DIVINE SETTINGS
[p. 555] DIVINE SETTINGS
Exodus 35: 27, 33; 1 Corinthians 12: 18, 28
What I have in mind is divine settings. Divine settings, to my mind, form a subject of wide bearing and, as I hope to show, are inclusive of all blessing.
It will be recalled that it is said of the king of Tyre, who is a type of Satan in the book of Ezekiel, that he was the anointed cherub that covered and that God had set him so. “Thou wast the anointed covering cherub, and I had set thee so”, Ezekiel 28: 14. That, I think, is the first mention we have of the earliest incident of divine setting. It was a position that belonged to one alone — “the anointed covering cherub”. Apparently there was only one. He evidently had a function of great importance in the angelic realm, but it was forfeited. He proved treacherous and fell. That is a solemn consideration, beloved brethren, for if the idea applies, as it does, and as I hope to show, to each believer, there is a clearly implied responsibility, and a disregard of this may lead to a similar fate to that which befell the king of Tyre, or the great being he represents.
We have, later, the idea of setting in the sun and in the moon. They have not left their function. They remain to this very moment fulfilling with remarkable accuracy, the service intended. Indeed, it is part of the celestial glory that these wonderful bodies retain their orbits and, in retaining their orbits, fulfil the benign purpose for which they were formed; so that we have alternating, day and night, months and years and seasons, aside from which it is difficult for us to understand how creatures such as ourselves can subsist. The service rendered by these bodies is so common, so familiar, that we forget their benign influence, the divine consideration of the [p. 556] Creator in setting them there. And then there are also the stars, some of which are said to be fixed; but we do not even know they are there. “He made the stars also” (Genesis 1: 16); “He giveth names to them all” (Psalm 147: 4), involving, as we read in the book of Job, sweet influence. “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” Job 38: 31. That is a precious suggestion. There is not much in the way of sweet influence on earth. It is all spoiled, but the heavens still declare the glory of God, and sweet influence is involved in that. Influence is a great feature of the heavens. It were well if we respected the influence of heaven. We were speaking of it this afternoon; food given from thence, lying as hoar-frost, fine, granular, on the face of the wilderness, and the dew coming down before it. Like the dew of Hermon, as we are told elsewhere, which descended on the mountains of Zion. It is where the Lord commanded the blessing. “As the dew of Hermon that descendeth on the mountains of Zion; for there hath Jehovah commanded the blessing, life for evermore”, Psalm 133: 3. I refer to these things as of heaven and what God has set in the heavens.
We are about to be set there presently; a fact so stupendous that we can scarcely take it into our minds, far more stupendous than the sun’s position there. The heavenly city is set there, in a way replacing him of whom I have spoken, referred to in Ezekiel. It was said of him that every precious stone was his covering, and nine are mentioned; whereas, there are twelve mentioned in the heavenly city, not as coverings, but as foundations. A foundation is a greater thing than a covering, and that is our setting. There is no possibility, beloved, of breakdown in that. The heavenly city remains eternally the light of the universe, as God and the Lamb are in it. “Every precious stone” is a [p. 557] wonderful thought; the twelve showing how divine love entered into the heavenly city. It permeates it. Everyone there is amenable, not only to divine command but to spiritual suggestions. It is “a city that is compact together”; a city formed of persons, like ourselves, who are the subject of the unerring work of God. Think of being the formation of God. We are His workmanship, as it says, “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2: 10) — of indestructible workmanship. Of such is the heavenly city.
Well, now I want to show how Exodus opens up this thought, and it is notable that the princes, typically persons of spiritual wealth and power, furnish the stones, the onyx and other stones, to be set. Precious stones are of enhanced value as they are set where they can be seen, where they can reflect, indeed, in their own peculiar way, the action of light. Now I mention the princes because God would urge the thought of our having spiritual means. The material poverty that is growing out of the present world-wide conditions should work spiritual wealth in the people of God, so that we read that “their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their free-hearted liberality”, 2 Corinthians 8: 2. We are apt to rest in our poverty, and speak of it, and act in it; whereas, material poverty or stress is intended to promote spiritual wealth and liberality. That is what it is for. So the present widespread pressure in the world will act as discipline from God, which the saints of God — and only the saints of God — can understand, and as they understand and accept the discipline, it is sure to work out in spiritual wealth. Therefore, whatever prognostications may be made as to change in these conditions externally, there can be no doubt, beloved, of a good year ahead of us spiritually. I have no doubt of that, and that is the whole matter. Everything portends a good spiritual [p. 558] year under God; that is to say, if discipline effects anything. God has inaugurated a very widespread discipline, and it is sure to effect its end, for God is very patient and persistent with us so that there may be some increase of spiritual wealth; that if there be poverty, as it says, there may be free-hearted liberality, “for God loves a cheerful giver”, 2 Corinthians 9: 7.
