EZRA 1
We have been following the history of Israel and Judah down to the point when they were carried away captive on account of their departure from God. It is now thought well to read the books which speak of the return of a remnant from captivity. Jehovah had in mind that there should be recovery. He had been prophesying of it by His servants, and providing for it by His ways in government, even before the iniquity of His people had reached its height. In applying this to ourselves of the present period it is good to see that, while the christian profession was following a downward course in the direction of apostasy, God had in His mind the thought of a remnant being brought back to the truth as it was in the beginning. The epistles to Sardis and Philadelphia both suggest movements of recovery, for Sardis is addressed as having “received and heard”. There had been a divine giving and speaking which it was necessary to “keep” if the Lord’s favour in so giving and speaking was to have a right response. This we believe to have reference to that part of the christian profession which benefited so greatly by what is known as the Reformation, which was clearly on God’s part a movement of recovery. Then Philadelphia is addressed as having a little power, and as having kept Christ’s word, and as having not denied His name, and as having kept the word of His patience. It is evident that this implies recovery to that which was from the beginning, so that it speaks of true assembly conditions being found at the end so that Philadelphia becomes the subject of Christ’s complacent love and commendation. This speaks to us of recovery as clearly as Jeremiah’s prophecy spoke of seventy years being accomplished in the desolations of Jerusalem. It was Daniel understanding by books the number of the years that led him to make confession of the sin of his people, and to cry so earnestly to Jehovah to cause His face to shine upon His sanctuary which was desolate, and to favour the city and the people that were called by His name, see Daniel 9: 1 - 19.
There was very little thought of what answered to Jerusalem or the house of God for many centuries, but over a hundred [p. 198] years ago God stirred up many hearts to pray, and to search the Scriptures, that they might return to what was in His mind — with regard to His saints ever since Pentecost, but which had been grievously departed from. God has no thought of setting up anything new; He would have all His saints to return to His original thoughts, in which they are all entitled by His grace to have part. All that is the outcome of the death of Christ, and that is connected with the presence of the Spirit here; all that is bound up with the lordship and headship of Christ, and that enters into the truth of the assembly and the service of God, is there for saints to return to if their spirits are stirred up to do so.
There was scripture to justify great expectations in the time of Daniel and Ezra, just as there was scripture to justify great expectations when the assembly revival began over a hundred years ago. I suppose there was also an intuitive sense that it would not be like God to leave things as they were until the rapture. For it was written that “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. This in itself would suggest that something would be found at the end having the true character of the bride, and able to say, Come, in concert with the Spirit. I have no doubt that this, apprehended either intelligently or intuitively, led many saints to cry to God to favour His people, and to move in restoring mercy so that a remnant might be recovered to the divine centre, and that the truth of the house of God and of the service of God might be set up again in the faith and love of His people after being desolate in any spiritual sense for many centuries. I have no doubt that it was in answer to much exercise and prayer, founded upon the Scriptures, that God gave such a precious ministry of His own thoughts concerning Christ and the assembly more than a hundred years ago. This ministry, continued by His grace ever since, has stirred up many hearts, and encouraged many hearts, to return from what is really Babylonish captivity to have a part in the setting up of the true service of God in accord with the truth of the assembly. Where there is confession of departure and confidence in God that He will do something for His name and for His house, we may be sure that He will do something which answers in this day to what He did for His people in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. I think we can say, very humbly but very thankfully, that He has done so.
But the place which the kings of Persia had in relation to [p. 199] the return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the house and the city, is remarkable and instructive. We do well to take note of it, because there has been something similar in our day. The Persian monarchy represents generally an aspect of world power which God can make use of for the good of His people, and for the furtherance of what He has in His mind. Cyrus had been marked out, and even mentioned by name, long before he was born, as we may see in Isaiah 41: 2; Isaiah 44: 28; Isaiah 45: 1 - 5; Isaiah 48: 14. Daniel, as having read his Bible, would know all about this; it would encourage his prayer greatly. If we paid more attention to our Bibles there would be more encouragement and power in our prayers. People who read Isaiah casually might have passed over what was said about Cyrus, but the right attitude of faith depended upon it being taken in. God had marked out a wonderful service for Cyrus, though He says that Cyrus did not know Him. He was made to contribute in a wonderful way to the building of God’s house and of the holy city.
