GOD'S PROVISIONAL WAYS WITH MEN
GOD’S PROVISIONAL WAYS WITH MEN
Genesis 5: 28, 29; Genesis 8: 20 - 22; 2 Corinthians 2: 14 - 16; Revelation 21: 1 - 3
These scriptures afford us intelligence as to how the prophetic word made known before a catastrophe, that is the deluge, appears in its application afterwards. In these two days we have spent together we have reminded each other of how God brings His people through disasters, always leading to triumph, as Paul says in the verses read in 2 Corinthians — “Who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place”, that is to say, God being God, is “over all, and through all, and in us all”, Ephesians 4: 7. He has right of way everywhere; at all times and in all places. His thought is to make Himself known, to make His love known, always bringing in Christ. So it is in this present moment in this hall, to speak simply; we are reminded of how God can make a way through the, greatest difficulties for His people, setting us down in a convenient place to reveal His thoughts to us, imparting His knowledge to us, but always through Christ. We are in a mediatorial system — the Father, the Son and the Spirit. They are all active, love being behind every action.
So, as I said, our first scripture is a prophetic word. A son is born to Lamech, one of the men noted in this chapter. Prophecies were not frequent in the period before the flood, but they existed, prophetic ministry from God having a present bearing, preparing men for sorrows, affording later the application of the prophecy. So we have from Lamech a prophetic word at the birth of his first son. It was a son destined for great things indeed, and also a remarkable type of Christ too. So a prophetic [p. 490] word was befitting. At the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ messages were conveyed through Gabriel, a great angel, a priestly angel, suitable for the moment, for it was the birth, not of Zacharias, but of the Messiah, the High Priest of God. He was foreshadowed by Melchisedec, but He was born. A priestly angel announces the coming birth, and in due course other angels announce the actual birth; they are all full of instruction and encouragement for us. So Lamech had his part, Enoch had his part too, and Noah also, coming after; thus there was at least a prophetic ministry at that time, immediate and pointing on to the great future.
The prophecy of which we read was in regard to Noah — what he should be, as his father says, “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed”. That was the prophecy, and it was an assuring one; what God would do, and He is ever ready to do things and give us inklings beforehand as to what is to be gone through, thus fortifying us. Now we have gone through the recent terrible trial, and we must consider the prophetic indication going before, going along with it, and coming after it. We shall not fail then, by the help of God, as later occasion arises for prophetic ministry; it is from heaven, it is a provision of God to warn us beforehand of things that may happen, and to comfort us in view of them, direct application bringing out what is in God’s mind, for nothing transpires without Him; not a sparrow falls without Him, how much more a saint? The prophecy is in chapter 5 and the birth of a son at the same time, and then the disaster, the terrible thing that was in the mind of God; for the time had come of which men were told 120 years before. They were told that God would make an end of all flesh.
[p. 491] In moving on to chapter 8 I desire to bring in the positive side, how Noah carried through what had been said at his birth, and it is an important matter to carry things through, however long, until the application of the prophecy concerning them can be made. Noah had gone through six hundred years but he carried things through, even as in the days of Samuel, nothing fell to the ground that Samuel had said. So this prophecy did not fall to the ground, as far as Noah was concerned; there were many who cared nothing for it, for the world had gone astray from God, but God was about to deal with it, and He did; He made an end of things as they were.
Now I want to bring out the subject of the prophecy; that is, Noah, and how Noah carried it down and how he acted in the spirit of it. Scripture brings out the spirit of things as well as the actual things, and Noah brought in the spirit of the thing; that is to say, he offered up burnt offerings; he built an altar and offered up burnt offerings on it, of every clean creature, and Jehovah smelled a sweet savour, ‘an odour of rest’. All the offerings are to God, as the angel said to Manoah, If you bring a burnt offering, offer it to God. We are to learn things by the way in our experiences, that God must come first at all times and in all places. Now the time has come for the fulfilment of the thought in Noah, for the sweet savour, a savour of rest, and God smelled it. That is, you might say, the renewed earth is now clear, sin has been dealt with, and the earth is filled with an odour of rest. I am not saying that the word filled is there, but I am thinking of the house in which Mary of Bethany offered. The Lord said, she had performed a good work on Him. She anointed Him and the house was filled; not the earth nor the world, but the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. This has always been [p. 492] open to us, dear brethren, to offer to God, to keep God before us; God in Christ, of course, but God, and the odour of rest will be always there.
