WISDOM
Proverbs 8:17-31; 1 Corinthians 1:22-24,30,31;
Romans 11:33-36; James 3:17,18; 1:5;
I have an impression that I should speak of the great matter of wisdom, although feeling the need of it personally. It is a great quality of God, but it is a quality that is available to men. Where we read in Proverbs, wisdom is personified as speaking. It used to be thought by some that chapter 8 of Proverbs referred to the Lord Jesus personally, but that could not be right. There are things in this chapter that you could not say of the Lord Jesus. You could not speak of the Lord Jesus as being brought forth and being God’s nursling before the worlds were; it would not be right. This is the personification of wisdom. I say that because there may be many believers who do not understand that. What this passage tells us is that before anything was created, before God’s works in creation began, wisdom was there. There are two qualities that we are particularly told about which existed before the worlds were. We are told that, before the foundation of the earth, there was love – that was one feature. And we are also told that there was wisdom.
The love of God requires an answer, an object on which it can be expressed and an answer that will respond to that love, and God set Himself to secure that. That is really seen in the purpose of God. The wisdom of God established the way in which that answer could be secured, in which man could be created as a being who could provide an answer to His heart. The wisdom of God, in amazing resources, designed a way in which that should be brought to pass so that a creature should be secured, not only in simple obedience to God, but with the knowledge of His heart and the ability to respond to it. I believe we see that in divine counsel. Divine counsel in wisdom established the means of securing what is for God’s heart.
In Proverbs 8 we have this matter of the creation; that was the first thing. The creation came about as the arena in which God was going to operate and I might say specifically, the earth was created as the arena of God’s operations. The heavens were also created to express His glory: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps.19:1), and you see the greatness of the Creator displayed in the heavens – “his eternal power and divinity”, Rom.1:20. The earth was created in order to work out His great thoughts in relation to man. Wisdom says here of God, “When he prepared the heavens I was there”; wisdom entered into every detail of that. Think of the detail of the creation. We read about it throughout the Scriptures. Solomon says, “Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth”, Prov.3:19. The most stable physical thing that a person could rely on was established by wisdom. God’s wisdom came into it. Whatever it is that you rely upon, if there is true stability at all, God’s wisdom has provided it for you.
But then you might think of the other end of the scale. Jehovah said to Job, “Who numbereth the clouds with wisdom?”, Job 38:37. Think of the clouds – ephemeral things, they come and go. Ah, beloved! sometimes we feel the clouds. They come over us but they are all numbered. In God’s wisdom He has numbered the clouds. What He brings upon the saints, what He brings upon men but especially what He brings upon believers, is all measured; every cloud is numbered in His grace and infinite wisdom. God knows what He is working out through the circumstances of the saints. He has measured everything that He brings to bear upon them and the clouds themselves are numbered by His wisdom. Think of the greatness of God, One whose wisdom transcends every thought of man. Everything that He has done and everything that has been established and everything which He allows to take place – His wisdom is behind it all as well as His love. What blessing there is then in seeing that. God’s hand can come upon us, maybe in discipline, maybe in circumstances in our lives. Our lives may not work out as we had hoped, but you find that you can accept that because God’s wisdom is behind it and He is working something out. What is He working out? He is working something out in your own soul as we submit to the great wisdom of His ways.
I did not intend to dwell upon creation, but one thing I will say about this chapter is that at the end of where we read, it says, “my delights were with the sons of men”. The creation is not really what affords pleasure to God, it is not really what affords Him delight. Those heavenly beings in Revelation speak about God as the Creator and they say, “and for thy will they were, and they have been created”, Rev.4:11. The creation is all for His will, for the working out of His own mind, but His delights “were with the sons of men”. Think of God, before time began, purposing to have man in sonship before Him. That wonderful relationship was in His mind and heart, and in wisdom He established the means to bring it all to pass. It would not happen according to what is found in nature. The natural man has his own wisdom, or so he thinks, and tries to work things out for himself. Paul in writing to the Corinthians brings in the cross, and says that it is the end of the line of natural wisdom. Where do we see God’s wisdom? Where do we see it displayed? We see it in Christ crucified. The natural man cannot understand that; it is one of the things that is a mystery to him – how the cross can be a means of God securing His thoughts. Paul wrote, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness; but to those that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God’s power and God’s wisdom”. Think of all that was accomplished at the cross. Paul also wrote, “which none of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;)”, 1 Cor.2:8. That was as far as the wisdom of the world went. They did not know what they were doing, but when they crucified the Lord of glory they were fulfilling the means by which God’s power and God’s wisdom should be manifested.
