THE DIVINE IDEA OF A CITY, ITS MAINTENANCE AND ITS FUNCTIONS
[p. 34] THE DIVINE IDEA OF A CITY, ITS MAINTENANCE AND ITS FUNCTIONS
Ruth 3:15; Ruth 4:1; Acts 9:6; Acts 9:10 - 12; 2 Samuel 15: 24 - 37
I have in mind, dear brethren, to occupy you with the idea of a city as presented in Scripture, hoping to suggest something applicable, and perhaps distinctive, so that the divine thought may be better understood and carried into effect by us in these days of small things in which we are. But however small the things may be that are current, no divine thought is to be small to us, or allowed to lapse; all is to be held in a living way. You will remember when the Lord in the book of Revelation had spoken and shown Himself to John, that, as John fell at His feet as one dead, the Lord touched him, saying, “I am ... the living One” (Revelation 1: 17). That is what He was, that is what He would be, what He had shown Himself to be as He arose from the dead. According to Luke’s account He had shown Himself unto them living (Acts 1: 3), and He had not ceased to be that. Whatever decay had taken place in the assembly — and, alas, decay had set in — there would be no change in Christ. He was still the living One, and He touched John, which is a suggestion of what is needful in remnant times, the touch of the living One. He laid His right hand upon John, meaning that not only was He living, but His strength remained and was available, so that John should carry out his service accordingly. He was to carry it out not only as a mere seer — although he was that, and was to write the things that he had seen, and the things that are and the things that should be afterwards — but the spirit of life was to enter into his writing. John makes much of writing. The fourth gospel is his, as we know, the great theme being life; and his first epistle also deals with life, and so throughout his earlier writings, they are all in [p. 35] relation to life. It is as if the Lord were to say, ‘There must be no flagging; the ministry must go on in a living way; whatever the state of the saints, the state of the minister must be that he is living;’ and we know by reading those wonderful chapters in the Apocalypse what vigour and life there is in the writer, and how he appeals in relation to the water of life. What a volume, too, there is! There is no slackening of the thought in relation to the river that flows out from the throne of God, clear as crystal, “the river of water of life”, fructifying all that is around.
So the Lord would encourage us in regard of every thought of God; nothing should be dormant among us, although we may be at times at a loss to know how to make the thoughts living; but things are only living practically as they are held by the Spirit in our hearts and minds. We may be at a loss at times to make every thought practically living; but as we wait on the Lord He supports us so that no thought should be dormant, or dead; and certainly not the thought of a city. That is to go forward. We all know how it comes in in Revelation; we are never tired of referring to the marvellous presentation of it in chapter 21. How stimulating it is! and how it should reflect backwards so as to stimulate us in our day in regard of the divine thought; for certainly the presentation of it there is in order that we might see that it has not lapsed in the mind of God. It is one of the great thoughts of God, presented from the outset of faith, and looked for by faith.
I read from Ruth to show how the thought of the city appears there in what I might call the creating of royalty; for the city thought necessarily attaches to royalty. There is “The city of the great King” (Matthew 5: 35); that is the idea; and what we get here in Boaz gives us the clue to what there was in Bethlehem, this great Bethlehemite, Boaz, the [p. 36] mighty man of wealth, the sure type of Christ, as Ruth came into his view expressing her claim. The Lord loves to have His people coming forward and asserting their claims, their relation to Him. If there are those here who have not done it, nothing will please the Lord better than that you should come forward and assert your claim before Him. As a believer you have a claim upon Him; He has placed Himself in such a position as to suggest that to us, not only in becoming Man, but in His manner and in His ways. He is in truth a Man, with all the sympathies of a Man, ready to acknowledge every claim put forth, and to meet it. The grace of Boaz encourages Ruth, and as governed by the wise instruction of her mother-in-law she pursues a certain course which involves a claim on Boaz, which claim he owns at once. The Lord will never put you off. Nothing pleases Him better, I am bold to say, than that His people should come forward in the assertion of any claim they may think they have on Him. He has placed Himself in relation to us to incite such a thought in our hearts, that we have a claim on Him. As becoming Man He stands related to us, not in any merely human way, for His humanity is unique; it is not like ours. It is altogether of its own kind, but nevertheless real humanity, so that He is within the range of all men, but especially now of those who, as believers, may have some little thought of the assembly — of their having part in it.
