DIVINE JEALOUSY
J. Mitchell
Zechariah 1: 12–21; 2 Corinthians 11: 1–4
I am looking for help, dear brethren, to say a little about the jealousy of God. In the language of men, the word jealousy suggests what is not at all attractive. But divine jealousy arises through the depth of divine affections. In these passages, that in Zechariah typically, and that in 2 Corinthians literally, it is divine affection for the assembly. I would like to leave the impression with you that God has intense affection for the assembly, and while we are in days of breakdown, as contemplated by Zechariah, that does not alter one whit the wonder of divine affection for the assembly. That should give us some encouragement as we seek to work things out in a difficult and dark day, in a day of small things, when there is not much to commend outwardly. Nevertheless it would be very encouraging to have in our souls as a solid foundation, that God loves the assembly. Additionally, Christ loves the assembly.
Scripture tells us that, “the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”, Ephesians 5: 25. Therefore, as we seek in some small measure to go on in the maintenance of the truth of the assembly, we can count on divine affection, and divine power arising out of that affection, to help us forward in what we may have to do.
The prophecy of Zechariah was at a time when there had been a measure of recovery. Some of the people who had been carried away to Babylon had been recovered in divine ways under the Gentile monarch, and they had commenced to build at Jerusalem. What a thing that was! Jerusalem at that time would have been but a heap of ruins; yet there was affection for the house of God in their hearts and they commenced to build. Then matters came in to hinder them, and that often happens with us. Sometimes there is a great surge of activity in what belongs to God, and then matters come in which weaken the hands, and the energy fails. What a sorrowful thing that is! But here God comes in with His prophetic word through the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, in order to stir up the affections of His people that they might with all their strength continue the building of the house of God. It is a wonderful thing that it is given to us to prepare a house where God may dwell.
That is a provisional place at the present time; it is not the final place. He is going to dwell with men in the assembly in finality. John heard a loud voice saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men”, Revelation 21: 3. What a thing to look forward to when the tabernacle of God will be with men, and, “God himself shall be with them, their God”. That is a most beautiful expression. But then, there is the interim period when His house is here.
Publicly it is in ruin. That is a very sobering thing! We are challenged as to whether we suffer sufficiently in our spirits in relation to the terrible breakdown that has come in upon the church publicly. The more we do that, the more it will energise us in this great matter of building, in order that there might be something here for the heart of God. I feel very much that the enemy would over engage us at the present time with the smallness of the circumstances in which we are, in view of hindering our hand in what is due to God. He would say, Well, some of the meetings are so small that it is hardly worth going on. We need to be careful as to that line of thinking. God brings forward through the prophet the greatness of divine thoughts and the smallness of the circumstances does not affect that. God is going on with His thoughts. It is a wonderful thing if we are caught up in this great activity, in which the Spirit of God would have us be at the present time, in providing that which can be for the pleasure of God, and in providing what can represent Him in a public way here, and indeed can be His dwelling-place testimonially.
Where I began to read, it says, “the angel of Jehovah answered and said, Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?” There had been a time of indignation. You can translate that into the present dispensation, when, through the failure of men, God came in governmentally; to use the types, the people were carried away to Babylon, and Jerusalem was left as a heap of ruins. Do you think God had in mind that it should remain like that? He had in mind the reconstruction of His house, that in which He could dwell, and that which could represent Him. This angel of Jehovah is typical of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the intercessory service of Christ, interceding with the Father in relation to this period of revival in which we are having our part. I trust that the revival becomes more real in every one of our souls and in our hearts. We are having part in a most wonderful day, when the Spirit of God would energise the saints to take account of what God is doing, and to be with God in what He is doing, and to strengthen our hands in view of the continuation of the building of what is for the pleasure of God. Man has not originated the revival, it has come in through the intercessory service of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is something very delightful. In Genesis 24, it was Abraham who had the concern that the heavenly man, Isaac, should have a wife; not only that but he was concerned that he should have a wife of his own kindred and come from his own country. It is in the mind of God that there should be a pure vessel for the heart of Christ.
So it says here, “And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me good words, comforting words”. Think of the holy interchange between Christ and the Father in relation to the revival of the truth of the assembly in our day! The motive for it is in the heart of God Himself, so that there should be that which is for the heart of Christ even now, while He awaits the thing in its
finality and totality in the day to come. He answered him good words and comforting words.
There is a need for comfort at the present time. There is much to cast us down, things are small and very weak, and as you look around, you may sometimes despair. Let us think of these comforting words. I think that is what God would say to us at the present time; He would administer comfort amongst us so that we might be encouraged together, and go on together, continuing in the building.