Think of the power of God being able to relieve men of all that encumbered them and being able to annul the power of the enemy who had risen up against God and enslaved man through the fear of death. In wonderful power the enemy has been annulled and you see the wisdom of God in that. The wisdom of God was manifested in that this was achieved through ways of weakness, through ways of outward smallness and humility. All that God has sought in man was seen at the cross, and in the cross of Jesus, God had the means of securing man for His pleasure eternally. This was wisdom’s way. We sang:-
‘And soon this sonship glory –
Secured in wisdom’s way’. (Hymn 168)
Wisdom’s way is not the way of man, wisdom’s way is totally foreign to the mind of man. When Christ was crucified, men in their folly were actually fulfilling God’s own thoughts in relation to His Son because Jesus is now established in glory, established at the right hand of God. So where do we see wisdom? We see it in “Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God …”. In the One who is there at the right hand of God, we see God’s wisdom fully displayed. We have an object above for our affections, we have been drawn to the Lord Jesus and we have an object for our faith so we have been saved, we are secure, and the Holy Spirit has been given. Every thought of God has been achieved through the way in which the Lord Jesus has gone in His sufferings, His death, the shedding of His precious blood, His burial, His resurrection and now His present position. You can say, What wisdom there was in that! What wonderful wisdom God has manifested.
In the epistle to the Romans, Paul’s heart goes out to the saints. The epistle goes over God’s ways with both the Jew and the Gentile; the Jews would have claimed a link with God according to their nationally, but the Gentiles had no such link with God. In these chapters, Paul shows systematically how God has acted in putting everybody on the same footing. Every person has been put on the same footing in order that God should show mercy to all, and Paul says, “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”. At least three of the scriptures that we read refer to riches or wealth connected with wisdom. Wisdom speaks of “durable wealth” in Proverbs 8: “Riches and honour are with me; durable wealth and righteousness”. Paul’s heart goes out here and he says “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?”. Who could give counsel to God? What wisdom has been manifested in the way in which divine love has worked in order that men, whatever kind of men, should have from God the same means of salvation. Men in their folly think that they can work things out according to their own minds; one of the established tenets of the democratic world is that all men are equal. But men are not all equal by nature, yet God has put everyone on an equal footing and He says ‘I am going to take you up on the ground you take. You say all men are equal, so whoever you are, your blessing depends on my sovereign mercy’.
What wisdom we see in God that He can put every person, man, woman and child, on the same basis and extend mercy to all. The way is open to all! I trust most here, perhaps almost everyone here, has known that. Maybe there is somebody here who has never actually come to that themselves. Maybe your parents bring you here and you come to the meetings but you have never actually had a change in your own soul, you have never actually committed your heart to the Lord Jesus. Now is your opportunity! Do not wait for the gospel preaching tomorrow. You have not time for that. God has placed you on the ground where nothing but mercy will save you and you can turn to Him. “O depth of riches”; how great divine mercy is. God has operated in that way towards us all.
But what is wisdom like? We have spoken about the fact that there is wisdom and it has been manifested and God has in wisdom brought us all onto the same ground. James tells us that there are certain characteristics of wisdom and the first is that it is pure. “But the wisdom from above first is pure”. I take it that “first is pure” means that there is an order here. There are no mixed motives with divine wisdom. No, God has made everything clear right from the outset and it is all in keeping with His own thoughts and in keeping with His own nature. Divine wisdom operates in order that what should be secured should be in keeping with His own nature. He has put the wise of the earth to shame, made them foolish, but it is all in view of securing what is in keeping with Himself. His wisdom “first is pure”, it is uncontaminated. No expediency has been brought in; there is nothing that anyone could suggest is not straightforward. It is all pure and thus it is becoming to God that He should show wisdom, because that wisdom is like Himself, it is pure.
Then it is peaceful. God is proclaiming glad tidings of peace to all men and what He is securing is peace. Solomon’s reign was a reign of peace. Solomon was the wisest man on earth, and he secured a reign of peace; he could say that “there is neither adversary or evil event”, 1 Kings 5:4. It says too that every man dwelt “under his vine and under his fig-tree” (1 Kings 4:25); that means they were content, they were not striving for something else; it was peaceful. That is a feature of the wisdom which is from above. It is not agitated, it is peaceful.
Then it is gentle. How often we are tested by these things. There is no abrasiveness in divine wisdom, and there is never a need to be abrasive to one another. We never treat the brethren roughly, there is no need to treat anyone roughly, for the wisdom which is from above is peaceful and gentle. We are told to “Pursue peace with all” (Heb.12:14) and “let us do good towards all, and specially towards those of the household of faith”, Gal.6:10. The wisdom which is from above is gentle, it calms the spirit. Solomon speaks of a soft word: “A soft answer turneth away fury”, Prov.15:1. This wisdom is gentle, it turns away wrath. O beloved, how much we need these features!
