UNITY AND ETERNAL LIFE
[p. 107] UNITY AND ETERNAL LIFE
Psalm 132, Psalm 133 and Psalm 134
In looking at some earlier psalms I drew attention to the great importance of apprehending the principle of resurrection as pervading the whole collection. It is only through resurrection, that is, on the principle of life out of death, that God could bring to pass the world to come. Every purpose of God as regards man, whether for heaven or for earth, must be fulfilled on that principle, for the obvious reason that death is universally upon man down here in this world. There is nothing in this world that is not under the shadow of death — the best things are as much under the shadow of death as the worst. Human relationships and ties are continually being broken in upon by death. Every one becomes familiar with it, at least in the bearing of it. All the ties with which human happiness is bound up are continually loosened by death, and the enjoyment of the best things is spoiled by it.
Now, this being the case with regard to the best things, it is still more striking in reference to what is artificial. Whatever a man may have gathered by labour and thrift in this world he has to leave behind him, and he knows not whether what he has accumulated will do good or evil. All under the sun is vanity and vexation of spirit; if a man could follow out the effect of all that he has done and gathered in this world, I suppose that he would be sorely disappointed. However, I don’t pursue that subject, but desire you to see how God has been at work in the behalf of man.
God has been working from the beginning. You will no doubt recall an expression of the Lord Jesus in John’s gospel, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”. God has been working from the beginning,
[p. 108] laboriously and patiently, but in view of the world to come. The work of God has not had for its ultimate object the amelioration of the condition of man in this world, but the establishment of the world to come. On the principle of resurrection He has proposed to establish an order of things which will be according to His mind, in which God may rest, and blessing be secured for man according to His mind.
Every intervention of God in the Old Testament was really in view of the world to come. Whether it be what was promised to Abraham or to David, all had reference to the world to come, though there may have been already a provisional fulfilment; and, further, every dealing of God with man had in view the world to come. Faith ever had reference to the world to come, whether in Abraham, Moses or David. That is brought out in Hebrews 11. God was looking on to the time when He would dispossess death, the time of redemption. Redemption results in deliverance from all the power of evil. Death is God’s judgment consequent on the coming in of sin, and God will dispossess death in virtue of redemption. In the Revelation the Lord Jesus says to John, “I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”. He is able to dispossess death; for that is the power of resurrection. God has acquired that power through redemption, and that is the first principle of the world to come, and that principle comes out very abundantly in the psalms.
In the psalms we have great detail of Christ’s sufferings, and we find Him taking a new place in resurrection, and identifying others with Him in that place. That is also brought out in Hebrews, “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee”. That is, in resurrection, He identifies those of Himself with Himself. We see that especially in the early part of the psalms.
In connection with the later psalms we see the city and the covenant. Last time I spoke of the coming of the Lord. He is now seated provisionally at the right hand of God, but He is coming again, to be welcomed in the very place from which He has been rejected, and He comes, in the power of resurrection, to dispossess death, death will be swallowed up in victory.
Now, the psalms I have read at this time furnish a climax to the whole. Properly speaking, the psalms close with 119 — the law being written in the heart, that psalm is morally the close. Then we get the songs of degrees, which close with the three I have now read. They show how, in result, every divine thought is brought into accomplishment, and that is what I want to open out. If you get the rest of God, it can only be when He is glorified. It is impossible that God’s rest could be until His purpose is brought into effect. He will rest in His love because He is glorified, and every purpose accomplished, and His promises fulfilled; then He rests. We have in Hebrews 4 the rest of God, and we who believe enter into rest.
I have often said that the three great thoughts presented on the part of God in the Old Testament are blessing, dwelling, and ruling. Blessing, as I understand it, means eternal life in the victory over death. Dwelling is in the idea of God’s house; and ruling is God’s kingdom. These are the three great thoughts prominent in the Old Testament. When we get the climax according to God we have these three thoughts brought together. I will shew you how they are brought together in these three psalms.
There are certain things connected with the future which are made known to us. What is spoken of here will literally be fulfilled hereafter. But while many [p. 110] people are greatly concerned about the future, for myself I am more concerned about the present. Future things are not exactly things which are described as unseen. Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, and hope does not connect itself so much with future things as with unseen things. You do not hope for what you see. “For what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for: but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it”. Hope connects itself with unseen things, and faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It is a mistake to suppose that unseen things do not yet exist: they do exist, they are present, not future. The point is, that there is a power come in to make them good to us, and faith is the substantiation of things hoped for: that means the things made good to us in the present time.