And so I refer to these princes, and in referring to them in Exodus, I am not overlooking what has often been noted, that Exodus takes into account all the saints in the giving. Chronicles emphasises the giving of the king but Exodus includes all, so that everyone may contribute to the tabernacle, but yet there is the reference to the princes. However the saints are viewed as the work of God, there is always the idea of the prince. A prince is one who has more. If there is to be envy, let it be a holy envy. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to provoke them to jealousy, and he spoke to the Romans of the same thing, but of a holy jealousy; that is to say, if my brother has spiritual means, why not I? God would call my attention to him; not that I should seek that he should be diminished in his wealth, but that I should be increased in my wealth. It is holy envy, if you will allow me to express it. Why should I not increase my wealth if the means be available? I am but a sluggard if I do not. If the Macedonians gave more liberally than the Corinthians, why should it be? God would stir us up. I am not speaking of material things, for the moment, beloved, but of spiritual; that there might be princes among us, princely men — not those who take the position at all, but those who are it — whose princely holdings prove that they are princes.
And so here, they gave the onyx and other stones to be set; that is to say, they came forward with something that could be presented in a fixed position, something to be set — not something to be hidden. If [p. 559] we have a precious stone it is not to be hidden. Of what value is it as hidden? It is in its setting that the value shines, and so it says that they gave these stones to be set. Now think of that. Think of having something amongst the people of God in your soul — yours — that is set. There it is. Now take the onyx, for instance. That is the stone that was to be used for the shoulder-piece of the ephod of the high priest. Think of providing an onyx for such a service as that. Mark you, that whilst the habiliments of the high priest all picture Christ as He is now in heaven, we must remember that there is no workmanship in Him. It would be derogatory to Christ to talk about workmanship in Him. He is all these things personally, but then we must not exclude the idea of workmanship in the saints. In other words, the types represent a setting of thoughts, spiritual thoughts, aside from which we cannot grow or become adjusted in relation to God’s system of things. All these thoughts refer to us. It is how we come into the thing, how we come into an apprehension of Christ as He is as High Priest in heaven. But the Holy Spirit has to tell us that there was a precious stone on each shoulder, and that the names were there. If that were all, then I should lose the idea of the priests giving. I should lose the idea of the cutting of the stones in verse 33. I should lose sight entirely of Bezaleel, and we cannot afford that. Bezaleel does not refer to someone in heaven. There is no such thing as Bezaleel being all these things in Christ. It is what is brought about in our souls. That is Bezaleel’s work, and I cannot afford to lose sight of Bezaleel, the man of divine skill and wisdom. They had all the things amongst them for the cutting and setting of stones, so that they should be set; but I must keep my eye on Bezaleel, and I must keep my eye on those princes who give the onyx and other stones to be set, for they are the product of the work of God.
[p. 560] Christ is not that. Christ is what He is. He is not a creature. He is divine. What we arrive at and what we see is God graciously coming down to us and filling our hearts with holy thoughts so that we might arrive at what Christ is in heaven as bearing every one of us on His shoulders, supporting us. So we have the two onyx stones, one on each shoulder of the high priest with six names graven on each. These names were the children of Israel, sons of Israel according to their birth; that is to say, we are supported as a family by Christ in heaven. That is a precious thought. It is according to our birth, whether old or young; whether it were Reuben the eldest, or Benjamin the youngest, each had his place according to his birth; each belonged to the family, and each is supported family-wise, in these onyx stones provided by the men of wealth in Israel.
And then we have the breastplate, set, we are told, with twelve precious stones — twelve of them. How those princes would shine indirectly in those stones given for setting, and the workmanship of Bezaleel in the cutting, so that your name and my name are engraved, all the names of the saints engraved. It is the work of an Engraver. We cannot afford, beloved, to omit these things, if we are to arrive at the greatness of the position of Christ in heaven, as representing us before God. We want to have the thing in detail, and if we are to have it in detail, we must understand the types. Now the breastplate is a most interesting thing. It is the most interesting part of the high priest’s dress. It contains, as I said, twelve precious stones; four rows of three each, with the names of the tribes of Israel according to their tribe — not according to birth. We are supported on the shoulders according to birth; that is, in the family, but on the breastplate, according to our tribes. That brings in the counsel of God; that each one has his own place, not determined by birth, but determined by the [p. 561] counsel of God. I prefer that. Hence, Judah was first. When I look on the breastplate, I am submissive to the sovereign purpose of love, but then there are those precious stones, and every name set. Think of that, beloved. Think of being set before God; not shining down upon the earth in the high priest’s breastplate, but shining Godward. Think what it means that every name is perfectly readable to the eye of God in that breastplate, and think of it being set there, and set there according to eternal counsel: “For the gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance”, Romans 11: 29. There is no possibility of any name being blotted out there.