I am afraid we do not think sufficiently of how God has moved in His government of the world in order to make a way for His people to return from Babylonish captivity. In certain countries, at any rate, God has brought about conditions in the world which are favourable to the return from captivity of all those whose spirit is stirred up in relation to His house. God foresaw what He was about to do in a spiritual way, and in restoring mercy to His people, and He made provision for it in His ordering of human events. A certain liberation has been granted in this and other lands, so that the world power does not hinder; it gives liberty for the working out in a practical way of what is in the mind of God. Not very long since we might, according to the law of this land, have been put in prison or punished severely if we had not conformed to that order of religious service which the world approved. But God has moved in the sphere of political things, and He has brought about conditions which give liberty for spiritual movements. Not a single saint, in England at any rate, is hindered by the world power from returning to the divine centre, or from working out with his brethren the truth of the house of God. No one is held captive in Babylon by the political powers that are in authority in the world. This is an immense favour from God which has been brought about by His faithfulness, and it is also the answer to the faithfulness and prayers of a remnant [p. 200] of His people. God knew centuries ago what He was going to do; He had in mind to deliver His people from an order of things which was really Babylonish, and to bring them back to the truth of the assembly, so that His service might be carried on in a spiritual way. And He has ordered things politically in view of this. But getting the gain of it is dependent upon spiritual conditions being maintained in the hearts of the saints. The liberty granted to us has come about through many exercises and prayers and sufferings of the people of God, and if we become lax spiritually we cannot count on a continuance of liberty.
The Lord speaks to Philadelphia as the One who “has the key of David, he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open”. And He says, “behold, I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. The opened door is conditional upon His word being kept and His name confessed. If the conditions are present on our side the Lord will undoubtedly exercise His power as having the key of David to open the door and keep it open. If saints are ready to move spiritually the Lord will see to it that there is an opened door before them.
A great system of bondage has been set up, but there is liberty to get out of it. If believers are found listening to the preaching of unconverted men it is a terrible bondage. If one who knows in his own soul the liberty of the Spirit of sonship has to take part in an ordered service in which that Spirit has no place, he is in captivity. A system of things which is designed to go on without the Spirit of God, and does go on without Him, can only be bondage to one who knows that all his relations with God are in the Spirit, and that he can only worship by the Spirit of God. God feels the captivity of His people, and He has made provision for their liberation. “Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel — he is God — which is at Jerusalem”. It is important to understand that the service of God can only go on in the place where He has set His name. There can be no service of God in Babylon; His house must be built at Jerusalem. The great thoughts of God, taken up in our affections, will liberate us from what is Babylonish and what is sectarian, or what is marked by independency.
[p. 201] Jerusalem and the house of God, as applied spiritually to ourselves, represent what is universal. There are great spiritual realities existent today which are to be recognised by faith and love, and as they are recognised the people of God move away from captivity into liberty. Jesus has died that “he should also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad”. As born of God His children are one family, and they are all indwelt by one Spirit in whose power they are all baptised into one body. Christ has formed Jew and gentile in Himself into one new man, and in Him “all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also” (gentiles) “are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. So that believers who are of the gentiles are “joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings”. Those born of God, who receive Christ by believing on His name, have part in common in the wondrous results of the death of Christ; they have all received the same Holy Spirit; and through Christ they have all access by one Spirit to the Father. But all this belongs to Jerusalem; it cannot be known or enjoyed in Babylon. Babylon is the current system of religion according to which the children of God and those who are of the world join together in what is supposed to be the service of God. But everything that is of God is brought into captivity in such a system. Those who are of the world cannot join, except in a most unreal way, in utterances that would be suitable for the children of God. And the children of God who are happy in His love and favour cannot feel that language which expresses the experience of distance and unsuitability to God is fitting for them to use. It is impossible for the world lying in the wicked one and the sons of God accepted in Christ to take common ground before God. To attempt to do so is to bring all that is of God into bondage. The divine nature finds its liberty in conditions of holiness, truth, love, divine order and spirituality. But these things are found in Jerusalem, not in Babylon. How could the heavenly character of the assembly or the truth of Christ’s Headship be known in an earthly system? How could the saints be together as the brethren of Christ, or in the conscious joy of sonship before God, in a system of things which keeps them on the ground of being men in the flesh? All the principles which govern the fellowship of saints, the truth of the assembly, and its divine order and functioning [p. 202] as set forth in 1 Corinthians and in the epistles to Timothy, are all unknown in what answers to Babylon today. For all that is connected spiritually with God’s name, and with the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must leave Babylon and come to Jerusalem. Divine order and worship in spirit and truth cannot be found in any human system. They cannot be taken up in any sectarian or independent position. These things stand connected with Jerusalem and the house; they will only be understood as the people of God use their liberty to return from Babylonish captivity.