Here God had something else in His mind, He had another world in His mind, He had another heaven and another earth in His mind, but He is not saying anything about those things. God knows how to conceal things. He concealed the mystery until the time came for it; God conceals knowledge. God made known the savour of His knowledge through Paul in every place; but then there are conditions that arise which would shut the key of knowledge from us and hence there is no revelation. Sometimes the ministry meetings are not profitable. One hears of these things, and I am speaking of them so that they may be remedied wherever they exist. But the earth was God’s and the savour of Noah’s offerings was there — Noah provided it for God. Noah unselfishly offered every clean creature on the altar, without any thought of reserving anything for himself. That is the principle on which the new world stands. God had brought in the idea of a new world, but still He had another in His mind which He did not disclose; but He began to say things in His heart. No doubt in time men would hear about these things. But not even to Noah did He say anything about the things which were in His heart. But there was the principle of a new world, and we know it now. The heart of God has been disclosed as to all these matters; there is nothing held back. Paul says he completed the word of God, everything is told out, love would tell out everything, hence the disclosures of love to the people of God. It is said here, “The Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more [p. 493] every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease”.
Now I read that Jehovah was saying something in His heart; it would come out in due time for the prophetic ministry had begun. Peter tells us that the Lord Jesus has been received in heaven until the time of the restoring of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since time began. God had the thought of prophecy in mind; He had things in His mind that He would bring out bit by bit by the prophets, through Noah and through Enoch down to the last prophet. That is to say, the spirit of prophecy is still current and God is keeping on this ministry, keeping us going, awake to all His mind, making applications in order to stir us up in the present time. It is now specially important after we have been through the recent terrible ordeal — such as Noah went through, not to such an extent, but it has been an awful thing, I refer to it not because I know what it means, but because I know you know what it means, and I want you to understand that I have thorough sympathy with you in all the unspeakable experiences that you have been through. And you have not finished yet. We may as well face things, and the prophetic ministry will help us to do so, because what is happening is that God is setting up governments; it is a provisional situation, God is using certain governments for the moment. I believe it is manifest that things are not settled, and therefore we have to accept the provisional state of things that God is pleased to afford us even for a little moment, but not for long. There will soon be a change and it will extend for a thousand years in the mercy of God; but the happenings have begun already to introduce what is called the millennium, the era of [p. 494] blessing that God has designed for this earth. Anyone who has any spiritual intelligence knows that we need not look for anything very great or permanent here; what we may certainly look for is the mercy of God; we may count upon it as applying to the circumstances that have come about and exist involving sufferings for us in a greater or lesser degree. So what God was saying in His heart here implies this very thing: “while the earth remaineth”. What He is saying refers to the continuation of the earth, not the heavens; “while the earth remaineth”. The prophecy referred to it, but what God said in His heart was not covered by Lamech’s prophecy; he did not hear from God as to what was in His heart. Now we understand what is in the heart of God, all is revealed.
But I want to say a word as to this matter of provisional conditions, what God is saying in His heart refers to provisional conditions. In His mercy He said He would not destroy the earth as He had done, and He adds, “Neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease”. Noah had to wait for God’s disclosures, and we are told in Proverbs, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Proverbs 25: 2). We are sometimes tested by what God conceals, as to what is for His glory; there may be something that God cannot disclose to us, because of some moral state in us that is not pleasing to Him. It is God with whom we have to do. He is our God, and our God is Noah’s God and Enoch’s God. He is a God who can conceal things and disclose them as He pleases. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”, and the ministry of the Spirit is to search out things and make them known. Those qualified [p. 495] to minister to the people of God will search out things and if we do not search the Scriptures, comparing them and understanding them by the Spirit of God we cannot really prophesy. The ministry meeting will not be very much unless there is the searching out of things. That means, praying and enquiring, looking into all that is available to furnish us for the great work that God may put into our hands.