You see the tribes as complete there. Therefore, you find them all in the heavenly city, as I said, the whole twelve tribes of Israel.
Well, now, in the verses read in the epistle to the Corinthians, we have these two thoughts: first, that God has set us in the body; and, secondly, that God has set certain in the assembly. Before dwelling on these two thoughts, I do wish to emphasise what I have said. You get the thought of the setting in the breastplate and also in the onyx stones on the shoulders, but particularly in the breastplate. The most precious thoughts that creation can suggest to us enter into the breastplate. Creation, in this respect, furnishes a language of God which we can understand. I cannot think for a moment that divine Persons conversing together use such a language. They do not need to, but language taken from creation is for creatures. Divine Persons have a language: what it is, we know not. The Lord Jesus speaks about the glory which He had with His Father before the world was. “And now glorify me, thou Father, along with thyself, with the glory which I had along with thee before the world was” (John 17: 5), and we have also words about counsels taken. We may be sure, beloved, that divine Persons have [p. 562] their own way, far beyond our ken, of communicating with one another. Before any human language was formed — and God is the author of language — divine Persons had a means of communicating together. That we have to leave, but communications that we are conversant with are taken from the creation. Every word used by the Spirit of God is taken from creation; I mean, taken from it to form man’s thoughts and conceptions of God’s thoughts; God, in His grace, comes down to our level, so that we might understand from creation what He intends to convey by it. Therefore, the precious stones convey the very highest thoughts, the most precious thoughts of God, and there are twelve of them with our names engraved on them. I speak especially to the young ones here. Take into your souls that your names are there emblazoned before the eye of God, day and night. The high priest was never to go into the presence of God without the breastplate, so as to assure us that there is perfect and perpetual representation of us in the presence of God. He ever appears to make intercession for us. Think of that. He ever appears to make intercession for us, and what I mean by that is what one has spoken of before, that the position of the saints here corresponds with their position in the breastplate. The tribes, as depicted around the tabernacle in Numbers, corresponds with the breastplate; in other words, our position here in this world is to be in accord with the position we occupy in the breastplate before God, perfect correspondence between the breastplate and the position of the saints in the path of the will of God down here, and that is how we get support, for you cannot look for support in the path of disobedience. God may discipline you in it and watch over you in it, but support is in the path of His will.
Now, to come back to Corinthians, the first setting is in the body, and that includes every person who [p. 563] has Spirit of God. Every person who has the Spirit of God is in the body. He has not selected his place in it. That is quite obvious. “I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My bones were not hidden from thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth”, Psalm 139: 14, 15. We have nothing to do with that. It is a question of what God has done. He has set the members in the body as it has pleased Him. We should not wish it otherwise. The eye, the hand, the foot, and all the members mentioned by way of illustration, are there according to divine appointment. As in the physical body of man, so in the spiritual body of Christ, every member is there according to divine appointment as it pleased God. This is a very serious matter because the body is an organism. The assembly is an organisation. The assembly involves intelligence and subjection, but the body, that is to say, the assembly viewed as a body, is an organism. It is a question of our being linked up vitally by the Spirit, linked up in life, and when one speaks thus, one has to admit that the thing is scarcely known at all among the saints of God. The idea of the body is known theoretically but if I am challenged, what do I know of this organism? What do I know about it typically? What do I know about being linked up vitally with every saint on earth and being in a position according to divine appointment? Being set there is a matter to challenge our hearts so that as we come into it, as we see the wisdom of the setting, we function in it.
I might suggest at this point that many dear saints of God are in a false setting. A precious stone should be in its proper setting. The book of Proverbs contemplates a precious stone or jewel in a false setting. It says, “A fair woman who is without discretion, is as a gold ring in a swine’s snout”,
[p. 564] Proverbs 11: 22. Her fairness, without discretion, is a jewel in a false setting. The jewel may be there but the setting is wrong. I may be in a setting of human arrangement, in a worldly setting, but if I have never come into the fellowship of God’s people, I am in a false setting. There are many like that, set in the midst of a worldly organisation. If there is anyone here in such a position, I would urge you to consider it. As I have said, ‘A fair woman without discretion’. You are fair with God because of His work in you, but without discretion. Your circumstances are without discretion; your ways are without discretion; so much so, that your allegiance to Christ is questionable. Think of your christianity being questionable. It is questionable if you are without discretion. And so you have here the thought of being set in the body according to divine pattern. How I should like to answer to that in my own soul and to see all the brothers and sisters taking their place in this setting, no longer without discretion, but each in his own setting, like jewels of silver and gold, as we see in the book of Proverbs.