So that Boaz accepted the suggestion of Ruth at once, and that is why I called attention when reading the scripture to the changed pronoun, pointing out that it ought to be ‘he’, instead of ‘she’ as in the Authorised Version. The meaning is plain enough, that while it is true that she also went into the city, the point is that he went into the city. That is, her claim suggested to him a great matter, not only her matter, but a great matter, that is, the question of [p. 37] redemption. We do well to go over the ground of redemption, and if there be any claim put forward on the Lord as our Redeemer, the One who has a right (for it is a question of right) the Lord will go over the whole ground with us. There is constant need that the Lord should go over the whole ground of one phase of the truth after another, and every time He does it we get something distinctive. It is no question of one meeting being better than another, but is there anything distinctive? Is there anything that is needed? Is there anything that the Lord has called attention to? If there be something that we have been neglecting, or have not perceived, then there is profit, definite gain as we go over the matter. And so Boaz went into the city as if making it a great matter. It may be a small matter in our eyes, but it is not so in the Lord’s, for everything must stand in relation to the whole scheme or system of truth. If He is to meet the obligation put upon Him, so to speak, He must go into the city, the great centre where all things are resolved, where the light and the authority and the administration are carried out. He goes into the city. Sure enough, Naomi had suggested this to Ruth. After she had told her mother-in-law what had occurred Naomi said that the man would not rest until he saw the matter through; neither will the Lord rest. He proceeds at once, but He proceeds according to His own methods, which are always best. We had better, having suggested what is needed, leave matters with Him, and He will take our little affairs and bring them into His great affairs, and He will work them out in relation to His great affairs. So that Boaz goes into the city and sits in the gate, the gate being, of course, a place of publicity. It was a public place, but it was the place where things happened. How great a thing it is, beloved brethren, to be where divine things are happening, where they are likely to [p. 38] happen, and where they do happen! Many of us miss much because we do not frequent the place of divine happenings. Others get the gain of them, and we miss it because of our slothfulness. As has often been remarked, Anna did not miss anything; she was in the place of divine happenings. “There was a man in Jerusalem”, we are told in Luke 2: 25, meaning that that was his place. He was a spiritual man and at the very centre of things, and Anna came in when the great happening was proceeding; she did not miss anything. We never can tell in the assembly, when the saints are together, what may happen, what the Lord may do or say; hence how imperative it is to be there in the place of happenings, and especially royal happenings.
So Boaz sat in the gate and took up this matter. You are all conversant, no doubt, with the teaching of the history given in chapters 1 and 2, not only with the things that happened, but with what was required to meet the position. The obligation put on Boaz was carried out not only as in the city, but in relation to Israel. The way of doing things is called attention to, that is, the allusion is to the spiritual way of doing things: “This was the custom in ... Israel” (Ruth 4: 7). I have no doubt, dear brethren, that the answer to all this in chapters 3 and 4 may be worked out in the gospels in relation first to Israel and then to the assembly. They both were in view in the closing moments of the Lord’s life when He sent His disciples into the city to prepare the passover. It was a great matter. We do well to ponder the facts presented, as to what came into the Lord’s mind, as I might say, the passover speaking of His relation to Israel which He was now foregoing, for He would not again partake of the fruit of the vine until He should drink it in a new way in the kingdom of His Father. But there was that before His eyes which was becoming everything to Him, that is, the [p. 39] assembly; and hence the deliberation with which everything was done, especially as recorded in Luke’s gospel. It is really the Lord going to the city, literally, of course, Jerusalem, but more than that; He had already around Him an order of things, and had already inaugurated the system where henceforth all these thoughts, and the light of God, and the administration of God, should issue. We should bear all this in mind in pondering the records of the institution of the Lord’s supper. The Lord impresses us with His carefulness (not that He was not always careful) that there should be preparation, and that there should be no cause for misunderstanding afterwards. The taking on of the right of redemption, and the obligation, and all that went with redemption — that is, in relation to Israel and the assembly, now that the assembly was coming into view — made it imperative that the disciples should realise what was taking place, that there should be no mistake, but that it should be perfectly clear what was in the Lord’s mind. So as in the case of Boaz who went and sat in the gate, the Lord acted with the greatest deliberation. There was no question yet of the assembly as in Corinth, for there is no evidence of any sisters being present. It was a question of testimony, a question of Israel’s custom; it was a question of everything being carried out according to God, and that the Lord’s rights in redemption should be indisputable, that no question should be raised as to them; and to this end He was ready to accept humiliation. Doubtless the drawing off of the shoe as in the case of Boaz implies that the Lord had to accept humiliation, which He did, and went into the dust of death in order to establish His redemptive rights in relation to whomsoever they applied, and especially to ourselves now.
I would speak, dear brethren, of the royal aspect of the city, how the germ of it was there in the upper [p. 40] room; and so as the Lord went up to heaven, as you will remember in Acts 1, the disciples returned from the mount of Olives to the city and went to the upper room; and we are told who were there. We are not left in any doubt as to the ability of those present to maintain the city thought. The names of the eleven apostles and others are given, guaranteeing without a doubt that the true city of God was already there, and that things were being carried out according to the Lord’s mind concerning them in His absence.
