A HABITATION FOR GOD, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
[p. 99] A HABITATION FOR GOD, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Psalm 132; Psalm 133; Exodus 15: 1 - 2
It has been pointed out that the psalms, properly speaking, close with Psalm 119, those that follow being in a sense supplementary. They form a kind of recapitulation. The Songs of Degrees are moral steps; they show the progress from distance into the sense of nearness. The last of them is remarkable in that way. In Psalm 134 we have, “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion”. We are brought to the sanctuary, and the blessing of Jehovah issues out of Zion.
The two psalms that I have now read have a moral connection, which I wish to point out.
What is remarkable in Scripture is the perfect unity of principle which prevails in spite of a great deal of diversity of detail. The ways of God with Israel are in principle the ways of God with the church. That is not at all difficult to demonstrate.
There are two striking points in Psalm 132. David is bent on finding a habitation for Jehovah, and Jehovah on the establishment of the throne of David. David sware, “I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for Jehovah, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob”. When Israel was brought out of Egypt we get the thought, “I will prepare him an habitation”. The answer to David’s desire is found in the latter part of the psalm, “Jehovah hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation”. Then follow the blessings consequent on Jehovah’s dwelling, “I will abundantly bless her provision: I will [p. 100] satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy”. There is a further point, “There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed”. Jehovah will establish the throne of David. It is interesting to see the mind of David is that God must dwell. And when God dwells all kinds of blessing must follow. There is abundance of grace, her priests clothed with salvation, and her saints shouting aloud for joy. All these things are consequences of God’s dwelling.
In the next psalm we see that very momentous consequences follow. Under David you get the unity of Israel and Judah, the ten tribes and the two. They were parted in self-will; now in Psalm 133 they are brought together in the unity, so to speak, of the Spirit, and they get one head. They have David for head. They have surrendered their self-will, as witnessed by unity, and then you get the blessing, “There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”.
When self-will on the part of man is surrendered, then it is possible for God to make manifest the removal of the judgment of death that lies on man; then will be brought to pass eternal life. Sin must be removed in the world before God can come in and remove His righteous judgment, so that blessing may be established. Such are the ways of God in regard to the earth. Everything depends on the fact of God dwelling. David’s thought was to prepare a habitation for Jehovah, then David’s throne is established. Israel is brought together under the true head, and the blessing is commanded. I have said so much as to the literal force of the psalms. Everyone is probably aware of what great confusion has been brought into the Old Testament scriptures by attempting to introduce the church into them. Still, Scripture presents to us the great principles from which God never departs. The principles of divine dealings in the church are also the principles of divine [p. 101] dealings in regard to Israel. The true David is Christ, and the thought of the true David has been to provide a habitation for God. Christ has undertaken that. I do not believe that anyone could have provided a habitation for God except Christ. The work of Christ was in view of preparing a habitation for God. He gathered a company together here, to which, when redemption was accomplished, God could come. This was the great work of the Lord Jesus. It may be said that, as regards Israel, He spent His strength for naught, and in vain; but at the same time He accomplished that which He came to accomplish. He prepared a habitation for God. He glorified God in regard of righteousness, sin was put away by the sacrifice of Himself, and a company gathered to which God could come. In the beginning of the Acts we see the company ready. It was a small and insignificant company — in the eyes of the world of no importance — but a company to which the Holy Spirit came; and in the descent of the Holy Spirit the house of God was formed. It was the crown of the work of the Lord Jesus.
Christ came in the line of David. He was of the house and lineage of David, but was in fact the true David, who came to provide a house for the mighty God of Jacob, a dwelling-place for God down here. From that day to this God has been dwelling here. The habitation of God began with that little company gathered together by the resurrection of Christ, and there it was that God saw fit to dwell. They had been dispersed by Christ’s death, but were gathered by the testimony of His resurrection, and the house of God was formed.
But God would establish the throne of David. The time has not come for the throne of David to be established literally, but David’s Son is exalted in glory. We have in the Person of Christ in heaven the establishment of the kingdom of God. The throne of David on earth is as yet unoccupied, the rights of Christ in this respect are in abeyance. The true Son of David sits at the right hand of God. It says, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return”. I take it that Christ has received the kingdom, but He has not yet returned. “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him”. The kingdom of heaven exists for faith, and this is what the Lord brings out all through the gospel of Matthew. The secret of the kingdom of heaven is the Son of David at the right hand of God. He will come again hereafter for the re-establishment of His earthly people; Zion will be established, and the true seed of David will sit on David’s throne, according to the word of the angel to Mary in Luke 1, “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”. I have brought this forward to show that the concern of Christ has been to establish a dwelling-place for God, and that God will establish the throne of David. Christ is the true David.
I want to show you the bearing of this with regard to things down here. If you look at Matthew 16: 13 - 19, you get there in principle a dwelling-place for God and a throne for David. You cannot see any evidence of this in the world, but if you do not accept the truth of it you can have nothing according to God. God is dwelling here by the Spirit, and Christ is at the right hand of God; the kingdom is established. I would liken the kingdom to the sun, which is in heaven, and we in the light of it here. The sun is set in the heaven to give light on earth, to rule the day.