But the continual effort on the part of man is to put the world right. Men see certain blots on humanity, and they set to work to remove them. For instance, in movements to abolish slavery: it is agreed that it is a blot upon humanity, but the abolition of slavery meets with a very great deal of difficulty. In the abolition of slavery in America and Russia very many people both slaves and masters, were not willing for it, and it was not done without a very great deal of inconvenience and difficulty, and against the disposition of many concerned. The object of man is not to set man right, but to set the world right; and, in contrast to that, I see that God’s way is not to put the world right but to put man right.
When man is put right God will easily put everything else right. If you could conceive such a state of things brought to pass as that man should love God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself, what would be the result? Man would want God brought in; and if he loved his neighbour as himself, he would not be able to bear the thought of inequality. You [p. 111] could hardly have distinctions between rich and poor, masters and slaves, if a man loved his neighbour as himself.
I think the distinction is very intelligible between man setting the world right, and God working to put man right. It is when man is put right that God displays the world to come, and in doing so answers right desires of man. He comes in when right desires on the part of man have been awakened. Every change in the world will entail great inconvenience and suffering when man works; but when God works to set man right, every change which takes place is the answer to right desires on man’s part.
Now turning to Psalm 132, I want you to follow the appeal made here. “Jehovah remember for David, all his afflictions”, etc. That is a right desire awakened on the part of man, and then he appeals to Jehovah. “Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength”. That is another appeal on the part of man. God has awakened in man right desires; man loves God, and the expression of those desires is the appeal to Jehovah. “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy”.
I read now verses 11 - 18: “Jehovah hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne ... His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish”.
The first part of the psalm is the expression of godly, right desires on man’s part, and the latter part is the answer which Jehovah is pleased to give in His grace. He fulfils the desire, and not only fulfils it, but He surpasses it. There are two points connected with the answer. (1) He establishes the throne of David; and (2) God comes in to dwell in Zion. The burden of the prophets is, that Jehovah dwelleth in Zion. If you were to go through Scripture and find [p. 112] out the number of times those two thoughts are spoken of, you would be surprised. We thus get two great thoughts fulfilled, Jehovah reigning and Jehovah dwelling. That comes out in the psalm, and when God comes the throne of David is established, it is in the Person of Christ.
Christ is not only the Offspring but the Root of David. He occupies the throne of David, because He is the Offspring, but He is at the same time the Root of David; and hence the throne of David is identified with the throne of Jehovah. That, to me, is a wonderful thing. It is Jehovah who sits on the throne of David and dwells in Zion. When Jehovah dwells in Zion it is a time of prosperity and blessing. There will not be any marked distinctions in that day between rich and poor, master and slave, but satisfaction and abundance for all. “I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread”.
God answers the desire of every living thing. He Himself comes in, and men find their portion and blessing in His goodness. The world then will not be full of men with unsatisfied desires, for they will be satisfied with the goodness of God.
To pursue the psalm. It says, “There will I make the horn of David to bud”. This is what will mark that day, because God has come in to take up His dwelling in Zion in answer to the desires in man which His Spirit has awakened. He dwells in Zion, and reigns in the city of the great king. He is the God of the whole earth. He takes up the throne of David; and in the next psalm we come to the thought of blessing.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ... As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”. I suppose this [p. 113] may refer to the blessing to Abraham, and the promise of blessing to Abraham probably meant life for evermore, that is, that God would dispossess death. It would be blessing beyond the power of death. The proof of this is, that the blessing was confirmed to the seed of Abraham when there was a figure of resurrection. God promised the blessing to Abraham, and confirmed it to his seed, after the seed had, figuratively, been offered in sacrifice.
I want you to mark the point at which the blessing is brought to pass, it is when there is dwelling in unity. When you have the unity of Israel and Judah, bound together in one stick, in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, then it is that God commands the blessing, even life for evermore. Now I think this shews how much importance God attaches to unity. The blessing is spoken of as commanded when Israel and Judah come under the influence of the Spirit, the law being written in the heart. They are in the light of Christ, and death is dispossessed.
God will have under His eye what is according to His mind, and then He will dispossess death. It was a sad moment before God when Israel and Judah became divided, for it was a mark of defection and sin, and therefore a trouble to God; what followed was that Israel soon fell away from God; but the prophets look on to the reunion of Israel and Judah in Christ.