Now, what I have said about the Lord’s supper and what was in the upper room in Jerusalem requires careful consideration so that we might see how the thought of the city was there, and how it worked out in the succeeding chapters in Acts. But it waned, and it has continued to wane until well-nigh lost; although a little revival has taken place as depicted typically in the days of Nehemiah. We cannot, however, but be sensible of its smallness; and in Acts 9 we see how the Lord would check or repair whatever damage had accrued through carelessness. It is not Jerusalem now, nor are the apostles there, but the Lord had in His mind that the city in the true sense of the word should exist. That, dear brethren, is where special attention is needed, because the Lord has left us here so that we might help our brethren, and be ready to serve them. That is to say, the particular business of those who love the Lord at the present time is to help our brethren, so many of whom need help. So the Lord has one in Acts 9 in Saul, and He directs him to go into the city. Now, it is not accidental that the word ‘city’ is used, for you can understand that the Lord does not simply mean that Saul was to go inside the walls; He has more than that in mind. The Lord has in His mind the great thought of the city which He has inaugurated in the twelve; and now, as it was [p. 41] waning in Damascus and doubtless at Jerusalem too, He would make repairs; for it is one great feature of divine operations that the vessels engaged in the divine work should not misrepresent what is being done. Ananias was not equal to the great service needed, and I have no doubt, dear brethren, that this applies generally today, that the service of helping our brethren is but poorly carried out, and for the reason that the city is not understood in a living way. So the Lord makes repairs. He is the “Repairer of the breaches”. Who can do it like Him? We can turn to Him with the greatest confidence as to all our local sorrows, and they are many, alas. Local eruptions are frequent, and there is no hope save as we can bring the Lord in; He is ready to come in. No one asked Him to do so in this case, but He actually came into Damascus Himself; He sent Saul in, but He came in too, not to set the city itself right, not to help the mayor and the aldermen to keep order (it is not the Lord who does those things but God as the sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth) but the Lord Jesus came in as occupied with the city in a spiritual way, putting matters right in that sense. Ananias was a man evidently having a certain position as a leader; he is said to be pious, having a good report of the Jews; but although there may be leaders in localities that are pious and have a very good report, they may be very remiss in regard of such a matter, and the service and urgency needed, that is, to know how to meet a brother. It is a part of the city service. So the Lord goes to Ananias; He speaks to him, calling him by name. The Lord is watching over our little gatherings in the cities, towns, villages and hamlets in which we may be, and He is concerned that the city principle should not lapse, however small and weak things are, in order that the thing should be livingly maintained. So the Lord goes to Ananias and puts him right,
[p. 42] and Ananias goes to Saul. The Lord even knew the name of the street where Saul was, as He knows every street in the cities, towns and villages where the saints are, and it was a street called Straight. I have no doubt that is a street the Lord would call attention to, for there is a, great deal of crookedness among us; not that I am accusing the brethren, but it is well to face the actual conditions today. No doubt economic conditions have been the immediate cause of the present situation, but there is a moral cause, and if we are with God we think of these things. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12: 29), and if the Lord calls attention to a street called Straight, that is what is in His mind, that things have to be straight. So Ananias goes to Saul; but how rapidly and how effectively was his administration carried out; and how rapidly this brother Saul, this elect vessel unto Christ, came to maturity and preached Jesus as the Son of God!
Now that is one side; that is the second thought I had in mind. The first great thought of the city is that brought in by the Lord in Jerusalem in view of His death, showing us that things were all there fully attested; nothing lapsed or was omitted of all that was made known in the way of testimony, and it was all furnished in the upper room in Acts 1. Then Acts 9 shows how the Lord is repairing the breaches, and seeing to it that our service in caring for the brethren should not be impaired, that the thought of the city should not lapse, but be maintained in its dignity. If we are concerned as to this we shall not be citizens according to the minds of men; indeed, the city of God is our deliverance from the cities of this world. It is a very solemn matter. It says in Revelation 16: 19, “The cities of the nations fell”, great as they are; but in this one all is to make room for this great thought of God which is to be treasured. The very thought of it, as it takes form [p. 43] in any little way in us, is delightful to heaven, and the Lord is ever ready to repair the breaches so that things might be done according to His mind.
I want to show in the last scripture how this great thought is maintained not only in our localities, but in a general way, so that the city thought is maintained in the very presence of the apostasy. This is a great problem, and a great matter; and this scripture that deals with it is one of the most interesting sections of Scripture, certainly in this connection. Absalom had revolted, and Israel with him, and he was approaching Jerusalem, just as today the apostasy is heading up and almost engulfing everything and yet not everything, for after all — and I say it with great triumph — there is that here on earth, although obscure, which it cannot touch, and which means the overthrow of it all, the complete negation of the whole matter, and which will itself grow and grow till at last it will come out and fill the universe. These things of which I have been speaking and which we go on with in our localities, will be presently unveiled (they are veiled now) and they will fill the universe in the heavenly city.