So, as I said, God was saying things in His heart, and these things referred to a provisional state of things on the earth, and that provisional state of things remains now and will remain to the end of the millennium — “while the earth remaineth”. It is not a question of heaven or of heavenly things, but of what God does and what He does provisionally, and how merciful He is in the provision that He affords to us and to men, all men being involved in God’s mercy, what He makes available to us to carry on, otherwise we can scarcely have anything. See how God is preserving the whole race. I should not think the number has been greatly diminished in modern times, the births have been greatly increased, and God is thus speaking to men as to His mercy, for He is not willing that any should perish. It is a question of what God would do in His mercy provisionally so as to keep things going and carry out His ways in men as they are. In the millennial day He will show what He can do even in a positive sense with men as they are, men and women in flesh and blood. But we are now dealing with the world as it is, and that is what God was saying in His heart at the time of which I am speaking.
I would seek to present to you what that means, what history enters into it! We can look back, but Noah had to look forward. What could he see? What could he think of the world to come? He had no power to gauge what might happen, but yet his [p. 496] family would be spared, and what has developed out of it. Take the sons of Noah, God has done great things for Japheth in this dispensation, more than any of the others, and we are amongst them, this very meeting is in his territory, showing how little Noah could define what would come about in the history of the world; but God knew. All these things which have happened just recently were well known to God as far back as Noah’s time. He alludes to Noah many times in Scripture. He alludes to him as of great importance in His mind and ways, but at the same time Noah could not have known what has happened within our own times. But God knew, that is my point; God knows, so let us have recourse to God, for that is what Noah did. He did the thing that pleased God, that had been prophesied about him; all came about in his time; a sweet savour of rest was afforded from the creatures of God, and Jehovah smelled it; hence, in what He said in His heart, we can understand how the leniency of God, the mercies of God, have been disclosed, and are being disclosed; and what He does through others, that is Noah, what He can do among the nations in mercy for His people and for mankind too.
I am now speaking of the provisional time indicated in what God is saying in His heart. God was having to say to this world but mercifully. “While the earth remaineth” certain things would continue, “seed-time”, that is mercy, and there was to be a harvest. Take the American continent; what harvests! What a provision for the death-stricken lands of other continents! God has done it. God has been watchful over the western continent, north and south; and Australia and New Zealand. He has had His eye on these territories in view of emergencies such as have arisen, and it is for us to understand, to bring God into conditions that have arisen.
[p. 497] And let us be ready for the continuance of the provisional state of things.
But we are to look for the new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness shall dwell. Let us be ready for that! This is a great matter indeed; it is not a provisional matter, it is not for occasional emergencies, such as the angel coming down as at the pool of Bethesda once a year; that was mercy, but only once a year. God is bringing in a world which He calls the new heaven and the new earth in which His righteousness dwells, and that is our outlook. Let us look for it; let us learn to look “afar off”. Those who are purged from their former sins are likely to forget that they have been purged if they do not look afar off. Let us take a further look and see what God can do. And let us have patience in waiting for it. What patience Noah needed in view of the development of the purged world! But God does say much to him, though He kept things in His heart, He did not say all; but ever since the time we are considering He has been disclosing what He can be and do for men, and the sublime result is the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness will dwell. It is the duty of the servant to strengthen the hearts of the brethren and remind them of God.