Now, in speaking of the body, I have especially in mind to speak about the assembly as such. The body, of course, is the assembly. It is one phase of it, but when we come down to the last verse read, the word is “assembly”, not ‘body’. The word ‘assembly’ properly means those that are called out — called-out ones. Is there anyone here tonight who is professedly a believer in Christ and not called out of the world? The basis of Corinthians is “called out” persons, persons called “saints”, God having called us as He called out of the tabernacle. He is calling every day, constantly calling every day: “Come out of her, my people”. That is the call, and so in 2 Corinthians 6: 17: “Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you”. That is [p. 565] the call. You cannot afford to be in the world. God calls you out, and that is the idea of the assembly. You are called into something, and that something is the assembly. It is formed of persons called out, but as formed. It is marked by intelligence and order. That is what it signifies, and so it says that God has set certain in the assembly. Every one of us is set in the body. Every true christian is set in the body, but only certain are set in the assembly: “And God has set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous powers; then gifts of healings; helps; governments; kinds of tongues”, 1 Corinthians 12: 28. These are set in the assembly, and so they are not independent. There is no such thought as a gift being free to do as he pleases and to go where he pleases. He is set in the assembly. You may say, ‘I am responsible to the Lord’, but that is not set in the assembly. I might be responsible to the Lord as a unit, as an individual, and I am, but that is not set in the assembly. If I am set in the assembly, I am responsible to it. I come under surveillance, and it may be the criticism of the assembly; and no true servant will have it otherwise, for his brethren are his safeguard. So, God has set certain in the assembly. Hence every brother should aspire to gift. “But desire earnestly the greater gifts”, 1 Corinthians 12: 31. The need is very great for them and the need is great for persons who are ready to be sent. To have gift is one thing; to be sent, is another. I may have gift, and may not be ready to be sent, not trustworthy, and so Isaiah says, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah 6: 8. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” “I” and “us”. “Whom shall I send?” is definite inquiry, as He is very particular as to whom He sends. God is particular, but then the next thing is, “Who will go for us?”: not for me, but for “us”. The “us” is a very wide thought. It brings in more — authority. “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” — that is a call. Was the need ever greater? Never. The need among the people of God, the need to preach the gospel, the need to serve is paramount, but “Whom shall I send?” and you say, ‘Someone with a gift’. No, not someone with gift only. The gift needs to have formation. The gift is to be in its setting; what is that setting? the assembly. That is the setting. I cannot go without the fellowship of my brethren, and so, as you will all remember, at Antioch, the Holy Spirit describes to us the beautiful material in the assembly that was there. So the question arises in one’s mind about the assembly that is here in New York, for instance. What is it like? The assembly that was there at Antioch was a very beautiful assembly. The princes of that assembly shone in lustre. They ministered to the Lord, and they fasted. Antioch does not suggest the Ethiopian woman whom Moses married. I am afraid that she depicts the assembly in this city, not very lovely, but one cannot speak much of the loveliness of any assembly today. Nevertheless, Moses married her, although both Miriam and Aaron spoke against her; that is to say, the Lord Jesus takes us up, and enters into the bond with us, in spite of our unloveliness, but He intends to make us lovely. When she comes up out of the wilderness in the Canticles, she is very lovely with all the powders of the merchant. “Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” Song of Songs 3: 6. She is beautified for Solomon and merges into the daughters of Jerusalem. “King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. Its pillars he made of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple; The midst thereof was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem”, Song of Songs 3: 9, 10. “Paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem”. How beautiful they were! The Lord takes us up, you see, in spite of our unloveliness, and He makes us lovely if we will allow Him. He will beautify us, and so, as I was saying, Antioch was very beautiful. It was a perfect gem, as it is depicted by the Spirit.
And then there were those gifts, Barnabas and Paul. Barnabas was mentioned first and Paul was mentioned last. “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul”, Acts 13: 1. They were gifts, and they were set in the assembly. They had taught in that assembly. They had to do with it, but now they are set in it, and the Holy Spirit speaking to the assembly, to those present, said, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid their hands on them, they let them go”, Acts 13: 2, 3. The assembly, or those representing it, laid their hands upon them, and let them go. “They let them go”. Do you think they wanted to get rid of them? No, the idea of the body was there. They were members one of another. They were linked up vitally in that assembly, but then the idea of the assembly was there. As it says, “The assembly which was there”, and God had set these persons in it — these gifts — and now they go out, sent by the Holy Spirit. They go out with the full fellowship of the assembly.
Well, dear brethren, that was all. I had the idea of setting in the assembly in mind, because there are many, thank God, who are able to serve amongst us, but I fear too much individuality, too much aspiration to serve and shine in service, and too little understanding of being set in the assembly. Let the [p. 568] setting in the assembly have full weight with us, so that we have the confidence of our brethren, and go out in the service with their hands upon us. They will let us go, not wishing to get rid of us but sparing us rather, and supporting us in the service. Their places were cherished there, and they came back after their service. They did not go away in a hurry, because we are told that they remained no little time with the disciples in Antioch.