SUBMISSION AND SACRIFICE
2 Chronicles 22: 10-12; 23: 1-5
We have heard of submission and sacrifice as essential with the wife and husband if the relationship is to be enjoyed according to God, and is to work out as God would have it worked out, and I have read this scripture because we have in it, as we have in the New Testament with Aquila and Priscilla, the case of a husband and wife, with whom we may safely assume the relations were as they should be, with whom submission and sacrifice were seen properly maintained; and as thus marked and as of one mind in the Lord, the scripture suggests what is possible for a husband and wife thus happily set together according to God in the marriage relationship. It is of great interest from that standpoint that, just as we have Priscilla and Aquila in the New Testament, so we have Jehoshabeath and Jehoiada in the Old Testament thoroughly together in the maintenance of the interests of Christ—taking the scripture typically—mutually supporting one another in caring for His interests. I am sure there is nothing which we, as gathered together in affection for our dear brother and sister, and gathered together too before God, would desire more for them than that they should be thoroughly together in mutual support in relation to the interests of Christ and what is due to His name in this world. That is what comes to light in this scripture. The days were critical, the true king was but a child, and there was an influence abroad, represented in this wicked woman Athaliah, that had in mind the destruction of all that was for God in Judah. The parallel is easy to see in relation to our day, for, while the Lord Jesus Himself is not small, thank God, and there is no weakness attaching to the Lord Jesus personally, what is connected with His name and His rights in this world is indeed in much smallness and outward weakness, and there is in increasing degree an influence at work amongst men that has in mind the destruction of all that is pleasing to God, and the elimination of all recognition of the rights of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In that position Jehoshabeath comes forward first. I have no doubt that she represents the subjective state which supports the public movements that subsequently come to light in her husband, and it is surely the privilege of every Christian wife in her own subjective exercises, in her faithfulness to her husband and her devotion to Christ by her influence and her prayers, to strengthen the hands of her husband in all that he may put them to outwardly in connection with the name of the Lord.
So it says that she “took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber”. Conditions were very restricted, but she was marked by a spirit of care for what was there that was precious to God, and this is open to our sister in the place where God has set her. Conditions outwardly are very small, there are not many who really care for what is due to Christ in these days. Paul said in his day that “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”, Phil 2: 21. But there are a few; God is seeing to it that the line is going through, that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that is attached to it is held with affection by some. The great point is to care for whatever is available in the locality or within the reach of our dear sister, the bed-chamber and the nurse suggesting such care in limited conditions. It also says of Jehoshabeath that she was the daughter of the king; she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest; and she was the sister of Ahaziah. She was a king’s daughter—that suggests her conscious dignity. How dignified we are as entrusted in any little degree by God with the care of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! A sister can take it up from that standpoint. What a dignity is put upon her; she does not need to be concerned about social things or anything on that line, she is the king’s daughter, so to speak, and is dignified as having brought within her reach the possibility of caring in her own measure for the interests of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest. Our brother we can recognise as a priest, and she is to be his wife, the wife of a priest. A priest considers for God, and the wife is to be with her husband in his interests. In the first type in Scripture of the church the woman is builded from the rib of the man and brought to him, brought to one who had already been set over all the works of God’s hands; she was to be with him in the interests which had been committed to him. So let our sister take up her position in this same light that the Lord has given to our dear brother a certain position, a certain responsibility, a certain service among the saints, both in his locality and in a wider way, and she is now to be with him in it. Then Jehoshabeath is a sister, which would contribute to the influence that she may wield for the good of the saints in the sphere in which God has set her.