On the table of shewbread in the holy place of the tabernacle there were twelve loaves, not two, nor ten, but twelve. God could not possibly recognise, in connection with Christ, two tribes or ten tribes. You get the same principle coming out in Elijah. There was the recognition with him of twelve tribes. When Christ came it was in connection with the twelve tribes. In the future, when Israel is connected with Christ, there will be twelve tribes, as prefigured in the twelve loaves; and when you get this union, in [p. 114] Christ, of Judah and Israel God brings about the blessing promised to Abraham.
Now in the next psalm (Psalm 134) we get the worship of God, and God blesses out of Zion. That is the completion.
In Psalm 133 you get a kind of figure of the assembly in the union of the twelve tribes; it presents, figuratively, the church in the unity of the Spirit. The Spirit of God came down to effect unity. The mind of the Spirit was unity then, and in the future, in regard of Israel, it will be unity: “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body ... and ... made to drink into one Spirit”. And in Ephesians 4 we have the exhortation: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. The unity of the Spirit is very important to us, and has determined the path of most of us with regard to Christendom. We could not have any kind of satisfaction in its present order, for it denies practically what the Spirit of God is bent upon, namely, unity; and we are endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The truth of the “one body” does not consist in agreement to differ, nor in alliance, nor ecclesiastical arrangement, but in the fact that Jew and Gentile are one in the life of Christ, in virtue of the anointing, and directed by one Head. It is Jew and Gentile in the blessing of sonship, quickened together with Christ in His life, and directed by Him as Head. You get the idea in John 10. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring ... and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd”. There we have one flock in the divine nature, and one Shepherd. There are not two flocks.
Previously, the Lord had said, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly”. I connect that in a sense with the oil poured on the head of Aaron. In the anointing the sheep are in the life of Christ. He has come that they might [p. 115] have life, and have it very abundantly. In Romans 8 we find that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Christ has come that we might have life abundantly, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of life is in saints, and hence Christ is in them; and the obligation that hangs upon that is unity. Unity is really because God is dwelling here. In the presence of God in Zion it is impossible that there could be a divided Israel; and, in the present time, if we recognised God dwelling here by the Spirit — Jew and Gentile being builded together for His habitation — we should recognise the obligation to unity, which is in Christ, because unity cannot be possible otherwise in saints. You must be apart from the flesh and its tendencies, and in the life of Christ, to be in unity.
Supposing you recognise the unity which depends on the presence of the Spirit, you then realise the presence of Christ, and the truth of one flock, one Shepherd. You realise the assembly, and that you are brought into association with Christ outside of everything here; you come thus to eternal life. It is one thing to have life in you, which every Christian has, it is another to enter into eternal life. I refer to a type in the Old Testament to confirm this, namely, the brazen serpent. The people were bitten, but he who looked at the brazen serpent “lived”, and afterwards there was the springing up of the Spirit. In the brazen serpent, those who looked are regarded as having life typically, but they never entered, figuratively, into eternal life until they were on the other side of Jordan, and ate the old corn of the land. Then they were beyond death.
We have the Holy Spirit for the wilderness, but everything connected with a pious life here will come to an end; what we have in association with Christ will never come to an end. There it is that we realise that God has commanded the blessing. This depends [p. 116] upon the acceptance of the unity of the Spirit, and recognising the obligation to maintain it. The practical working of it brings you into the reality of the assembly, where you are directed by the One Head, and thus into association with Christ, as having passed over Jordan and come into the land: an association which death cannot touch. Nothing connected with Christ can be touched by death. What is connected with our responsible life cannot go beyond death. If I die God will raise me again, and I shall come into a new order of life entirely with Christ: thus everything connected with pious Christian life down here upon earth, in the wilderness, must in itself end. What is connected with the assembly and the calling of God, our being quickened with Christ and so on, is all on the other side of Jordan and eternal: death cannot touch it.
You enter into that which in its very nature is on the other side of death, because God has planted it there in the resurrection of Christ. Turn for a moment to John 20: 17, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her”. Here we find the Lord risen. He is outside of death, and sends the message to the disciples which gathers them together, and He comes into their midst, and the blessed result is that they find themselves in association with Him on the other side of death, and there it is that God has ordained the blessing, even life for evermore.
The doctrine of this we find in Colossians. We are risen together with Him and quickened together with Him: that is, brought into living association with Him. You live in His life. You have to distinguish between your life as a saint here, and life in Christ. If you live with Christ it is on the other side of death;
[p. 117] if you think of your life here it comes to an end in death. When God has under His eye that which is agreeable to Him, Israel and Judah brought together in unity, then you get the statement, “There he commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”.
May God in His grace give each of us a deeper apprehension of these things, and to enter into them for our present blessing and enjoyment.