THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD
[p. 258] THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD
Hebrews 12: 22, 23; Genesis 26: 32, 33; Ruth 3: 15; Ruth 4: 1 - 3; Zechariah 14: 10, 11
I wish to speak about the divine idea of a city, having in mind that the ultimate city in the history of time and eternity is the assembly, which is said to come down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious. I began with Hebrews, because it says there that we have come to that city, meaning that all true believers are privileged and dignified by the fact that they have come to it. Many other things are mentioned in the chapter in this way. We are said to have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, also to mount Zion and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the assembly of the firstborn, enregistered in heaven. These are generally political thoughts. We are all by nature political. It is innate in us, and God takes account of this and would deliver us from what holds us in the way of human politics by replacing it with heavenly politics.
Christians are said to have their citizenship in heaven; “for our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory”, Philippians 3: 20, 21. That is what stands in connection with our economy, our political system — power in the One who inaugurated it to change our bodies of humiliation, making them like His own. We do not always accept that our bodies are bodies of humiliation, for we naturally do our best to be good looking and to decorate them, but the fact remains, and we might as well face it, that our bodies are bodies of humiliation. But Jesus our Saviour is coming to transform us and make our bodies like His own body of glory — a marvellous thought! It ought to have the effect of freeing us from what is merely human. Not that [p. 259] one would say a word against human authorities in provinces and empires, for God has ordered that these should exist during the time of the gospel, subservient to Him because of the gospel, and we pray for them. But they are temporary, and it is well to face this fact that whilst we pray for authorities, kings, and even the policeman in the street, we have part in what is superior and outside of all that. God is educating us for the great display of heavenly power and rule, so that we should shine in it, and with this in view the writer to the Hebrews speaks about what we have come to. It is in the sense of a foreigner coming into a country and becoming a citizen. He comes into all that is in it and shares in it, and he is also required to know the constitution; that is what mount Zion means, that we have come to what transcends all other constitutions. It is a matter of God’s sovereign selection. He has power to effect everything in what He selects, and this includes the city or capital.
It is the city of the living God. We are here now in a city that is growing in importance, and its fame enters into the pride of its inhabitants, but think of a city called the city of the living God! — and, as if to establish us in the idea of its liberty and glory, it is also called here the heavenly Jerusalem. We come to that. God’s intent is not to set us against what is here, because we share in the protection that He has ordained through it, but we come into this heavenly city morally. We have another city, the heavenly Jerusalem, and we have come to it already. It is to show us the magnitude of the position and to set us free correspondingly from all that is around.
Then there is the universal gathering, which implies legislative power, heavenly in character. The reference here, by way of illustration, is to the states of Greece, which would be well known. God employs what is current to illustrate His heavenly thoughts. So you have the universal gathering and all the distinction that goes with that, in which we have part. Then the assembly of [p. 260] the firstborn; what I might call the social side, which is a great feature in any commonwealth. I am only speaking illustratively, I do not want to make anyone social in the worldly sense. The thought is to deliver us from these things by bringing in the heavenly order of things. The assembly of the firstborn is of persons of great distinction; each one is firstborn; you get nothing like that in this world. It also gives the thought of family affection; there is affection and distinction. Every city of this world has its society, and it is one of the most ensnaring things for christians; but I would seek that we should be delivered from that in order that we may be free for the heavenly.
Now we have not only come to the city, but we already form it, for the assembly is the city, according to Revelation 21 and other scriptures. We, christians, are actually part of it. The passages read are to bring out, if the Lord help, what the city really is, how practical it is. The idea came in early. We have no city of God mentioned or alluded to until man’s city is first seen. The first mentioned was Cain’s, as you know, and it is a kind of prototype of all modern cities. This is an age of cities, and they all have the character of this first city — in the way of industry and art and all that goes with these things.
We find that servants of God, in the exercise of His power against evil, troubled the cities of man; and on account of such service they were imprisoned in the most cruel way as in Philippi. What a real service they rendered, what benefactors they were! — but the masters of the damsel there made gain from her because of the demon which Paul had cast out; and every city has that sort of thing, gain being made out of wickedness. When the Lord was in Decapolis He cast out a legion of demons and the people asked Him to leave, and He left. They preferred the demons to Christ! There is that which is, of God in the world, government and all authority, but there is that which is called wickedness, for “the whole world lies in the wicked one”, 1 John 5: 19. The work of God is not cared for, it does not fit into man’s world. So the christian, whilst praying on the one hand for the authorities, is to discern the wickedness that is in the world, and to judge it.