Now I come to the question of how unity is to be brought about. The unity of Israel will be brought about by the pervading power of the Spirit of God, the tribes being brought together under one head. It is what the twelve sons of Jacob were in result brought to; they had hated one another, there was no unity among them, though there were combinations. They sold [p. 103] Joseph, who was to be their deliverer, into Egypt; but they had eventually to be formed in unity, and among them Joseph was pre-eminent, as his dreams set forth. They were formed in unity on their deliverer. They say to him, “Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man”. But their distrust of Joseph was not completely eradicated until after the death of Jacob, and then unity was found under Joseph — they had one head. That great lesson is to be verified hereafter in the history of Israel. They rejected Christ as the patriarchs rejected Joseph, but the twelve tribes are to be formed in unity on the true Joseph. Christ will be the gathering point.
In regard to the church, the Holy Spirit has come down to establish unity, and unity is established by the introduction of the Head. Joseph was the head of his brethren; the Head of the twelve tribes hereafter will be Christ. Now Christ is the Head of the church. Saints are bound together in the Spirit, but you never get unity except as under one Head. Though it is said in 1 Corinthians 12, “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body”, yet there was very little unity prevailing at Corinth; they had a number of heads. “Every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ”. There was not unity, but differences were there; and why? They were not holding the Head. The true secret of unity is in holding the Head. The world has all gone wrong because it has lost a head. Now Christ is the Head of every man, when He is recognised and admitted as such, things will go right on earth, and never until then. The divine way of putting things right here is by bringing in the Head. It is among christians that Christ is known as Head. “Not holding the Head” was what marked the seducing teachers at Colosse.
Christ said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. What was the idea of His assembly? It was of a company in [p. 104] which there would be no mind except the mind of Christ. If that were true of all saints, if everybody were governed by the law of Christ, then you would have unity. There would be no sin, there can be no sin in the law of Christ. In Christ is no sin; and if all were abiding in Christ there would be no sin, no self-will of man, but the mind of the Head governing each one completely; thus there would be unity.
Why is there discord among nations? Because there are so many wills at work. The only real cure is that God should introduce in power a Head to all. Meanwhile there is unity in the church, as has been said, You give up your own head, and hold the Head. The point is, to be ruled by the law of Christ. This was realised in measure at the beginning — love prevailed, they bore one another’s burdens. The mind of Christ is to rule in His assembly. You get the idea of this in Ephesians 3, “That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height”, etc. Saints are to be full of intelligence in the mind of Christ, and governed by the law of Christ. That is holding the Head. What brings trouble into meetings is usually self-will. In every church difficulty that has arisen men have been giving way to their own heads, and not holding the Head. There can be no discord where there is the holding of the Head. Neither the Corinthians nor the Galatians were holding the Head, they were biting and devouring one another. It is a great thing to see how unity is brought about. It is the sign that the power of sin has been broken, for the will of man is contrary to God, and must bring in discord among men. When God brings about unity on earth, it is the evidence that the will of man has been broken. The church is the first-fruits of reconciliation, the first company of which Christ is actually Head. Hereafter headship will be very much wider, for “Head of every man” goes beyond the church. This will break the power of sin in the world,
[p. 105] and unity will result when the mind of Christ governs. In the millennium, when Christ is recognised as Head, everything will take its character from Christ. Fashions will not prevail in that day. “The fashion of this world passeth away”; “he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever”. Christ takes away the sin of the world and baptises with the Holy Spirit.
In confirmation of what I have been saying, I will read a verse or two, John 17: 11, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are”. The apostles were to be one, as were the Father and the Son. Then verse 20, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:” — mark the object — “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. In the church, as the first-fruits of reconciliation, there was to be this testimony that the power of sin was broken — Jew and Gentile were one. Unity was the testimony to the world that the Father sent the Son. Then further, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me”. In that day the church will, so to speak, give the law to the world — the law of unity, consequent on, and the witness and proof of, the power of sin having been broken. Then God dispossesses death, His righteous judgment on sin; and then is fulfilled, “There Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”.
Our obligation is to keep the unity of the Spirit. How are we going to do that? There is one way, by holding the Head. In the sects and systems around saints do not hold the Head, they justify division. Schism is sin, it is of the will of man. It is said, “The mystery of lawlessness doth already work”. It works in disunion [p. 106] and the assertion of the will of man. It is a great thing to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ, to fulfil the law of Christ.
What follows is that you will be taught by the Spirit of God, who will bring you to know that you are risen together with Christ, that this is God’s pleasure, and by His mighty power you are quickened. No one can learn this who fails to hold the Head. Till people accept the obligation to hold the Head, I do not think they are taught by the Spirit of God. As risen together with Christ, you are the other side of Jordan, in the land of promise; you are quickened together with Christ, you have anticipated the coming day when you will be actually quickened. As quickened together with Christ, you have reached eternal life; death is for you dispossessed, you pass beyond its domain. Risen with Christ is evidently beyond the domain of death; it is in anticipation of the coming of the Lord. God’s ways and principles are always consistent; His ways with Israel are His ways with regard to the church.
We have been looking at the house of God and the kingdom. Christ has the place of Head — Head of every man, Head of all principality and power, but now Head to the church. What is to characterise the body is holding the Head. In Colossians 3 it speaks of the peace of Christ and the word of Christ; all that is of Christ is to rule in the hearts of the saints, hence you get unity really brought about. You are brought by the Spirit into God’s mind; and as risen together with Christ, you are brought into things the other side of Jordan, which in nature are eternal, and cannot be touched by death. All that is of the wilderness death will bring to an end; all that is the other side of Jordan, all that belongs to the knowledge of the Father and the Son, death cannot touch.
It is a great thing to recognise the fact that God is dwelling here. Christ was diligent and faithful to prepare a dwelling-place for God, and our part is to [p. 107] endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Then you are led on into the consciousness of a scene where the power of death is broken. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. It is association that cannot be touched by death. “There Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”.