The Scriptures are full of that. How prophecy strengthens the hearts of the saints! So the prophetic word now is intended to strengthen the hearts of the brethren, and surely for those who minister it is needed that they should look into the Scriptures more thoroughly, to search out the truth like the kings; it is the glory of kings to do this. Every gifted man is in that position, he is qualified by God to search out things for the brethren. You get that in the book of Proverbs, how the men of Hezekiah searched out certain proverbs of Solomon, and they [p. 498] transcribed them. That is the idea, and God has qualified many to serve the saints; but this involves suffering. The Scriptures must be looked into prayerfully and carefully, so that truth needed for the moment may be understood and ministered to the assembly. The great and glorious future that is before us requires that the hearts of the saints should be strengthened. The Lord says, “Behold I come quickly”. “I am the root and off-spring of David, the bright and morning star”, and immediately there is the response. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. That is what heaven is looking for. And we must in prayer say Amen to the desires extended to Him. “Let all the people say Amen”, every brother, sister and child — let all learn to say Amen to the prayers which go up to God. But then there is what is disclosed in the ministry and for that we are thankful and honour the ministers too. Let them have always the respect which is due to them to carry on the ministry unhinderedly, for the brethren need it.
Now I am speaking in a certain way to encourage our hearts and at the same time to bring in a measure of light as to this matter of provisional conditions which God is affording now to the human race, as indicated in the scripture read in Genesis 8. It is a question of mercy, that God is merciful to all His creatures, not willing that any should perish. The provision of the government of God is a testimony to it. The general government of God is a testimony to God and bears on the gospel. What He has done in certain nations in recent times to ease off the opposition of the enemy is certainly a matter of thanksgiving to God. But it may stop; in the hardness of our hearts we may forget and cease to pray, and it may be stopped, because He is the living God. It is well to bring these things forward so that we may be real in the whole position and know how to approach God and to serve and to [p. 499] please Him. We are taught how we are to walk and to please Him.
As to the provisional conditions, of which I have spoken, much could be added as to what may happen in the seed-time and in the harvest-time in the way of loss or damage to crops of which God said nothing to Noah; but He sometimes speaks in facts and such facts are in part the wonderful provision in the western continent, and of course the British Empire. God is doing it every day, and He is doing it for the whole race. He wills that all men should be saved; that is His attitude. So the saints are to be in accord with God in all they are and do in relation to the provisional situation and outlook. It may be well to say here that the provisional position which is contemplated in what I am saying is in contrast to the final state of things expressed in the new heaven and the new earth.
I go on to the passage in 2 Corinthians for a moment, so that we may see more clearly how God can go on with men provisionally. He is doing it for a purpose; He had something at least from the Corinthians, a great deal from Paul, therefore He was not carrying on for nothing. God has His rewards in what He is doing provisionally. The providence of God is a wonderful matter, and we are gaining from it as well as other men, but we are gaining much more. But I especially want to show how God has His portion, and as to whether we can shine in any giving to God, affording God some reward. So Paul says here, “I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother”. He had a great regard for his brother Titus. It is no small matter to speak of a brother like that; those who minister characteristically value a brother, one who is sympathetic with the truth. “But taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia”. Thus the question comes up as to sufficiency in [p. 500] ministry as to that which affords God pleasure; that is, in all His liberal beneficent doings for the race, from Noah’s time to the present, God has not been without fruit. No doubt in Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and many others who followed in Genesis, one might enlarge on what God had in those ages. I speak of God and His provisional government and how it extends to all men, but especially to those of God’s family, including the assembly.
Now I go on to the last passage in the book of Revelation, a book intended to enlighten us especially as to Europe in regard to the present situation. Wars have been current all these years, from which many have suffered, but God has His little book as we see in the book of Revelation. It is not a big book; it says the very opposite, it is a little book, but it contains light, and that afforded support to the prophet John. I am speaking about John as a prophet; it is a prophetic book. John is, we may say, the prophet; and what a prophet! The beloved disciple, the beloved apostle, now faithful as a prophet, faithfully making known what God had in His mind as to the seven assemblies, and then as to Europe. I am speaking simply; the little book refers to Europe; that is to say, God’s ways in regard to Europe. In all these terrible wars Europe has been the centre, and Gods gives us understanding as to it all. John had to eat the little book, it was given to him that he should eat it, and at the same time the Angel, representing the Lord Jesus, puts His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the land, as if to say, I am coming. I am taking charge! This is the situation. He puts His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the land; He is asserting in testimony that the sea and the land belong to Him, and that He uses them as He pleases. So He directs John what and how to eat, and he [p. 501] ate the little book, and He says what it shall be in him, that he might prophesy again. That is how the prophecy becomes complete. Whatever the circumstances may be John goes through them. Thus John had to eat the little book and experience the effect inwardly. Hence the continuance of the prophecy through him. If we are to continue the present ministry let us be sure we go through with God everything that happens. Let us go through things with God, then we shall be able to prophesy again. We shall not do it if we depend on what has been prophesied already — books and the like. It is a question of what each one who serves eats. Whether bitter or sweet; it is both, and we have to discern what both mean to prophesy again.