There are several other cities mentioned in Genesis — Nineveh, Babel, Gomorrah — before God begins to operate in relation to His thought of a city. Perhaps we might take Cain’s city, Nineveh, Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah as sufficient to set out what the characteristic city of the world is. It is said to be “spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”, Revelation 11: 8. Whether London or New York or Johannesburg, there is no difference. The book of Revelation says, “The cities of the nations fell”, Revelation 16: 19. Every one of them comes in for divine retribution, and these cities in the early part of Genesis illustrate what the world’s city is.
The last one, Sodom, had one of the Lord’s people in it. Abraham intercedes for this city because of the righteous in it. He begs of Jehovah to save it, and Jehovah is ready to save it, but Abraham stopped at ten righteous, and the sequel shows that there were not ten there — we know of only one being righteous. The New Testament tells about that man who vexed his righteous soul every day on account of what was in Sodom. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and what one has in mind in speaking is that there should be deliverance from these things.
Sodom having been destroyed, that is, the world in principle, God begins to indicate His city. It says in Hebrews 11, “he has prepared for them a city” (verse 16). He called out Abram and his family and they looked for a city. I have no doubt that Abraham’s desire for a city was greatly intensified by witnessing the destruction of Sodom. His interest in the heavenly city that God would establish was no doubt greatly enlarged by what he had seen.
[p. 262] Following on these things you have Beer-sheba, a city that has an important place. It is suggestive of the city of God; not that it ever became it, because historically Jerusalem was that; it stands out from the time David took it, right into eternity. Jerusalem stands, but the principle of it in the true sense is in the passage I read in Genesis 26, where the christian — that is, Isaac, who is a type of the heavenly man — overcomes the temptation of the world to allure him into society. Abimelech came to Isaac with Ahuzzath his friend and Phichol the captain of his host, that is, he brought the social man with him as well as the captain of his host. Earlier he came with the captain alone, but now he brings one representing the social element. But Isaac overcame them and sent them away. What a victory when young christians send away their unconverted companions! It is a great point and an excellent beginning to see and accept that we have come to the city of God.
Then it says, Isaac’s servants came and told him they had found the well (verse 32): it is support for the heavenly man as denying the world and its influence. The well, as understood spiritually, makes us independent of the world’s city. Isaac now has this well, and the place is called a city; it was called a “place” earlier, but now a “city”. We have here the idea of a city belonging to the people of God; “God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city”, Hebrews 11: 16. God compensates and furnishes us with means of overcoming the world’s city. Worldly links, links of the christian with unconverted people, are most destructive. The heavenly man sends them away, and then God comes in and gives him a well and engages Himself with the heavenly man. In these circumstances you will be despised, but God will see you through. In taking a share in the reproach of Christ you have support in the well.
Now in Ruth we see how a person entering into a contract, a marriage contract or any other, acts in [p. 263] relation to the city. It says in chapter 3: 15 that Boaz “measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; and he went into the city” — that is the correct reading of the passage. He was entering into a contract, and the teaching in this for young people, for all who have anything to do in the way of engagement, contract or alliance, whether marriage, business or companionship, is to go into the city. Do not be satisfied with your own thought about the matter. If your thoughts are right they will be confirmed, if they are wrong, they will be withered up there. It is for this reason that many are secretive, but those who are with God in these matters go into the city. Marriage is to be in the Lord (1 Corinthians 7: 39); the Lord must have to say to it. The city is a place of administration, where His mind is known. And if our thoughts about a matter are withered up there, it is for our safety.
So Boaz goes into the city in connection with this very important matter. Matters of this kind are very important, and in them there is great danger of selfish motives governing us. We want to get into the light which makes everything manifest. You get that in the city, that is, administrative light. And so Boaz went to the gate, the place of administration, and sat down; that is, he was open, there was nothing secret, and no disregard of the rights of others. And the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by. “And he said, Thou, such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down”. Ruth 4: 1, 2. You see how transparent this man Boaz was. What are these things written for? It is not a mere story, it is something that bears on us now. One has often said that whenever the Scriptures are read, they bear at that moment on the person who reads them. Now the matter of a christian entering upon a contract has a bearing on the testimony, either for good or evil, and we want to avoid the evil. Then the man most concerned in the [p. 264] matter came by just at that time. It shows that God was in it. The man withdraws his claim and Boaz can proceed. To make all doubly certain Boaz had taken ten men of the elders to deliberate on the matter; and thus he had the right hand of fellowship in his marriage.