So, with the support of Jehoshabeath, in the seventh year Jehoiada moves in order to establish the rights of the true king, to give him his place amongst the people. One need not go into the detail of that. I would only say this, that while we can and do unfeignedly thank God for the mercy of married life, we have to remember that it is to be subordinate to the commanding interest of the moment, which is the testimony bound up with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord being in rejection, the marriage of the Lamb not yet having come, we have to see to it that we do not live in the mercies of God. There is that which is more urgent, that is the crisis which is on us at the present time, which will increase more and more, and hence the need of a priestly, godly household in order to care as far as possible, for all that loves Christ, all that is due to His name, and so Jehoiada says: “A third part of you ... shall be porters ... and a third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation”. All these are exercises which brothers and sisters alike, and our dear brother and sister together, can take on. The thought of porters indicates watchfulness that nothing is brought in among the saints that would in any way bring in weakness, see chap 23: 9. Then the king’s house brings in the thought of considering for the heart of Christ; and, as at “the gate of the foundation”, we watch that nothing which undermines the foundations of the truth is in any way introduced amongst us.
We would pray that our dear brother and sister, as helped of the Lord to take up this marriage relationship on the lines which have already been brought before us, may find great joy and encouragement and support from the Lord in being of one mind and one heart in caring for every interest that comes under the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for those who are devoted to those interests.
LONDON
18th November 1944
At a marriage meeting
From Words of Grace and Comfort
THE BLESSEDNESS OF GOD
I have the desire, dear brethren, to speak of the blessedness of God, so that we might have enlarged thoughts in our souls as to the God with whom we have to do. It is a marvellous thought that God should take pleasure in the thought of having us near Him, and that He should set value on having our affections, and that He should propose that we ourselves, among many others of the sons of men, should eternally be before Him as able to be in the presence of His glory, and able to respond to Him not only affectionately but intelligently. Nothing less than that is in the mind of the blessed God, not only in regard to eternity, but that He should secure the affections and response of His people even now. James, in his epistle, tells us, “According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruits of his creatures”, chap 1: 15. So that whatever may be the special portion in blessing which may belong to the assembly at the present time, we have also a place as His creatures. We are creatures of His and as such have a link with all God’s creatures. We are to be for God as a kind of firstfruits, and are able to express Godward, with the intelligence that belongs to us, the response that is due to Him as Creator. We know Him as Father, but that does not negative the position that He has in relation to us in common with all His creatures as Creator. But what God is in love enters into every light in which He is known. In past time He was not revealed as now fully revealed, but God could never be any other than He is, even in His creatorial activities.
So here in Job we have a man who did not know God. He was a God-fearing man, a godly man above many, one of whom God could say to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man”. And yet what came to light was, that until God had perfected His work with Job, he did not know God. There came a time as the result of God’s dealings with him that he says, “I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes”. He had arrived at a true knowledge of God. God addresses to him these remarkable words that I have read in the first two verses of chapter 39. God, as Creator, has tenderest feelings in regard to every one of His creatures, whatever they may be. The wild goats of the rock Job knew very little about, but God as Creator took account of them, and with the tenderest feelings. God has His eye on every one of His creatures and enters into every detail of their circumstances. It may be that we have not sufficiently taken account of this. In Matthew 10 the Lord speaks of a sparrow. He refers to the worthlessness of a sparrow according to man’s estimation. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?” v 29. That is the value man placed upon a sparrow. But He says, “One of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father”. Think of the minuteness of the interest God takes in regard to every one of His creatures! In Psalm 104, which commences with “Bless Jehovah, O my soul”, he says, “Jehovah my God, thou art very great” and then goes on to speak of the living creatures which all look unto God, who gives them their food in its season and they are filled with good. How marvellous, dear brethren, to take account of the blessed God in His creation! Not one of His creatures escapes His notice and not one fails to be an object of His care. Now God has begotten us that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