So the book of Revelation is a finished matter, and completes this wonderful final disclosure, the secret of God, what He has embodied in the assembly. That is what I want to finish with tonight. Although Paul had completed the word of God, the whole range of the truth, yet John had this special revelation of the Lord Jesus signified to him. Paul has told us everything about the assembly; as I said, he completed the word of God. Paul spoke to the Corinthians in the most touching way as to the assembly; he said, “I have espoused you unto one man”, and I appeal to the young people who are not espoused to Him, that Christ should be in the heart, the hidden Man of the heart. Learn to keep things hidden. We are not to cast our pearls before swine, we are to learn to be mysterious, for the mystery of God is a mystery to those who are not Christ’s; and we have to be mysterious in order to hold to it, and that it may work out in our ways and walk and enjoyment. So we have this wonderful scene, and John writes his name down to show he is a competent witness of it. He understands what he is saying: “I John saw the holy city,
[p. 502] the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. John the baptist said, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom”. Now we have the bride herself, the secret of God, what He cherishes. God has been pleased to make it known after centuries, as Paul tells us in the epistle to the Romans, “By prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of faith to all the nations — the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever, Amen”. Paul did not tell it out when he was before the gentile monarchies. It was not for them, nor revealed to them, not for the world; the world knew nothing of it, and can know nothing of it. But God had it in His heart, and it is now brought to light, as already noted. John had light as to the assembly in a peculiar way, as the Revelation was signified to him; the Lord Himself having received it from God.
The last word from God is through Paul, because it says he completed the word of God, and that “by revelation the mystery has been made known to me”, Ephesians 3: 3. It is not that other things were not stated, but as to the general range of truth, what is in the mind of God is all disclosed through Paul. As has been urged by a great servant when departing to be with Christ: ‘Do not forget John, but cleave to Paul’. He is the minister of the assembly. So now John knows, the Revelation confirming Paul. A great point in this book is that it is made known to the bondmen, not to the apostles, from heaven; but to the bondmen, those who are bond-servants of Christ. In form and character it is a new thing; “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his bondmen what must shortly take place”. You can see therefore what a place John has in this book; he is the writer of it, and the Lord tells him how to divide it, how it should be [p. 503] written. He shows him the subjects and the order in which they should be written. It is all done according to the Lord’s direction. Hence we have this wonderful book: “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him”. It is wonderful that the Lord should take the place of receiving a revelation from God and giving it to His servant John! This is the book, and we are told there is a premium on reading it and understanding it.
Now the great final thought is this: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”. A great change from mere provisional conditions, rain and snow and sunshine and heat, changing all the time, but here things are fixed, they are settled. It is a question of what comes out of heaven from God “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”. Then he says, “I John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”.
Let us be encouraged, dear brethren, to look into these matters that have been before us and weigh what they are intended to convey, and the Lord will give us understanding as to them. We ourselves are part of the heavenly system, part of the assembly, this very thing that is called here “the holy city”, the word ‘city’ pointing to a system of things, and we ourselves are part of it. Can we read anything more encouraging than this very thing, of which we form a part, coming down from God out of heaven having the glory of God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband? How much there is for our hearts in all this, as we read, sympathetically with the Lord Jesus, what He will come into publicly, and what God will come into! It is God here, and what He has in the heavenly city, Christ having part in it.
[p. 504] All is told out, it is a matter of love told out, this wonderful theme now disclosed in time, “which in other generations has not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit, that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings; of which I am become minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me, according to the working of his power”, Ephesians 3: 5 - 7.