Then he says, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts—I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy”. The title Jehovah of hosts is used extensively in the prophets relating to the recovery. That is very encouraging. We are in a day of very small things, but the One with whom we have to do is Jehovah of hosts; let us just remember that and be encouraged by that.
He says, “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am wroth exceedingly with the nations”. I thought to say a word about this great jealousy that God has for Jerusalem and for Zion. Think of the feelings of God giving expression to what the assembly means to Him. It is spoken of as “the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own”, Acts 20: 28. That is what it really means to God. I wonder if the assembly has the place in our affections that it ought to have. It has a great place in the mind of God, this great vessel, the assembly which will be for the heart of Christ, and which will provide God with a dwelling-place. God is appealing to us that there might be that element of jealousy with us, jealousy for what belongs to God in the days when the enemy would seek to sweep it away. The enemy sought to undo the work of the hands of these men; and he would do that at the present time, he would employ all his forces against this building; but God would encourage us to go on in it.
Then it says, “Therefore thus saith Jehovah—I am
returned to Jerusalem with mercies”. God has returned to us with mercies. That is very beautiful, very touching, and very encouraging. And he goes on to say, “my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts”. I need hardly say, If God says something it will certainly come about; no one can hinder it. The enemy may employ all the forces at his disposal, but if God says, “my house shall be built in it”, it will be built, therefore, you can go on. Do not be afraid, do not let anyone weaken your hands, go on with the great truth of the assembly; no matter how dark the day may be, no matter how weak it may be publicly, go on with God’s greatest thoughts, and do not let them go. Persons would seek to pull you down a little. That was one of the things the enemy did, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono” (Nehemiah 6: 2); but the answer was, “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down”. I appeal to the brethren. Do not be enticed down. The enemy is active at the present time to get us to lower things. The great matter is to go on with divine thoughts as to the assembly; that is what we need to cling to. The darker the day the more need there is to cling to the truth of the assembly. Do not give up one whit of it, hang on to it, and let us go on together in this building.
Then he says, “Cry further ... My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity”. That is a very encouraging thing. He speaks here about Jerusalem and Zion which, I suppose, would be the universal aspect, but He says here, “My cities”, which would be our localities. Now some of our localities are very small, and very weak; a man from the world coming in and looking at matters, might say, Why do you trouble yourself? Let us go on, beloved, with the full truth of the assembly. We need to cling to the full truth of the assembly in the recognition that God says, “My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity, and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion”.
That is a wonderful thing, that God is prepared to comfort us as we seek to go on in some small measure; He will
comfort Zion “and shall yet choose Jerusalem”. He has never given it up. In His government He may have allowed the enemy to come in and carry the people away, but He never lost sight of them. The people were in divine affections all the time that they were in Babylon.
They are in divine affections in these days of recovery.
So it says, “I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns”. These four horns represent the great Gentile monarchies of Daniel, I do not go into the detail of that, but it says of these horns, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem”. Later on he says, “Those are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head”. If you go back in the history of the church to the days before the Reformation, under the oppression in which the people of God were at that time, no man lifted up his head. It was impossible, under the terrible oppression that the saints of God experienced, for anyone to lift his head. Yet some of the hymns that were written in that period show that there was what was of God. I am assured of this, that never at any time in the history of this dispensation, has there not been something down here to which the Lord could come on a Lord’s day morning.
Let us be encouraged with that, and let us go on and ensure that there are conditions among ourselves to which He can come. Let us hold on to the glory of divine thoughts.
Then it says, “Jehovah shewed me four craftsmen”. That is very fine! There are the horns of the scattering, and I have no hesitation in saying that the enemy has been very active over the last years to scatter the saints. He has not succeeded, he never will succeed—let us, nevertheless, be on our guard, that we may give him no occasion for what he would love to do. The great antidote to the scattering is in these four craftsmen. The craftsmen would suggest what is universal. I love to think of the four great ministries in the revival. There
has been that craftsman element about them that has built up the saints in order that there might be true assembly formation in God’s people. That has been the intention in the great ministries of the revival, but there has been other accompanying ministry. I often think, as I look at the bookshelves, of the tremendous wealth that is there. The ministry has come in from God, through the operations of the Spirit, in order that we might be built up in our souls and be maintained in the great truth of the assembly. Let us use it, beloved; do not let anyone put you off it. Persons may say things that tend to disparage the great ministries of the revival, but let us not be diverted by what they say. Let us value what has come to us at great cost. These ministries came through suffering; they came at great cost, and they are valuable.