I now want to show just briefly how this is seen in this remarkable type. David, as you will observe, is in rejection. He is leaving the city; that is to say, applying it today, the Lord in a moral sense is rejected; really He has no place in christendom viewed as a whole. That is the position. What He had in the first of Acts and indeed right through Acts no longer exists publicly; He is already rejected in christendom as a whole. This has gone on for centuries, and David’s position is a type of the Lord’s, but what he says to Zadok and then to Hushai and the sequel to that show how the victory is certain. That is, there is that here that means the overthrow of the apostate religious state of things, and what I want to say, dear brethren, is that it is a mystery [p. 44] belonging to believers; I mean ourselves. We need to understand the idea of a mystery, and not to be too ready to talk of things. Of course, it is right to enlighten people as to the gospel; that can ever be presented; there is no veil connected with the presentation of the grace of God; but there is a danger in presenting other things. There is the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6: 19); and then there is “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4: 11). The thought of mystery is a thing very little understood among us, and less practised; because if I have the thought of the mystery of the gospel, I begin to make it mysterious; I begin to show that I treasure things in my mind and ponder them in my heart, that I am not willing to tell people about all that is going on in private; for unless we keep the mystery to ourselves there is no hope of carrying out the thought of the city, and the overthrow of Absalom’s system, which is already overthrown in the hearts of believers. Presently God will overthrow the whole system in keeping with what we cherish, for it says, “God has judged your judgment upon her” (Revelation 18: 20). That is what He does, and no one could do it but God; “in one hour” (verse 19) will her judgment come; and she will be judged, as it says, according to our judgment. You see how great the position is. So David says to Zadok, “Carry back the ark of God into the city”. That has to be viewed abstractly; that is, the Lord is taking the city, meaning that no true follower, no lover of Christ, no one who keeps His commandments, can be sectarian, can be a partisan (which involves the denial of all this); the ark must be held in relation to the whole city, the whole assembly. “Carry back the ark of God into the city”. It requires faith to do it, to regard that which the ark means as the symbol of divine power in operation, to see to it that that should be held in our souls in relation to the whole assembly, in relation [p. 45] to every saint of God on earth, so that we are not sectarian, but have the ark set up and held in that way in our minds.
Then, that being accomplished (for Zadok carried out the king’s commandment), David “went up by the ascent of the Olives” (verse 30). It is a beautiful thought. There is the descent and the ascent; this is the ascent. We shall never know how to descend unless we know how to ascend the mount of Olives. The ascending one is the descending one. David ascended the mountain in a beautiful spirit, and worshipped on the top of it, and then Hushai comes into view, and mark the kind of man he was. He represents a great spiritual element; he is spoken of as a friend of David. What a privilege it is to be in the position of a friend in these circumstances — David’s friend! “Hushai David’s friend came into the city” (verse 37), the precursor of the overthrow of Absalom. That one man, the friend of David, is the guarantee that Absalom would not prevail. What a thing it is to be a friend of Christ! and He requires friends who will be loyal to Him, and if loyal to Christ, they will be loyal to one another. So that Hushai is reminded by David that in the city was the ark, and Zadok and Abiathar and their sons; that is, there was a secret system, unknown to Absalom, set up in the very midst of the city that spelt his overthrow.
Much more could be said about this, but time is gone; but I do urge this friendship to Christ. He says, “Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you” (John 15: 14). It is “whatever”. Let us not make our selection as to what commandments we are going to practise. It is “whatever I command you”. Hushai did exactly what David commanded, and he was eminently successful. It is “whatever I command you”. Are we prepared to say that it is of no importance at all, that it is a [p. 46] matter not worth mentioning? Is that so? “I praise you”, says Paul, “that in all things ye are mindful of me; and that as I have directed you, ye keep the directions” (1 Corinthians 11: 2). It is “whatever I command you”. Success lies in adhering strictly, not only to a selection of the commandments, but to whatsoever is commanded; and, moreover, as Paul says, we shall discern, if we are spiritual, that they are the Lord’s commandments (1 Corinthians 14: 37). Although spoken through Paul’s lips, they were the Lord’s commandments. As being able to discern them by their own characteristics through whomsoever the Lord’s mind is disclosed, we embrace them, not only because of the person who may speak but because of the thing itself. That is indeed how the canon of Scripture began to exist; it had its own authority. It is no question of the rule of synod or church council; it is a question of what the Scriptures are themselves to those who love the Lord. And so it is “whatever I command you” — whatever comes out today, whatever the Lord calls attention to; it carries its own weight; and lovers of Christ discern it, having moved on in that way. As in the case of Hushai they see victory after victory, the power of antichrist broken, and souls brought in, into the fellowship of God’s Son, into the fellowship of His death, and into the fellowship of the Spirit.