in the bond of peace. That is how the thing stands. Then the gifts are brought in, and they are for the saints, “until we all arrive ... at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” Ephesians 4:13 So Zerubbabel here may also represent those who are responsible to carry on the work, and who have received gifts from Christ in [p. 258] heaven. Be assured that what was laid at the beginning is to be finished. The Lord will wear down by discipline the extraneous thing that is in us until all the stones fit. There is the positive building to bring us up to it, and the discipline to remove what would hinder. Christ is God’s ideal, and He is working to that. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth” 2 Chronicles 16:9; it is a universal matter. The work of God is universal. It is carried on here, but it is the same as what He is doing elsewhere; it is all one piece. Nothing escapes the notice of God in this moment; we are in the presence of the Spirit here.
Rem In 2 Chronicles 16:9 the eyes of the Lord are said to run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear Him.
JT Yes; here it is more for search; nothing escapes Him. You have a further inquiry in verses 11 and 12, and again the prophet owns his ignorance. Then the angel says, “These are the two anointed ones” (sons of oil) “that stand before the Lord of the whole earth” There I think the allusion is to spiritual maturity in the way of adequate testimony here. It is not a question of a very great number — two — but you have adequate testimony, in mature stability, to the Lord of the whole earth. That is what God is set for, to have a testimony to Himself here. What is of God is presented, and the testimony is to Himself. God is going to be represented by sons. You see it in the Lord Jesus. In the early chapters of Luke, you have the infantile idea in John the baptist; he was filled with the Spirit from his infancy, but he was not then a “son of oil” He was in the desert until the time of his showing to Israel; he had to go through his training to attain maturity; then he begins his ministry. In chapter 3 he says, “Offspring of vipers, who hath forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Matthew 3:7 Do not flatter yourselves that you are the sons of Abraham; there must be repentance. You see how mature he was. Then others began to inquire; his ministry touched their consciences. Ministry has no value unless it touches people’s consciences. He says to the people, “He that has two body-coats, let him give to him that has none” Luke 3:11; to the tax gatherers, “Take no more [money] than that which is appointed to you” Luke 3:13; to the soldiers, “Oppress no one, nor accuse falsely, and be satisfied with your pay” Luke 3:14 He had a just idea of what was due at that time; it is an application of spiritual maturity in ministry; he represented God at the moment. That ministry leads to imprisonment; Herod added to all his wickedness, in that he shut up John in prison. Then the Lord comes in praying; that is the attitude of spiritual maturity. We are told that He was about thirty years of age — attaining His maturity; “and praying, that the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I have found my delight” Luke 3:21,22 I think that is the idea of the son of oil — maturity in testimony here. “[The] Spirit of [the] Lord is upon me” Luke 4:18 There is an adequate witness for God here in maturity. God is bringing that about now — a representation of Himself. He would have His service maintained in spiritual maturity.