The next thing I want to speak about is how in this great remnant book, Zechariah, the idea of a city takes form. There are the thoughts of the well at Beer-sheba and of the transparency of the man who had a contract in mind. But now it is a day of small things; we may say that relatively there is just a handful of christians walking in the truth in this large city. In the book of Nehemiah, you find that the city was large and great, but the people in it were few. In fact they had to urge them to come and live in Jerusalem. Perhaps some of you are talking about the fewness in this city and holding yourselves back, instead of coming into it and making the number larger! If the position is right, it cannot cease to be right, whether there are few or many. Fewness in number does not alter that. Zechariah was a prophet, but he worked as a labourer, a builder. A christian is not to complain about those who hold things for God because of their smallness and weakness; he is to join in. You must either show that the position is wrong or else enter on it, standing with what is right. Otherwise you are disloyal to Christ and inconsistent — failing to follow righteousness with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
It says, “Jerusalem shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her own place”, Zechariah 14: 10. You could understand some worldly-wise people coming back from Babylon and saying, Let us build the city in another place, more physically advantageous, nearer the sea, etc. — but they did not, they built it exactly where it was before. They built it in its place, “from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner-gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses” (verse 10). Let us just for a moment look at these gates. They had a place in [p. 265] Jerusalem before, and now they are to be revived. The question for us is whether what they represent is in this very city where we are. I believe they are, every one of these features; that is, among those walking in the truth of God.
The first is Benjamin’s gate. Benjamin has a great place in Scripture, and his name signifies that he is the son of his father’s right hand. That means that he is one available for God. If some one does not act for God you will never have anything for Him. Benjamin is the son of his father’s right hand. Of course, Jesus was that pre-eminently, but I am speaking now of a local company. He is also the son of his mother’s sorrow. That is, he has occasioned sorrow, but he has also gone through sorrow himself, through conflict. His first appearance in Scripture as a grown man is as an overcomer: he is free from the murderous intent of others against his brother Joseph.
“From Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate”. The first gate would suggest first principles. One could say much about that from the book of Acts, the great administrative power and order which became operative as the Spirit of God came down from heaven. First principles are never to be abandoned. A man working for God will see to it that he does not copy from current religion, he will go back to first principles.
The next is the corner-gate. That is the point where trouble arises. That is when the testimony requires changes, additions, replacements, etc. We see this in Acts 10, for instance. There is always pressure at that gate and greater need for vigilance, but there is always more support at the corner, that is not to be forgotten. Christ is said to be the corner-stone in God’s building. In the course of the testimony in any locality, and generally, the corners have to be watched, so that the enemy does not get advantage over us, as for instance when meetings “hive”.
[p. 266] Then there is the tower of Hananeel: that is the place for support. Gates are administrative, that is the usual thought in them. This tower of Hananeel is historic; it is mentioned by Jeremiah and earlier in this book. The meaning of Hananeel suggests the grace of God. How important that is amongst us! You cannot have the features of the city of God without the grace of God. That grace reigns is a tower of strength, and it reigns through righteousness. One of the most beautiful thoughts in Luke 24 is that when the two came back from Emmaus, they found the disciples saying, The Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon. That was grace! Grace must reign, but it reigns through righteousness. In cases of difficulty we have to consider ourselves lest we also be tempted.
Then the final thought in our passage is the king’s winepresses. These suggest pressure occasioned by the Lord. The Lord carries on His discipline. “What son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Hebrews 12: 7. The more discipline we go through with God, the more profit we are in the meeting, the more contributory. Then there is the thought, “men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction”. We are not looking around as if we were afraid of one another. Men in the true sense dwelling together have confidence in each other. “Jerusalem shall dwell safely”; there is a sense of security where the features of the city of God exist. Men dwell there, and God is known amongst them of a truth.
As I said, I believe all these features are to be found in this city in which we are. In the principle of it the city of God is actually inside this great city. What a thought! How it should appeal to every young person here, and indeed to the old too, to have part in this great city of God, where heaven is represented and the mind of heaven carried out administratively. May God bless the word!