SOVEREIGN SELECTION AND THE HOUSE OF GOD
[p. 209] SOVEREIGN SELECTION AND THE HOUSE OF GOD
Psalm 78:65 - 69; Exodus 15: 1 - 17; Psalm 114: 1,2
(Notes of Reading)
JT What I have in my mind is that we might see that in the development of the testimony the house or dwelling-place of God is built on the principle of sovereign rejection and sovereign selection. At the outset in Exodus 15:2 there was a desire on the part of a redeemed people to glorify God. “This is my God, and I will glorify him”, or “make him a dwelling”. Then in verse 11 the question is raised, “Who is like unto thee, Jehovah, among the gods ... glorifying thyself in holiness?” Exodus 15:11. Later, in verse 17, we read, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling, the Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared”. Exodus 15:17. The song, beginning with a right desire, ends with God glorifying Himself, and all centres round the habitation. In referring to Psalm 78 the particular thought I had was that of the sovereignty of God in rejecting the tabernacle of Joseph and in choosing the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved. In glorifying Himself in building the house, God tests those in responsibility. Believers, of course, are the house, but there is the desire on the part of the saints to glorify God, and then God glorifies Himself; at the outset they are possessed of this desire. The gospels show this also. At Bethany they make Him a supper; they are beginning to take up the line of preparing for the Lord. So, too, “the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” Matthew 26:17. Later in John 12 the Lord spoke to the Father: “Father, glorify thy name”. John 12:28 Then came a voice from heaven, “I have [p. 210] both glorified it, and will glorify it again”. John 12:28. God sees to the glorifying of Christ, but He values the desire of His people to glorify Him — to provide for His glory. God appreciates that, but reserves the right to do it Himself, because if it is to be done suitably according to God’s greatness, and majesty, and holiness, He must do it Himself. They recognise here, “Who is like unto thee, glorifying thyself in holiness?” Exodus 15:11. He opens a door to His people, He accepts all we propose, but if He is to have a habitation in keeping with Himself He must build it.
ASL In the tabernacle system all the willing-hearted could bring material, but God must give the pattern. “See that thou make all according to the pattern that I showed thee in the mount”. Exodus 25:40.
JT Psalm 78 shows that in the hand of man the idea of the house had gone into decay; so God rejects Shiloh and chooses Judah; but He had that in view at the beginning, for God has no afterthoughts. He reserves His thoughts; He does not necessarily disclose them all at once.
ASL So God’s thought comes to light when all is in weakness on man’s side.
JT Mount Zion preceded Sinai in the thoughts of God; Calvary was before Eden, Adam was a figure of Him that was to come. Mount Zion sets forth God’s sovereignty, He loved it. “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell for I have desired it” Psalm 132:14. God is not arbitrary.
CJR What is in your mind with regard to rejection?
JT Psalm 78 shows why God rejects, and He is justified when He speaks and clear when He judges; Psalm 51:4. God never does anything unless He can show He is right in doing it. No one can raise a question. When He rejects He shows why He does it. Psalm 78 is to set all that out.
ASL [p. 211] Our privilege is to justify God in all His doings.
JT In our own time, too, the principle of rejection has come out. The history of Christendom corresponds to the history of Joseph; it has entirety broken down. It is a solemn thing to be rejected.
Ques Is not everything for God established on the line of sovereignty?
JT Things are established permanently on that line, so in Hebrews it says, “Ye are come unto mount Zion”. Hebrews 12:22. God has brought us back to the line of sovereignty. God makes the two things run together — sovereignty in God, and faithfulness in man. In Ezra we get God’s sovereignty, while in Nehemiah we get faithfulness in man. Cyrus was selected sovereignly to start the movement in Ezra but Nehemiah begins with his own work. Thus in the Book of Ezra we get sovereignty in God and in Nehemiah faithfulness in man. There has been one Man perfect in faithfulness to God and He is looking for faithful and wise stewards. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant?” Matthew 24: 45; but underneath it all is His sovereignty. God chooses whom He will, and moves where He will. The sovereignty of God tests us. It was a tremendous test to Christendom years ago when God called attention to what the church really is. The cathedral represents what things have come to, but God calls attention to what is real. But it was no afterthought with God, He always had it in His mind; Scripture clearly shows that and alongside of it we get faithful men.
Rem Faithful men would have a deep sense of sovereignty.
JT In looking at Ezra we see that he rested in what God did. Joseph suggests Israel in responsibility. The tabernacle was set up and connected with Shiloh in Ephraim. In Psalm 78 all is in ruin, the ark was taken and everything [p. 212] was gone.
ASL Does not all come to a climax in the crucifixion of that blessed One?
JT Ephraim or Joseph is particularly responsible. Sovereignty had put him before Manasseh, and he was doubly responsible for that reason, but God had Judah in His mind all the time. Judah owed his pre-eminence to God’s sovereignty, but Judah must not vex Ephraim and Ephraim must not envy Judah. The one who has been replaced is not to envy those whom God has brought forward, and those whom God has called to come forward are to restrain themselves and not to vex them. “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim”, Isaiah 11:13. If we continue in His goodness we shall not be high-minded but fear. We have to learn that there are those whom God has to pass by and those whom He will use.