I love to remember as drawing near to God in thanksgiving in the morning, “his compassions fail not; they are new every morning”, Lam 3: 22, 23. They are not to be taken as a matter of course, but new every morning. Every morning God would remind us of His compassions, His consideration for us. As turning to God in thanksgiving one would not only thank Him on one’s own account, or on account of men who may not thank Him for themselves, but for all His creatures. All His creatures may not know how to thank Him intelligently, but as brought into the position of sons, having the affection of sons, it is our privilege to take account of what God has in the whole of creation and see that He receives the praise and thanksgiving due to Him. In Matthew 10 the Lord brings in this matter of the detailed knowledge God has of every one of His creatures and the detailed way in which He takes account of them, to be substance in our souls that we may be strengthened to be here in His testimony. He refers to His disciples as those in the testimony and He says, “even the hairs of the head are all numbered”. What minuteness of knowledge that entails! If it were possible to number the hairs of our heads we might find every one may have a different number. You may say, Is it possible? It is possible. God intends we should be impressed with His knowledge of each one of us and His care for each one. The Lord brings that forward here, so that as having to do with such a God we should be strengthened to stand here in His testimony without fear. So He says, “Ye are better than many sparrows”. “Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens”. In the light of that, dear brethren, we can well count it a privilege to have some little part in the testimony of God in this world. Whether we be brother or sister, every time we confess the Lord’s Name He will be true to His word. “I also will confess him before my Father”. It is well worthwhile for us to have our part in the testimony of the Lord. It is brought forth that we might be strengthened to fill our part in the testimony without fear of man.
I pass on to John 13. The Lord speaks these words I have read as about to go to the cross. The whole question of good and evil was coming to a head. There are two men—I speak of our Lord Jesus Christ with reverence—there are two men in sharp contrast. One is Judas Iscariot, the other our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of man. As to one, Satan had entered into him. Satan had now a man in whom evil at its height could find expression. The evil that the heart of man has proved himself capable of came into full expression at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Judas Iscariot had moved for three years or more in the presence of perfect goodness, God Himself shining out in the Person of the Son. After this experience he sold Him for thirty pieces of silver in order that He might be put to death. At the cross all that man is capable of in wickedness came into expression, every kind of man was exposed there. But then at the same point something else came into expression, and that is what God is in His nature. It is a wonderful thing, at the very point at which the evil that man is capable of came into expression, there God Himself was glorified in that His love in redemption came into glorious display. At the point where the hatred of man showed itself, redemption was accomplished, sin was judged, and God was left free to come out as a Saviour God, every righteous claim of His throne being met in the death of Jesus, and God could come out as just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus”, Rom 3: 26.
This is a wonderful scene. “When therefore he was gone out, Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”. Jesus had said to him to do quickly what he did, and he went out to do his work, and then Jesus said, “Now is the Son of man glorified”, that is in a moral sense. He was there to give full expression to what God is as hating evil and yet finding a way by which His people could be blessed. Let us contemplate the scene. On the one hand a man in whom all evil could come into the greatest expression, and on the other hand, a Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom God was glorified. It brought out the moral glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, He was wholly devoted to God’s will and glory and was prepared to go any length in self-sacrifice to put away sin and leave God free, having vindicated every claim of His throne, to come out as a Saviour God. How good to know such a God! It is well to know Him as One who has not been overcome by the incoming and development of evil, but by that very means He has been displayed as He could not have been otherwise.
Now I pass on to the other two scriptures in John 5 and Ephesians 3. In referring to these scriptures I have in mind that we should have some apprehension of God as known in the way He has been revealed in relation to His purpose. So it says in chapter 5 (they are our Lord’s own words), “Neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son”. The object is that all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father. That is important, but to my mind it is an illustration of the wonderful way in which different features of the truth dovetail into one another. God will judge, He will bring every work into judgment according to Ecclesiastes 12: 14. It is essential that He should do so. But when it comes to the execution of judgment, He delegates it to the Son. It ensures that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father. The Son having become Man, taking the place of service, there was the possibility that He should not receive the honour due, so the Father commits all judgment into His hand; but then there is another thing, in the economy in which God is known, the Father retains the supreme place. To us, there is one God, the Father (1 Cor 8: 6), and the Father judges no one. Moreover, of the Father “every family in the heavens and on earth is named”. He is pleased to bring in a system of glory comprising many families, enjoying differing degrees of blessing, but all in relation to God known as Father. The light in which God is to be known and enjoyed is the light of pure grace. The blessedness of the name of Father in the grace and affection which that name implies is to be the prevailing feature throughout the world of bliss that God has in mind for His pleasure. God loves that it should be known in every soul.
