REBUILDING
W. Dickson
1 Kings 18: 30–32; Nehemiah 4: 15–20; Daniel 9: 25; Amos 9: 11–15
These scriptures all have reference to rebuilding—the rebuilding of the altar, the rebuilding of the wall, the rebuilding of the street and the moat, and the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David. The strict interpretation of the passages is that they are all preparatory to the incoming of Christ as King. A certain preparation will take place on the part of the remnant prior to the incoming of Christ as King. I would seek the help of the Spirit to apply these scriptures at the present time and would make a comment as to the difference between building and rebuilding.
Building is God’s work by the Spirit. That never changes but goes on and has gone on progressively throughout the dispensation and is the fulfilment of the Lord’s word in Matthew 16, “on this rock I will build my assembly”. It is the divine work proceeding through the dispensation in the power of the Spirit and it is going on unhindered now. It cannot be interfered or tampered with and the eventual outcome of it will be that great vessel the assembly as she comes down out of heaven as built for God, by Christ and by the Spirit.
But side by side with that there is what has come in through failure of man’s responsibility.
We speak of the ruin of the church and that stems not from any breakdown in the divine workmanship but from man’s failure in the dispensation. For the sad evidence of that failure we have not far to seek. The breakdown has invaded even the choicest areas
of the testimony. But, beloved brethren, we are not going to sit down and wring our hands!
You might say, ‘Well, everything is lost’. That is what the devil would have us do. He would have us sit down and say, ‘Everything is in ruins and we just have to accept it’. But it was mentioned, I think, in prayer today that the Spirit of God would, in these closing days of our dispensation, give us fresh features of the truth. It is what we would look for through the service of the gifts, fresh features of the truth coming to the beloved saints, to cheer them and encourage them; but that only comes as there is a rebuilding of these things of which we have spoken.
I would like to touch them briefly. First of all the rebuilding of the altar. This is a matter in which I can enlist the interest of our beloved younger brethren. The rebuilding of the altar is the establishment in the face of apostasy (which is the background of Elijah’s ministry) of this great truth, that every operation of God in blessing for men is founded on the death of Christ, on that great work which He accomplished at Calvary—that is the altar. The constant attack in Christendom is against that, against the efficacy of the work of Christ. In the colleges and the schools and in the writings of men every attempt is made to denigrate and weaken the value of the work of Jesus, the great basis that God has established for the blessing of souls. Elijah says in effect, ‘This has to be established’. It says he built the altar with twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, which would refer to the administration of the glad tidings at the present time. I think that the Lord is calling us back to that. His voice is very incessant, and that is as to a love for the gospel. God wants to see that altar rebuilt and established so that there would be an administration in the preaching
of what God’s thoughts are in blessing.
Dear young brethren, there is no greater service you could have than the gospel. You may think that if you had a gift for prophetic ministry or for teaching, that it would be something that would please the Lord better, but nothing pleases the heart of God more than a love for the gospel and a love for souls. It may be the time has come, beloved brethren, that the last genuine overture to men in the dispensation is committed to us. The final testimony to Christendom lies with those who are in the gain of the recovery of the truth, and the main bulwark in that recovery is the truth of the glad tidings. That altar must be rebuilt and maintained. Everything must be done to facilitate the proclamation of the gospel in our rooms and publicly, because without it there is not going to be the exaltation of Christ. When was the altar broken down? When the meeting rooms were closed against persons coming in to hear the preaching that was in effect a breaking down of the altar. But God says in these days,
‘Rebuild the altar; proclaim the gospel; maintain the glory of Christ as the great Mediator, the great Redeemer, the great Saviour, the glorious Lord’.
So in Nehemiah it is the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. I am sure if I were to ask, ‘What does the wall mean?’ the answer I would get would be, ‘Separation’. Yes, beloved brethren, but what kind of separation? What was the motive behind the rebuilding of the wall? Nehemiah rebuilt it because it was the recognition on his part that Jerusalem was God’s chief interest. His centre on earth, and he wanted it protected and cared for so that it might be for the pleasure of God. So it says, “... and the other half of them held the spears, and the shields, and the bows, and the corselets; and the captains were behind all the
house of Judah. They that built on the wall, and they that bore burdens, with those that loaded, wrought in the work with one hand, and with the other they held a weapon”. They held it. The character of the dispensation is that we are always on the alert for anything that attacks the rights of God. Its prime character is one of grace, but we have to be alert to the continual effort of the enemy to attack what is precious to Christ. “And the builders had every one his sword girded by his side, and built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me”.
Well, sometimes a trumpet sounds, but make sure it is the trumpet. It says, “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for war?”, 1 Corinthians 14: 8. I would press upon the brethren the need for a sensitive ear as to discerning where the sound of the trumpet comes from. The direction to blow the trumpet is to come from the Lord, for Nehemiah represents the Lord in this section.