CJR What do you mean by some being passed by?
JT God has passed by the leaders of Christendom, and if we are not faithful God will pass us by, and use others who are faithful. So when Ephraim had failed and the ark was taken, the glory having departed, God awakes “as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts ... Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim” Psalm 78: 65 - 67. It is a solemn warning. God will go on with His work, and if we do not work with Him He will take up others.
ASL It is not eternal security we are speaking of but His ways.
JT God refuses Joseph because he had proved unfaithful. This is a solemn word to us, because God will go on with His work, and in our own time we see the same thing. God has passed by the accredited Levites and all the hierarchy of Christendom, taken up an unknown people, and called attention to the [p. 213] assembly as the body of Christ and then as the house of God.
Rem Responsibility is always connected with the house.
JT Yes; the people coming out of Egypt say they will glorify Him; they will build Him an habitation; but however much we may desire to, we fall very far short of His standard. There is nothing that will keep us in our proper place like being preserved in a deep sense of God’s sovereignty, and we are extremely slow to learn it. God has undertaken in these last days to glorify Himself. We speak of it being a day of small things, but it is a day when God is working in connection with the latter glory of His house. In Haggai 2:9 the Holy Spirit says, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”. There were only a few restored from the captivity, but God says the latter glory shall be greater than the former. God intends to glorify Himself, and He knows how to do it, and the results will be seen in the heavenly city. The house is where God is known and where His glory dwells, and having undertaken to glorify Himself He has made Christ Son over it. David had to learn the sovereignty of God as to whom He would choose to build the house. David had in his heart to build a house for God, but God says, It is reserved for Me to say who shall build it. He says I shall be Father to the one who builds the house. Solomon is Christ risen. He builds the house and is Son over it. The glory of God in the house necessitates sonship. He brings Christ out of death, places Him in heaven, and as Son He builds the house. We are living in a wonderful time, and we can see what God is doing in building a house for Himself. So Zechariah has it: “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou dost become a plain”. Zechariah 4:7. God comes in and removes insuperable obstacles in grace, so that His own work is carried on. The Lord said to Peter, “On this rock I will build” Matthew 16:18; the Father began the thing, now the Lord says, “I will build”. In the early chapters of Acts Peter is not the builder. The Lord had reserved in His mind what He would, do. “He himself knew what he could do”. John 6:6. Peter, James and John worked during a transitional period, and were continually in the temple. The house was there but could not be in evidence while the temple was standing. There could not be the development of the house while the temple stood. We are never fit for the house until other systems are discredited in our eyes. Peter was the instrumentality in the hands of God for three thousand being added, but the time for the house in the character of sonship had not yet come, and they had yet to learn that they were the temple. All that came out through Paul. So God converts Saul far away from Jerusalem. He is cut clear from all earthly moorings. The Son builds the house and the connection with the temple is cut; Jerusalem is gone — all systems of men are discredited. Faithfulness is necessary if we are to be consciously in God’s house. Christendom is not the house; we must leave all systems of men, as forming a definite judgment regarding them. In the early chapters of Acts the Builder was there, but the time had not come for the public display of the building.
The assembly as the house of God is not built by any man, but by the Son. The Lord was building and thousands were added. Acts 19 has the full development of it in view and so Paul separates the disciples; he went no longer to the synagogue; it is approaching the building of the house as seen in Ephesus. In the chapter twelve men are spoken to and afterwards receive the Holy Spirit. God’s glory is ensured in that the Son is over the house. “Whose house are we” Hebrews 3:6 is a provisional thought. The house of God began with Jacob and the thought is carried [p. 215] over from him and will be seen again in Jerusalem, but is seen now in the assembly; there is the full answer there to the truth of the house of God. We should not be on the level of the earth as forming part of that house; our ways should be on a more exalted plane. On this earth at the present moment there is nothing for God but the assembly, so that the assembly is the house now. “The tabernacle of God is with men” Revelation 21:3 is the final thought. In the millennial state of things there will be a more imposing show of things. Solomon built four houses, characterising the millennial state of things — the house of God, his own house, the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the house of Pharaoh’s daughter. In God undertaking to glorify Himself we get something that will abide; the answer to it is seen in Christ and the assembly. The desire to glorify God should ever be present with us, and links on with God glorifying Himself; He has undertaken to do that and is doing it now. Ephesians refers to the former and the latter glory of the house (Ephesians 2:19 - 22; Ephesians 3:21); the former glory and the latter glory converge and we are in the light of both now. “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, Ephesians 3:21. It is one of the features of the moment in connection with the house of God that it has brought into prominence the holiness of God.
In order to understand the house from the spiritual point of view we must see John’s presentation of it. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” John 1:14. John’s two disciples who followed Jesus say, “Where abidest thou?” John 2:38. He says to them, “Come and see”. John 2:39. To understand the spiritual thing we must come and see where the Lord abides. Externally the saints are the house, but we must understand where the Son abides. “They went therefore, and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day”. John 2:39. The Son invites followers to “come and see”. John comes in, bringing the light of the internal thing. So John stands by us; if we have to stand alone, we can get the good of the house in a spiritual way.