No doubt there is spiritual wealth in Babylon at the present time, and many precious vessels that really belong to the house of God, but they are enriching and adorning the wrong city. They are not available for service there. They are all wanted for the house at Jerusalem, but to get them there God has to stir up the spirits of His people. “And the chief fathers of Judah and Benjamin rose up, and the priests, and the Levites, even all those whose spirit God had stirred, to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is at Jerusalem”. The “chief fathers” would be those who are prepared to carry responsibility. Without such persons there can be no effective movement. Many have enough light to know that they are not where they ought to be, but they shrink from responsibility in the matter, and remain in captivity. It is requisite that a spiritual lead should be given, and we can thank God that it has been given. None of us now has to step out on an untrodden path; we, like the Hebrews, have had spiritual leaders who have spoken to us the word of God, and who by their faith have marked out the path of liberty, and where the service of God can go on according to His mind. We might become acquainted with such if we are interested, and we might perhaps find some in our own locality who are moving in the direction of Jerusalem and the house of God. It is well to seek the company of such, and to move with them.
Priests and levites were found amongst those who went up, which brings out the fact that the service of God was in view. It would be essential in any movement of recovery today that there should be priestly and levitical elements present. That is, consideration for God and a readiness to take up spiritual labour in relation to His service, and for the good of His people. We may find these elements today, perhaps in persons not of much account in this world.
“[p. 203] And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah ... by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine-and-twenty knives, thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. The whole did Sheshbazzar bring up, when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem”. The vessels of service now are persons, the gold representing what the saints are as subjects of the work of God, and the silver speaking of what they are as standing in the value of a divine redemption. The saints are very precious vessels as wrought of God and carrying the features and qualities of new creation. It is possible for us to set aside in our minds all that we are naturally, or according to the flesh, and think of ourselves according to what we are by the grace and work of God. We then arrive at a true thought of what we are as vessels of gold. Then we may think of ourselves as redeemed ones, having our place before God in Christ as the fruit of that great redemption which He has accomplished on the cross. We shall become God’s righteousness in Him eternally on the ground that He has been made sin for us. The thought of redemption brings into relief all that was accomplished when our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us. It is due to Him that we should be silver vessels for the service of the house of God.
Then we should gather that “chargers” and “basons” would be fairly large vessels, and they would suggest great capacity for the service of God. Why should we be content to be small vessels? Why not pray for enlargement that God may be more worthily served? Surely we should all desire this. 2 Timothy goes along with this, and contemplates the vessels as being “sanctified” and “serviceable”. How careful we should be to preserve ourselves so that nothing shall be allowed that would unfit us for the holy service of the house of God! The vessels were all counted out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah; as of the royal line he was the one best fitted to take charge of them. He may be looked at as a type of Christ, but I think generally in this book he is viewed as taking a lead in the responsible service, and that he would represent princely features in the saints rendering them able to take up a divine trust. The “basons” of gold and silver referred to appear to have been dishes with covers (see 1 Chronicles 28: 17 and note); this would suggest that there are times when the saints have to hold themselves as covered vessels. The contaminations of the world have to be carefully excluded. But in actual service in the house the covers would be removed. We do not expect that a brother will cover up in the assembly what he has in his heart. It is the time then for the covers to be taken off so that God may be served and the saints helped in their approach to Him by what a brother has. Many keep the covers on when they should be taken off, and God is robbed of what is His due, and the worship suffers generally by something being covered up in the heart that ought to be brought into view. It is possible for what may be thought to be modesty and a retiring spirit to put a vessel of service out of action in the house of God. Let us see to it that the covers are not on when they should be off!