THE GREATNESS OF CHRISTIANITY
This chapter describes the things to which we have “come” in Christianity, showing their superiority over that which had preceded. It speaks at the end of this chapter of serving God “acceptably with reverence and fear”, that is to say, that the more we enter into our present privileges, the more aware we will be of the danger of turning back. Standing still does not exist in Christianity; we must go forward and progress otherwise we are in danger of slipping back. It is thus that the writer of this epistle says that we are come to eight different things, the first of which being “mount Zion”; the second “the city of the living God”; the third “the myriads of angels, the universal gathering”; the fourth “the assembly of the firstborn ones registered in heaven”; then God judge of all, then the spirits of just men made perfect, then Jesus Mediator of a new covenant; and finally the blood of sprinkling which speaks better than Abel. I think that the Lord would help us to gather some fresh impressions as to these different things.
We begin with mount Zion. There are two Psalms which make particular reference to it. The first is the 78th where, after having shown how Israel is totally lost in the days of Eli the priest, the ark having been taken, it is said in verse 65 “Then the Lord awoke as a man out of sleep and he smote his enemies in the hinder parts (v 67), and he forsook the tent of Joseph and rejected the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved”; that is to say that He established it in the sovereignty of His mercy. It is to this that God has come in Christ raised from among the dead, the ground on which He can move in sovereign mercy, to establish all the thoughts of His love and desires. The other Psalm is 125: “Those who confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, which abideth for ever”. The first things which we see in mount Zion is a great stability, that to which we have now come, everything being based on the sovereignty of God in mercy, assured in the death and resurrection of Christ.
There are many allusions to “Zion” but there is not another to “mount Zion”, and I think that “mount Zion” as such is an allusion in a general way to the sovereignty of God, while in many Psalms where “Zion” simply is presented, it is a type of the assembly according to the thoughts of God, that which God presents to us in the richness of His grace.
The apostle insists on the glory of the Christian system in which a way that we realise that we are come to something which is superior to what is in the world. The end of Haggai shows that all that is changeable will be changed. We are come to a system complete in glory. The “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”, the assembly is the great centre of divine administration. I think that it is a municipal or civic idea. Paul said that he was a citizen of no mean city. In speaking thus, he spoke as a man. We are citizens of the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It must make us realise what is better than what is best in this world. The whole system is a living system, God Himself being known in His love. And it is “the heavenly Jerusalem”, having a heavenly influence. There is power in the assembly to deal in a heavenly way with every question which is raised. It is thus that the Lord, in John 20, says “Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted; whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained”. He entrusts them with the administration, but He stresses above all the remittance of sins. It is thus a great centre of administration, heavenly in character, the Lord trusting the saints to do what is right.
It is in the local assembly that administration takes place. It is important that we see that everything has to develop currently among us, so that the administration according to God is heavenly in character, and it must be seen among the saints in their own localities.
The overcomer in Philadelphia is marked by these features. I believe that Mr Taylor has said that the Lord will not do Himself what He can entrust to His own; He loves to bring the saints into what He is doing. Thus, in Revelation 4, we see that the throne of God is there, manifesting the idea of the rights of God, but in the midst of the throne and around the throne are found four living creatures, which shows that God loves to have His creatures with Him like the living creatures. There are indeed Scriptures which introduce the saints into this privileged position where all is administered for God.
“The holy city, Jerusalem” will descend from God having the glory of God in the millennium. The tabernacle of God is in the midst of men in the eternal day. This shows how great the position is into which we are called and the importance of our having an understanding to act for God. Our eyes need to be opened so that we take into account how things develop among us, not only in an abstract way, but in a substantial way among the saints.