So I come to Ephesians 3, where the apostle places on record for us the great thoughts of God. He turns to God in prayer, “I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. In another scripture we read, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3: 36. It seems to me, beloved brethren, that there we have the wonderful light as to what God is bringing in for His own pleasure. He already has Jesus in glory as the beloved Son. In that position He is given all things. God will secure a vast expanse of blessing where many families are all held under One Himself in the position of love. That is the divine idea. It is marvellous. We as of the assembly have a remarkable place in it. We are His body, His fulness, we are to be with Him in every position that He fills as Man. That is what it has pleased God to do, to give us to Christ. We are to be brought into every position that Christ fills as Man, including the position in which He stands as the beloved Son. So the Lord Jesus says, “My Father, and your Father ... my God and your God”, John 20: 17. Do we learn our position in Christ? Have we the light of the position in which He is? God should be known by us in that wonderful way, that is our portion, but then there are also other families. We read of one or two of them in the Scriptures. In Revelation 14 we read of a company of 144,000 standing on mount Zion having His name and the name of His Father on their foreheads, the Lamb’s Father’s name. As following the Lamb wherever He leads them, they get some impression of the Father of the Lamb. They, as committed to the Lamb, have to do with the Lamb’s Father. That is a wonderful thing, that the name of the Father in some degree is to be known by every family in the universe. In Matthew we read of another family. There shall be gathered together all nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. “Then shall the King say to those on his right hand, Come, blessed of my Father”, Matt 25: 34. It is as though the Lord, as giving the saved of the nations their allotted place in the world to come, says, You owe all your blessing to My Father. The final impression left on them is not to be an impression of the official glory of the King of kings, but that they owe their blessing to God known in the name of Father. Something of the tenderness and affection implied in that name is to be conveyed to that family also.
The apostle desires that the Christ should dwell through faith in our hearts. That is the Lord Jesus viewed officially as the One who is the anointed Head of the great system of blessing that the Father has in mind to bring in. Are we interested in it? How much do we know of it? Are we concerned to get an impression of these things? If the Christ, Christ as He stands in relation to all that God has committed into His hands, dwells in our hearts, we shall be enlarged to take in the whole of His interests. We are not only interested in what is our own portion but interested in all that is Christ’s. The more we are enlarged to see Christ as the Centre of all God’s thoughts, the more we shall see the system of glory that God will bring in.
So he says, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”. Love is the spring of all that God does, for God is love. It is said so in Scripture, but we believe it. It is a great thing to come to it in our souls that God is absolutely love. So we are to be rooted and founded in love, and thus able “to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length an depth and height; and to know the love of Christ”. How essential that is! It is in the knowledge and enjoyment of the love of Christ that we find entrance into these things. “To know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”. What is entailed in that, dear brethren? To “be filled even to all the fulness of God”. How blessed to see that the Father judges no one, and to see the Son coming in to establish God’s thoughts that we may have part in His love, and the Spirit of God taking His part, producing in us the affections suitable to the position, and becoming the power in the saints by which God is responded to. As we get these impressions of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our hearts become filled even to all the fulness of God. We understand God’s love. It is the way God has taken that He should be known by His creatures, and that they should be able to celebrate His glory. Love shines in all His activities. But we need to know Him in the sphere where no moral issues are raised, but love is free to find its satisfaction in those who are blessed. May God bless His word and give us enlargement in the knowledge of Himself for His Name’s sake!
BIRMINGHAM
24th February 1945
From Words of Grace and Comfort
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