Let us make the most that we can of them and read them in the power of the Spirit. Persons will say disparagingly, Reading will make you intelligent, but intelligence is not everything.
Beloved brother, beloved sister, I would say without a shadow of doubt, You read, and ask the Spirit of God to help you and to make good to you what you read. These are very valuable ministries that have been given for the whole assembly. Let us cherish them, and the result will be an increase in formation of true assembly features among the saints in these closing days.
In Corinthians it is Paul saying, “Would that ye would bear with me in a little folly; but indeed bear with me. For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God”. That is divine jealousy now seen in a man. Paul was concerned about the Corinthian saints; he had ministered and laboured among them, and I have no doubt his labours would have been extensive. The Corinthian saints meant much to Paul. He says of them, “Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men”, 2 Corinthians 3: 2. Wherever Paul would have gone he would have spoken well of the Corinthians. They meant much to him, and yet he has to say in this chapter, “For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy
which is of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. Now, I need hardly say that the one Man is Christ, and that was Paul’s mission and service in Corinth, it was to espouse them to one Man. You can well understand what he says at the beginning of the first epistle, that his exercise was to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That would remove every other man from their sight, and maintain the one Man before them. That is the exercise of the Spirit at the present time, that the one Man may be maintained before us.
The chaste virgin to Christ, and the espousal to one Man, link in a certain sense with the simplicity as to the Christ. You might say that is a peculiar expression, “your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. As I understand it, simplicity as to the Christ really involves the way Christ was presented by Paul. Nothing needs to be added to it, and nothing needs to be subtracted from it; it is what is presented in a pure way. You can understand how simplicity as to the Christ would generate a chaste virgin. That is what it will generate; there will be nothing there of man, nor anything of man’s system that can corrupt the relations of the assembly with Christ. The service of the Lord Himself is that He might present the assembly to Himself, a chaste virgin (Ephesians 5: 27). 1 would like to press this upon the brethren, because I think the enemy would seek to bring in a variety of things, that I do not go into in detail, which would militate against the chaste virgin to Christ. We can each search our own souls for what may come in to corrupt us from simplicity as to the Christ.
The Spirit of God would present to us one Man for our affections, and He would present that Man in His simplicity; that is, just as He is, to secure in us unadulterated affection for the one Man. Men would have liked to have added to Christ when He was here, and they would have liked to have taken away something from Him. He did not fit into man’s way of thinking, and
that remains to this day. What we are seeking to speak about is the Spirit’s way of thinking, the way in which the Spirit of God would help us in our way of thinking so that it might be in accord with His way of thinking, to arrive at simplicity as to the Christ, with the result that there is a chaste virgin entirely for Christ’s affections, with nothing to corrupt or adulterate. I believe at the close of the dispensation, as we are so near to the rapture, the Spirit would impress this upon us, that there might be this chaste virgin to Christ. Let every one of us, brothers and sisters, and if I may take liberty to say, particularly the brothers who seek in some measure to serve among the saints, let us make sure that the presentation of the one Man underlies every desire for service, and every activity in service, so that there might be the espousal unto one Man, and the presentation of a chaste virgin to Christ.
I used to think at one time that if the truth was ministered in the power of the flesh it at least was the truth, and would be somewhat effective; Mr. Stoney disillusioned me of that. He makes it quite clear that if the truth is ministered in the power of the flesh, what it will produce is flesh, and it will produce religious flesh. Someone recently mentioned the word carnal ministry. I think it is something about which we need to be on our guard. Let us examine ourselves every one of us, and particularly those who in some measure seek to serve the saints, that what is lying behind our service is the espousal of the saints unto one Man, to present them a chaste virgin to Christ. Divine jealousy enters into that, God is jealous for His people, and He would have us to be jealous with Him, to have His jealousy for His people, that there might be nothing added to Christ to make Him palatable to the mere mind of man.
What a terrible thing it is, and yet it comes so near to us. There was something of the same problem at Colosse, where philosophy and vain deceit had come in, so Paul says there, “the body is of Christ”, Colossians 2: 17.
In Corinthians he goes on to say, “But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. Well that was really the burden that was upon one’s spirit, and I leave it with you, that we might, in some measure, be marked by divine jealousy. How jealous God is of His people. As I said earlier, How much they have cost Him; He has purchased the assembly with the blood of His own. That is how much they mean to Him, and He would look to us, that we might, in some measure, take on His jealousy in order that there might be an uncorrupted and chaste virgin entirely for the heart of Christ. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address at Grangemouth
16 May 1998