Then we have the myriads of angels, who constitute the “universal gathering”. The Lord draws our attention in this moment to the service of angels because they enter into our circumstances as supporting the testimony and helping the saints. For example, in the Acts, it is an angel who opens the doors of the prison and says to the apostles to go out (chap 5). It is about the testimony that must be continued, the testimony of grace in “the words of this life”, the life being seen among the saints. The angel opens the doors for the testimony to continue. In chapter 8 of the Acts, there is an angel who speaks to Philip and directs him. In chapter 10, an angel is sent to Cornelius; in chapter 12 another angel opens the doors to Peter, who goes out, and at the end of this same chapter, it is an angel that smites Herod; so that the angels are available to do everything that is necessary down here. These are “myriads of angels”, this universal gathering; there is fulness of resource as to all that is necessary. Angels served the Lord in the temptations in the wilderness, according to the first chapter of Mark, and it was an angel that served Him in Gethsemane. God can call upon them if it is necessary. The Lord said, “think ye that I cannot now ask my Father and he would furnish more than twelve legions of angels?” The Lord would give us the feeling that there is a fulness of resource, to open the way everywhere where it is needed, and also to protect the testimony, even though perhaps it may not be the mind of God to save the saints from suffering, because suffering is a privilege when it is endured for Christ. It is indeed necessary that the assembly should suffer, in order to be qualified as being “the Lamb’s wife”. Herod was allowed to kill James with the sword, but he was not allowed to kill Peter. Angels are here to fulfil the will of God. The fact that we have come to “myriads of angels, the universal gathering” ought to encourage us to continue in a faithful way, because God has in the angels what is necessary for us to get through everything. How great the saints of the assembly are, that the angels are their servants!
However, I understand that angels are not sent in relation to what is spiritual. It belongs to the Holy Spirit to guide us into all the truth, but angels are presented before us as giving direction in circumstances and for us to overcome obstacles, An angel rolled away the stone that was found on the Lord’s tomb and he sat on it to expose how what was opposed to Christ lost its power. I would say that the angels serve us in a physical way. They served the Lord in the time of His pressure in Gethsemane. In chapter 8 of the Acts the angel first gave his orders to Philip, who was obedient, and who became available to the Spirit ,for the Spirit to speak to him, so that Spirit took him in his hand in his service.
The Hebrews were accustomed to the service of angels; which is why the Spirit of God in this epistle shows that saints of the present day have a much greater place than angels, the angels themselves being their servants. This is very remarkable, because they had indeed been created before us, and as creatures they are superior and powerful creatures, so that it must strike us that divine grace gives us a place infinitely greater than that of angels; the angels themselves accepting this subordinate place with a complete satisfaction.
Then, we have “the assembly of the firstborn ones who are registered in heaven”. If “the city of the living God” is a civic thought which present are dignity as being citizens of that city, “the assembly of the firstborn ones” shows our rank, that we are the aristocracy. The Lord would have us to be struck by the dignity which belongs to us as being known in heaven; we are all the firstborn.
Then it is said that we have come to God, judge of all. In view of facing up to the difficulties in the world, we have to do with God, who must have the last word. Whatever men may have, or do or say, God must have the last word. The name Daniel means that God is judge: he could hold himself without fear before Belshazzar and say to him: “the God in whose hand thy breath is … thou hast not glorified”.
In relation to “Jesus, mediator of a new covenant”, it is not said that He will be the mediator of the new covenant, but of a new covenant; it is not exactly that it is new, but that it is fresh, we must realise all the freshness that marks the Lord’s day morning. It is not a covenant set out in terms; we have all the freshness of it in the Person of Christ.
Then as to “the spirits of just men made perfect”, I think that the end of chapter 11 sheds some light on this, in the last two verses: those who have gone before us are not made without us. It would be an allusion to the saints of the Old Testament. I think that the blood of sprinkling would show to us how we are purified. God redeems us Himself, having paid the price in the blood of Christ to secure us for Himself and for His service; His love and His claims over us. It is not said in what way it speaks, but only that it “speaks better”.
The great end to which the apostle is leading us is that we might serve God acceptably with reverence and fear, in the light of things to which we have come.
Summary of a reading
VALENCE
30th October 1949
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle
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