Let us be alert and have our ears trained so as not to think that every time we hear a trumpet it is the Lord that has given the word for it to be blown. The rebuilding of the wall has got to go on, and we have to avoid every possible distraction from that great work by not listening to what may divert us from protecting Jerusalem as the centre of divine interest, protecting the assembly. It says, “The work is great and extended”. We can indeed say that. It is part of the favour of our days that the Lord has granted us evidence of what is universal. We have brethren in Australia, the Americas, Scandinavia, all over the world, “the work is great and extended”, but the affections of the saints are such that they cover that extended area. There is no doubt about it we have a full-time job if we commit ourselves to that great work, the rebuilding of the wall. What is inside it? Every precious thought we have been considering
during these two days together is inside that wall, and once it is broken down and the enemy gets an inroad, there is no saying what the Lord might yet have to bring upon us in discipline because of unfaithfulness to the trust committed to us.
In Daniel we come to, “The street and the moat shall be built again, even in troublous times”.
That is the position today. We are in difficult days, as Paul speaks of them to Timothy (see 2
Timothy 3: 1). Now are we rebuilding the street? The street speaks of brotherly confidence, brotherly conversation and brotherly movements. In Revelation it speaks of the street of the city (see Revelation 21: 21), and in Acts it says, “the street which is called Straight” (Acts 9: 11). One thing we must do in these days is to rebuild that street. There has been a weakening of confidence amongst the brethren, and if Christ is to come in by the Spirit in fresh features of the truth that street must be rebuilt. Its ruin was brought about because the enemy sought to destroy confidence and trust amongst the saints. We have to see to that in our localities. We have had “the street” here for these two days. To look at the faces of the brethren, to see them conversing with one another, shaking hands with one another, so pleased to see each other, these are conditions of eternal life. But three days together in Aberdeen is one thing, but to go back to our own localities and rebuild the street there is the great test. If we want more of Christ and the blessings of the world to come, if we want the glory of the Lord to shine in our localities, we have to rebuild that street.
And “the moat”—if you look at these old castles you see a moat round them with a drawbridge and the moat is a last barricade against the attack of the enemy. They draw up the drawbridge and say, ‘They cannot get across now for the moat is
surrounding the castle’. We need to rebuild the moat as well as the street, so that what the Lord has committed to us is protected. “The entrusted deposit” is a precious thing. The moat is the great protective idea, protecting the wealth of things that is established in the stronghold of Christianity. So let us rebuild the moat as well as the street, let us see to it that there is a protective spirit in all our hearts. You may say, ‘We have learnt such a lesson we will never go astray again!’ But the preventive against going astray is to see that the moat is rebuilt; the protective spirit is to be maintained amongst the brethren with regard to what is holy and precious. Let nothing be allowed to find an entrance amongst us, either by way of doctrine or practice, that is out of accord with the ministry that Paul has given us.
In Amos it says, “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof”. You see, as to that word “tabernacle” Mr. Darby has a note, either a ‘booth’ or a ‘hut’. It is not that glorious edifice which Solomon built, now in ruins, but the tabernacle of David—a booth, a hut, coming down just to where we are in these days; little companies of brethren, little meetings all over the world, meetings that once contained 50–150 brethren—now it is just a booth or a hut. Are we going to give up? We need to rebuild the booth and the hut. In our own local places there is a great field of labour for rebuilding the booth and the hut, for ensuring that there are conditions in which the service of God can be maintained in its purity and freshness. Maybe there are only two brothers in a place, or one brother and a sister, but you see the tabernacle of David, the service of God going on in power and freshness.
Then it says, “and I will build it as in the days of old—that they may possess the remnant of Edom”. Edom was the brother, and we have a lot of brothers in Edom. Thank God there are indications amongst us in this very country that the remnant of Edom is being brought into the booth and the hut. We hear of young persons being attracted to the gatherings of the saints, the remnant of Edom, true believers, true Christians, persons who love the Lord. Yet they are not deterred by the fact that it is a booth or a hut. It is the remnant of Edom coming into blessing amongst us. What a wonderful time we are living in! We should thank God that we are privileged to live in a day like this, and have our little part in the rebuilding of things amongst God’s people for His pleasure. Then it says, “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed”; so there is no lack of anything—the reading meetings, the ministry meetings, fellowship meetings, three-day meetings, wealth and substance among the saints consequent upon the rebuilding of the booth and the hut. Men do not know how to deal with the surpluses, but in the assembly we do not need to conserve things in that way, for there is always a wealth, always a fulness, dependent on the presence of the Spirit among us.
I made reference yesterday to the ministry, and on thinking about it I think the ministries are the storehouses in which things are conserved; the wealth is all there to be drawn upon for the strength and support of the saints. That brings out the wealth of things in our time, and it is all consequent upon the rebuilding. Let us devote ourselves to these things. Of course, we can never rebuild the church. I think it was Mr. Raven who said, ‘I dread brethren attempting to build again a miniature of the church’. We cannot do that, but what we can do is to rebuild positively what is for the pleasure of God in these features we have considered, and apply ourselves to the working out of them in our own localities. If we do that, Christ will come in, in His royal rights and glory, and we will see, we trust, times of prosperity again among the saints, perhaps not numerically but in conditions that will please the Lord. May we be encouraged in this, for His name’s sake.
Address at Aberdeen
8 September 1984