Then it is “yielding”. Does that mean it gives way? No, it does not, but you go as far as you can. I have often thought about the tabernacle and the way it was set up; it had various coverings. The brethren will remember that the blue and purple and scarlet curtains were first, then the goats’ skins and then the coverings of rams’ skins dyed red and finally there were the badgers’ skins. Why were the badgers’ skins on the outside? Why were these skins there? Badgers’ skins, as we understand, are very strong and are not easily damaged – they are a type of what resists evil. But a badger’s skin is also very soft; it is virtually impenetrable but it is soft, it is yielding. So you yield as far as you can – you do not give up the truth but you are yielding as far as you can be. That is a feature of the wisdom that is from above.
Then it is “full of mercy and good fruits”; it is wonderful to think of that. Divine wisdom is full of mercy, which is like God. Good fruits go with it; there is that which is secured by the wisdom which is from above. It is not just mercy alone, it is mercy and good fruits – they are put together. There is to be an answer resulting from the mercy. Then this wisdom is unquestioning. That is a matter which maybe the younger brethren amongst us particularly face. You know what it is like when you are amongst your colleagues and your friends and they start questioning. Perhaps they do not believe the Bible; they might say, ‘that is just what Paul said’, or ‘that is just the words of somebody else’. But it is not, it is the word of God; it is to be received as the word of God. What comes from above is to be received without question. It may be proved but you must receive it first. You remember how the Bereans were “receiving the word with all readiness of mind” and then it adds, “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”, Acts 17:11. They received the word first without question. And this wisdom is also unfeigned, it is genuine. It is not something that is put on, it is unfeigned. Beloved, such is the character of the wisdom which is from above. Are we to see it now? Are we to see it in operation? There are those who do, we referred to them in the reading; principalities and authorities in the heavenlies see the all-various wisdom of God in operation (Eph.3:10).
I turn to Colossians now. Paul speaks here of “the mystery of God; in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”. Think of the mystery of God, the way in which God has acted throughout the dispensations, culminating in the great securing by Christ of the assembly, in which are hid all the value, the wealth, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The assembly, you might say, is the depository of divine wisdom at the present time. It will be seen in a coming day. The Lord will be “wondered at in all that have believed”, 2 Thess.1:10. What will be seen there will be the result of divine wisdom operating over the dispensations. Wisdom has produced something which will come out in glorious display and the whole universe will wonder at it. Some of us may recall meetings in London in 1976 on the mystery of God, and in one of the readings, there was much reference to one of Solomon’s buildings. You will remember that Solomon built the temple, he built his own house and he built a house for his wife, but he built another house. It was called “the house of the forest of Lebanon” (1 Kings 7:2), a great house. It was much bigger than the temple, a very large place, and we are not told very much about it; it is part of the mystery. But what we are told is that it became a treasure house. Solomon put the gold in it . Solomon received gold from far and wide and made shields and targets of gold (1 Kings 10:16,17), and he put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. It was his kingdom’s treasure house and in the porch of that house was a throne, the throne of judgment. I do not suppose Solomon understood what all that spoke of. The temple particularly relates to what God will secure on earth in Israel, but the house of the forest of Lebanon, the great treasure house, relates in type to the mystery of God, including the assembly “in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”.
Let us value these treasures! As you read through the book of Chronicles, you will find that Solomon’s son Rehoboam failed, he departed from Jehovah and the king of Egypt came and took away that gold. Do not let Egypt take away your treasure. Never let the world come and take away the treasure that you have in the assembly. It is precious. Rehoboam had other shields and targets made of bronze (2 Chron.12:10), and he had them paraded before him. What a mockery of the true thing that was! The house of the forest of Lebanon was a treasury, one that had been established to keep the wealth of the kingdom. God has operated in the assembly in which are hid treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Where are these treasures? Some of them are in this room. Here are the treasures. God speaks of those who shall "be unto me a peculiar treasure”, Mal.3:17. When you see a saint, that is a treasure, and each saint knows something of divine wisdom.
You might say, ‘I do not feel that I have much wisdom’. What are you going to do about it? James says there is an answer: “But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not”. If you say, ‘I feel that I do not have wisdom’, God does not reproach you for that. No; James just says, “ask of God” – “if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not”. There is a resource available to us, beloved. We have faith given to us, there is what we have in the Holy Spirit. These are gifts of God, and wisdom is available as a gift from God. The apostle Paul says that “in the last days difficult times shall be there” (2 Tim.3:1) and those last days have come; we are in these difficult times. What do you need to get through? We need faith, we need the Holy Spirit and we need wisdom at all times, beloved. We are told to “Walk in wisdom towards those without” (Col.4:5), and we also have to exercise wisdom amongst ourselves. Wisdom is a resource of God and it is freely available to us.
May the Lord bless the word.
Grangemouth
31 August 2019
Andrew Martin